If you would like to catch up on some recent posts, here is a place where you can easily access some posts you might have missed. I hope it helps… enjoy.
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More Thoughts on the Vine and Branches
This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter. Many Catholic scholars (Raymond Brown, Jerome Kodell, Eduard Schwizer, etc.) see a part of John’s Eucharistic theology in the metaphor of the “Vine and the Branches” – specifically serving as the cup, as a type of parallel to the “Bread of Life” discourse in John 6. The vine was a recognized Eucharistic symbol at the time the Gospel according to John reached its final written form. We read in the Didache: “And concerning the Eucharist, hold Eucharist thus: First concerning the Cup, ‘We give thanks, our Father, for the Holy Vine of David your child, which you make known to us through Jesus your child…” (IX:1-2). Continue reading
Clearing the Baltimore Harbor Channel
If you are interested in the progress on clearing the Baltimore Harbor channel to reopen the Port of Baltimore, here are two sites I can recommend:
- What’s Going on with Shipping
- Key Bridge Response 2024 – the Unified Command Site
In case you are interested in what they are using to “pick up” things on the harbor floor:
In the Father’s House
Today’s gospel contains the verse we all remember from the King James translation version: “In my Father’s mansion, there are many rooms.” As grand as that image is, in fact, the word “mansion” does not appear in the original Greek. It simply says, 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. Continue reading
Remaining
This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter. Another word with a double meaning is meno — translated “remain” in our text, but it also carries meanings of “abide, stay; live, dwell; last, endure, continue.” Sometimes this verb refers to the branch staying connected to the vine and sometimes it refers to disciples staying connected to Jesus. This word occurs 11 times in 15:1-17. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit if it is disconnected from the vine, neither can disciples bear fruit if they are disconnected from Jesus. Continue reading
The Feast of St. Mark
Today is the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist. Tradition has it that this is the same John Mark, the cousin of St. Barnabus who was on the first missionary expedition of St. Paul – which was actually led by Barnabus. For some reason Paul went on his own for his second and third missionary trips. Tradition has it that in the course of time, Mark founded the Church in Alexandria and later resided in Rome where, with St. Peter, as his source, wrote the Gospel of Mark. There are other traditions and scholars debate them to this date. In any case, we honor the St. Mark the Evangelist on this day. Continue reading
Bearing Fruit
This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter. The OT prophets envisioned a time when Israel would “bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit” (Isa. 27:6; cf. Hos. 14:4–8). What is the “fruit” that the gardener expects from the branches? When chapter 15 is read in context of John 14 it is evident that loving Jesus (vv.15, 21, 23) forms part of the answer. When read in the context of John 13, loving each other (vv.34-35) forms another part of the answer. In the light of what is understood as the two greatest commandments, “love” is the expected fruit. If so, then the unproductive branches of 15:2 are the people who are in Jesus, in the community of faith, who are not loving, who are not seeking the good of the whole body. Continue reading
Filling up what is lacking
Today is the Feast Day of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a Capuchin Franciscan friar, who was martyred during the Catholic Counter Reformation in 1622 (some 100 years after the start of the Protestant Reformation). Fidelis had been evangelizing in Graubünden, now a canton of eastern Switzerland, which at the time was a stronghold of Calvinism. He was meeting with a great deal of success in receiving people into full communion with the Catholic Church. While journeying on a local road he encountered soldiers under the command of the local Calvin leadership. They demanded Fidelis (Latin for “faithful”) renounce Catholicism, which he refused to do. The soldiers then murdered him. The Protestant minister who had participated in Fidelis’ martyrdom was converted by this circumstance, made a public renunciation of Calvinism and was received into the Catholic Church Continue reading
The Vine Grower
This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter. Like the song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5, John 15:2 depicts the role of God as the grower who spades, clears, plants and takes care of the vineyard only to be rewarded with wild/sour grapes (Isa. 5:1–7; cf. Ps. 80:8–9). According to 15:2, the vinedresser does two things to ensure maximum fruit production (“he takes away … he prunes”; cf. Heb. 6:7–8): (1) in the winter he cuts off the dry and withered branches, which may involve pruning the vines to the extent that only the stalks remain; (2) later, when the vine has sprouted leaves, he removes the smaller shoots so that the main fruit-bearing branches receive adequate nourishment Continue reading
Voices
In the gospel reading for today we heard Jesus tell some bystanders who wanted Jesus to plainly say that he was the Messiah. Jesus replied: “But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Continue reading
Voices
In the gospel reading for today we heard Jesus tell some bystanders who wanted Jesus to plainly say that he was the Messiah. Jesus replied: “But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Continue reading
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