The Word

As the bright light of summer yields to the soft hues of autumn while students settle into school and parish activities move into high gear Christians often ponder over vacation expenses tuition bills and the impending cost of new projects Life in Christ seems to be taken over by calculator and

The parables of Luke 15 often called ldquo The Gospel within the Gospel rdquo epitomize Luke rsquo s message of forgiveness and repentance These motifs appear more frequently in Luke than in any other Gospel Zechariah heralds the coming of the Lord who will bring forgiveness of sin 1 77 an

Over the past weeks the readings have alternated between presentations of Jesus as a model of compassion and mercy and as a leader who makes harsh demands of his followers e g entering the narrow gate casting fire on the earth bringing division among families In today rsquo s Gospel the deman

At the end of his magisterial survey of the quest of the historical Jesus in the 19th century Albert Schweitzer recalled Jesus rsquo command to every Christian to follow him and added quot to those who obey him whether they be wise or simple he will reveal himself in the toils in the conflic

The host of a morning news program was interviewing a writer from Forbes magazine who was lamenting the financial losses suffered by various dot-com billionaires He said that one person rsquo s fortune had fallen to a mere 170 million and another had only a billion left I could barely hold back m

This Sunday rsquo s Gospel makes for difficult reading during the quot dog days quot of summer It speaks of things we would rather gently put aside simple lifestyle almsgiving readiness for the return of the Lord faithful use of the time given us and warnings of punishment The beginning of t

Difficulty in reflecting or preaching on the Assumption has always been the absence of any biblical account that the quot ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life was assumed body and soul into heaven quot Pius XII Nov 1 1950 The dogma arose from centuries of reflec

Following last week rsquo s narrative of one praised for quietly sitting in the Lord rsquo s presence this Sunday rsquo s readings focus on the need to voice one rsquo s concerns to God in prayer and on how we should pray The specific instructions are prefaced by Luke rsquo s version of the Lord r