Is it foolish NRSV Galatians or stupid NAB Galatians It s so hard to know and so hard for a Galatian to catch a break one way or the other Paul writes in a polemical style common among ancient writers but jarring to our ears It is hard to imagine a papal encyclical beginning with stupid

The Greek words that lie behind the English translations of justify justification and righteousness in the letters of Paul are the verb dikaioo and the nouns dikaios and dikaiosyne This Greek verb and associated nouns originally referred to justice and the results of justice delivered that is

The first reading for October 8 is Galatians 2 1-2 7-14 but we will look at the whole of the chapter Paul moves to explain the acceptance of the Gospel he preaches by the Church as a whole and he describes his encounter with the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem described also in Acts 15 Paul doe

I think of yesterday s first reading 1 6-12 as the opening of the Body of the letter The omission of the Thanksgiving strikes me even now as a little shocking because even in situations that seem to have run out of control in other cities think Corinth Paul manages more than a perfunctory Tha

Paul writes in Philippians 4 6-9 Brothers and sisters Have no anxiety at all but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving make your requests known to God Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus Finally brothers

Sometime soon the Catholic University Press of America will publish a book authored by Cornelia Horn of Saint Louis University and myself on children in the early Church titled Let the Little Children Come to Me Children and Childhood in Early Christianity The genesis of this book was a s

The Gospel for the Memorial of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina priest September 23 2008 is Luke 8 19-21 which I will cite in full The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd He was told Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and the

The bronze serpent which Moses lifted up in the desert Numbers 21 4-9 becomes a type of the Christ who is to come in the Gospel of John While the bronze serpent held up by Moses heals the Israelites of the snake bite that leads to physical death Jesus upon the cross heals us from the wounds

The Transfiguration is a unique event in the life of Jesus and appears in all three of the Synoptic Gospels I call it unique for a number of reasons 1 It is the one event in Jesus earthly ministry in the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus glory is made manifest visually unless we include th

Brothers and sisters What will separate us from the love of Christ Will anguish or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or the sword No in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels