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Picture this: you walk into the place of worship and see a sanctuary where there is a Tabernacle.  You also see a sanctuary lamp/light near the Tabernacle.  What is this place?  Answer: Catholics might say they’re in a Catholic church.  A Jewish person might say they’re in a synagogue.  They both could be right.  Both respondents might also be describing the Temple in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus.  It was the central, sacred place…

Until I was age 9, my family was not hurting financially.  Back then, one of our regular experiences was to go out to dinner at a nice restaurant.  Years later, I asked my mom why she and dad allowed my brother and me to order a shrimp cocktail as an appetizer.  They were just as costly then as they are today.  As an adult, I wondered why they permitted us to order such an expensive…

Sometimes, the weekend readings do not stir thoughts that are easy to apply to our experience.  By contrast, this weekend’s offering is rich with material—enhanced by two feast days that fell during the week.  This is the time of year when we are called to reflect on the life of Theresa of Liseux (the “little flower”) and Francis of Assisi (founder of the Franciscan Order). By contrast, today’s rich reading is from Genesis—and reports one…

This week’s Gospel reading reminds us of how some people take scripture literally (sometimes it SHOULD be and sometimes NOT).  Today’s passage illustrated the latter.  For example, today Jesus says that if your hand or eye or foot are a source of sin for you—CUT THEM OFF.  Boy, if understood this way, he was a stern taskmaster.  He’d fit in with those countries today that do, in fact, punish lawbreakers in this fashion (countries like…

This is the season when students are getting accustomed to a new school year.  Each Fall, I think of my many years in the classroom at Jesuit universities and am reminded of phrases associated with the 27 schools founded by my Order.  These schools tell students that Jesuit education doesn’t just teach one how to make a living.  It also teaches them how to live.  A spin-off of this thinking is that we try to…

While not a liturgical holiday, “Grandparents Day” was a good event probably spawned by candy/flower/restaurant corporations. Grandparents are included in Mother’s and Father’s Day celebrations, but our grandparents deserve recognition for the roles they play in many households.  They’ve learned from raising their own children, and have a second chance to do an even better job in doing it again.  The Lakota Sioux Indians begin all prayer by addressing “Grandfather, Great Spirit” (Tunkashila Wakan Tanka)—recognizing…

This Sunday’s scripture gives us a description of what should define one’s religion.  Namely, it is to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.  Let’s translate what, exactly, that means.  As ever, we need to go beyond the literal meaning of what we read in scripture.  In this case, we’re NOT being told to just look after widows and orphans.  The reference includes them but is…

The first reading today comes from the Book of Joshua.  Maybe you know someone named Joshua.  That’s the Hebrew name for “Jesus.”  That is, if Jesus came among us as an English speaker, we’d be referring to him as “Josh” or “Joshua.”  Recall, too, that Joshua took over the leadership of the Israelites when Moses died.  Jesus has been called a “second Moses” for showing how we can reach the “Promised Land”—just as Moses led…