The Good Word

The readings for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time nbsp treat us nbsp to a surfeit of riches There is a beautiful passage from Zephaniah 2 3 3 12-13 another from 1 Corinthians 1 26-31 and the Beatitudes from Matthew rsquo s Gospel 5 1-12a The struggle this week is not what to say but wh

The second reading for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time comes from Paul s first letter to the Corinthians Now I appeal to you brothers and sisters by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be united in the same m

Today is the Memorial of St Agnes Virgin and Martyr whose life ended when she was just a girl 12-13 though in her own day she would have been considered a girl on the cusp of adulthood It was this precise fact that lead to her martyrdom and though many of the details of her life are shrouded

Why should a biblical scholar take note of canon law We might equally ask why should the blogging son of a canon lawyer suddenly push onto the front stage an article written by his father almost six years ago Why now Thomas Peters who calls himself ldquo American Papist rdquo published a few

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Each Gospel has its own way of presenting what each thought necessary to know about Jesus that John the Baptist was a witness to the identity of Jesus nbsp John s witness was extremely powerful because John was so greatly admired by everyone nbsp Though he did not beco

The Pope rsquo s recent comments on purgatory were extremely helpful His statement on purgatory helped to clarify the reality of purgatory not as a place but as a process but also simply any comment on the reality of purgatory is helpful From a news report on the Pope rsquo s comments we receiv

In my NT class this week we discussed the Gospel of Matthew the ecclesial Gospel which alone amongst the four Gospels actually uses the word ldquo ekklesia rdquo or Church We had some interesting discussions about the nature and exercise of authority in the Church and students are often surpri

What does the Good Word have to say to current political events in the USA Not much in some ways but everything in other ways for the Bible has a lot to say about speech its purposes and misuses The Bible fascinatingly nowhere mentions the Democrats or Republicans though I am pretty certain

The baptism of Jesus is the beginning of his ministry as all of the Synoptic Gospels Matthew 3 13-17 Luke 3 21-23 Mark 1 9-15 and Acts 10 37-38 demonstrate This is the point at which Jesus is called both to begin and to fulfill his mission One of the major questions must be quite simply why

Messy Jesus Blog a new blog run by Sr Julia Walsh FSPA nbsp and her friends has a guest blog from Sr Sarah Hennessey reflecting on the Baptism of Jesus The entry Segues looks at the reality of transitions in our lives Liturgically now is a moment of segues from the nativity of Epiphany t