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We return this week to the Genesis world of Abram and Sarai.  This patriarch and his matriarch wife came to be called Abraham and Sarah.  Because of their relationship to God, they were blest with descendants numbering more than the number of stars in the sky.  Their faith is the foundation of the 3 great monotheistic traditions known as the “Abrahamic religions.”  Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each claim to descend from Abraham. This week’s Gospel…

Lent is a period of 40 days that calls to mind the 40 days of rain that produced the flood.  Washed away was the earlier life and what came about was a new creation.  Our Lenten observance is INTENDED to be a period of growth, of insight, and greater self-awareness.  We become a new creation owing to our effort to confront and overcome the demons we encounter in the desert of our life (today’s Gospel…

The past couple of weeks, our bulletin has included Gospel-based reflections from the Catholic bishop of West Virginia and a popular Christian pastor-writer.  This week’s bulletin is an article from the National Catholic Reporter.  Each of these articles addresses different socio-political topics that people argue in the news and at dinner tables.  However, the accent of these pieces is a Catholic-Christian perspective on those topics (and not just the opinion of some person on the…

Today’s Gospel, Luke 6:24-38, is a homily all on its own, e.g., love your neighbor as yourself, and if you love others who love you, what merit is there in that?  Even pagans love those who love them.  In short, we’re asked to look at our thinking and behavior and ask: does my presence in the world reflect my Gospel identity, or am I simply like others who profess no such belief? Where I taught…

At Christmas time, I pointed out that Matthew and Luke are the evangelists who gave us all the birth narrative material, and that John and Mark said nothing about a manger, Magi, Bethlehem, and all the other elements of our Christmas story.  Similarly, Matthew and Luke give us the “beatitudes” that are associated with what’s known as “the sermon on the mount” (in Matthew).  However, Luke’s presentation of them occurs on the PLAIN and not a…

This past weekend’s first reading shows you where the “Sanctus” part of the Eucharistic Prayer comes from—“Holy, Holy, Holy” is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  And then these verses from Isaiah speak for each of us—theoretically—when it has the person (intended to be you and I) say: “Here I am, Lord.  Send me.”  That’s what each of us is supposed to feel and think and say after each Mass we…

Presentation of the Lord Sunday refers to Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to the Temple and observing the Torah’s command to “purify” Mary and dedicate Jesus to God.  The ceremony is an Israelite example of what’s known as the “menstrual taboo” that anthropologists study in all cultures of the world.  For example, the Lakota Sioux Indians had a special ceremony for girls upon their first menstrual period.  Each month until menopause, the girl was obliged…

What follows is an editorial from the National Catholic Reporter.  Although it directly addresses the remarks at the National Prayer Service last week, it touches on topics that should make all of us uncomfortable.  One reason we come to church is to hear the word of God and act upon it.  We hear it in the reading of scripture, homilies, songs sung, and the presence of inspirational individuals who try their best to live their…