This coming Sunday is the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In yesterday’s post we explored the cultural norms associated with invitations, banquets and places of honor. Today we will continue that line of thought and consider Jesus’ advice to guests. Continue reading
St. Bartholomew, an apostle and early martyr of the Church, is recognized for his missionary zeal especially in Armenia for whom he is their patron saint. And in some traditions, Bartholomew is also honored as a missionary to the Bombay India region on the Konkan coast, a region which may have been known as the ancient city Kalyan.
This coming Sunday is the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In yesterday’s post we explored the Scriptural use of the word “humility.” Today we will consider the mealing setting, common in many of the gospels as a metaphor for the celebration of the Kingdom’s come. But it is also often a setting of controversy. Consider that vv.1-6 centered on the debate at table regarding the lawfulness of curing on the Sabbath – reminiscent of earlier discussions about appropriate behavior on the Sabbath (e.g., 6:2, 9; 13:14–16). Continue reading
The morning routine in our friary is that half the house are early risers and the other half…. not so much. One of the early rising friars retrieves the newspaper from the front lawn and reads while having breakfast. Later after morning prayer, the other friars will read the paper during their morning meal. Me? Maybe I glance at the paper. Today was one of those days. In the Tuesday “Health and Science” section was the following headline: “Nose picking is even grosser than you feared.” To read or not to read, that is the question. Will this be something we need to know…. or not? Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. As promised, some thoughts on the word “humility.” The word comes into our language from the Middle English, via Anglo-French, from Latin humilis low, humble, from “humus” the word for earth. Webster’s offers this as a definition
Does this capture the biblical sense of “humility?”
This coming Sunday is the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle C. We are reading from the Gospel of Luke as we have since Pentecost. These readings are part of the journey to Jerusalem during which the principle theme of discipleship is addressed. Jesus continues to teach about the nature of discipleship (see, judge, and act), the urgency of the decision to become a faithful and prudent disciple, and that our decisions and actions have consequences in terms of the kingdom of heaven. Continue reading
“I come to gather nations of every language…brothers and sisters from all the nations.” Such is Isaiah’s description of the in-gathering of the faithful from north and south, east and west, all worshiping on God’s holy mountain; invited by God, brought in by God. It is a compelling vision. Continue reading
I vividly remember where I was on July 20, 1969 when humanity reached and landed on the moon. Amazing does not do justice to the feeling of that moment. We had just arrived at the front door of the universe. What did it all mean? Some 53 years later, we have perspective. The writer Adam Roberts wonders if it was a profane moment in our history and our world when we took on a more universal view. Continue reading
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines the adjective “weird” as “of strange or extraordinary character : odd, fantastic.” Joseph Henrich, an anthropologist at Harvard, has coined the term WEIRD to describe societal differences between the West and other global regions. The acronym stands for “Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic.” Tufts University philosophy professor Daniel Dennett described Henrich’s concept as follows: Continue reading
This coming weekend celebrates the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time during Lectionary Cycle C. Today we consider a reflection from the Scripture scholar Alan Culpepper, who, at the end of his commentary [277-78], provides an interesting story from Franz Kafka:
His parable “Before the Law” is the story of a man from the country who seeks admission to the Law. When the doorkeeper tells him he may not enter, he looks through the open door, but the doorkeeper warns him that he is just the first of a series of doorkeepers, each one more terrible than the one before. So the man waits for the doorkeeper’s permission to enter. For days and then years, the man talks with the doorkeeper, answers his questions, and attempts to bribe him, but with no success. The doorkeeper takes the man’s bribes, saying he is only doing so in order that the man will not think he has neglected anything. As the man lies dying, he sees a radiance streaming from the gateway to the Law. Thinking of one question he has not asked, he beckons the doorkeeper and asks him why in all those years no one else has come to that gate. The doorkeeper responds: “No one else could ever be admitted here, since this gate was made only for you. Now I am going to shut it.”
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