My sister JoAnn was going to the prom. This is the sister who woke in the morning with curlers in her hair, whose skin peeled when she had a sun burn, whose hands and mouth were covered with Old Bay seasoning while eating crabs. But she was going to the prom so a visit to… Read More »

Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways… And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you. This two sided agreement is called forming a covenant.… Read More »

During World War II Count Helmut Von Moltke and his friends had discussed a Germany based on moral and democratic principles that could develop after Hitler. This was considered treason by the Nazi regime and he was put on trial. The real issue crystalized when the prosecutor said in court, “Christianity and National Socialism are… Read More »

Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish, had recourse to the LORD. By a happy coincidence, or actually we should call it a providence, on the day when the Lenten reading of the Church mentions Queen Esther is the Feast of Purim on the Jewish calendar. Purim is the festival which recalls that it was Queen… Read More »

According to the Biblical story Jonah is sent to Nineveh to preach repentance. The story prompts the question: who really needed to repent? The story starts off with Jonah resisting the call to become a prophet. Fleeing from God, he ends up in the belly of the whale. That gets his attention and he decides… Read More »

Which is the most important line in the Lord’s Prayer? “Thy will be done?” “Give us this day our daily bread?” The way that St. Matthew introduces the Lord’s prayer suggests a different line. To the prayer itself Jesus adds this appendix: “If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.” In… Read More »

People will say that they prefer the New Testament morality to that of the Old Testament but I suspect that is not the case. Since the Old Testament gives us the commandments we can create a check list of how we are doing. Didn’t steal. Check. Didn’t murder. Check. You know where you stand by… Read More »

Maurice bought a classic convertible, an Alfa Romero Spider. He wanted to put it through its paces so he went to Pike’s Peak to drive up the mountain. Top down, sun shining, wind in his hair, wheels squealing at each hair pin curve, vroom, vroom – all was great until it wasn’t. He lost control,… Read More »

“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” These words of Jesus divide the world into two categories — the sick and the healthy. I would observe the health and sickness are not an either/or but on a… Read More »

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, Clothing the naked when you see them. We recognize these acts of mercy as the criteria for the… Read More »