The Word

Hope involves wishing and waiting for something that has a chance of becoming a reality The Scripture readings for the Second Sunday of Advent enable us to see what is important and distinctive in the biblical understanding of hope God is the origin ground and goal of hope They also remind us th

At this time of year choirs all over the world are beginning to rehearse George Frideric Handel rsquo s ldquo Messiah rdquo This oratorio is an anthology of key texts from both Testaments set to music One high point among many for believers and even nonbelievers is the so-called ldquo Halleluj

We are coming close to the end of one church year and the beginning of another Next Sunday is the feast of Christ the King and the following Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent On these Sundays the Scripture readings lead us to consider ldquo the last things rdquo or what is often called ldqu

He central characters in Mark rsquo s Gospel are Jesus and the Twelve though a number of minor characters are spread throughout the entire narrative At the end of Chapter 10 however a series of lesser characters emerge who in contrast to the Twelve who become increasingly obtuse respond to J

Today rsquo s reading from Mark 12 concerns what is often called the love commandment It urges us to love God and our neighbor It is sometimes referred to as the double love commandment because it involves both love of God and love of neighbor It is frequently held up as the distinctive feature o

For the last six Sundays we have been on a journey with Jesus and his disciples going from northern Galilee toward Jerusalem The journey started with the healing of a blind man who only gradually came to see Mark 8 22-26 Along the way we have read surprising texts about a suffering Messiah gre

As our political campaigns draw near to election day we hear much talk about leadership While we tend to know it when we see it leadership is hard to define and does not seem to follow any one pattern or formula Today rsquo s Scripture readings describe leadership as the service of others and po

In early 21st-century America money and material possessions are often taken as signs not only of intelligence and goodness but also of divine favor They are regarded as the key to happiness Despite all kinds of evidence to the contrary most of us still assume that money can and does buy happines

Two of the most difficult problems facing the Catholic Church in the United States in the early part of the 21st century are the high incidence of divorce and the fallout from the crisis caused by sexual abuse by members of the clergy These are complicated matters that demand to be approached from