We encounter the gospels more fruitfully when we approach with questions A good beginning is simply to ask why a given story was recorded in the first place Why for example do we hear of a deaf and mute man being healed by Jesus Mk 7 31-37 Why did the early Church remember this incident amo

Deuteronomy 4 1-2 6-8 James 1 17-18 21b -22 27 Mark 7 1-8 14-15 21-23 Little Jerry Siegel was born in 1914 into a large poor family living in gritty Jewish neighborhood of Cleveland He would remain a runt the object of his classmates rsquo taunts As he recalled decades later ldquo I

Joshua 24 1-2a 15-17 18b nbsp Ephesians 5 21-32 nbsp John 6 60-69 nbsp The Italians have a saying of indispensable insight Se non eacute vero eacute ben trovato ldquo If it rsquo s not true it rsquo s well found rdquo Some stories possess a truth that transcends mere facts With t

Proverbs 9 1-6 Ephesians 5 15-20 John 6 51-58 The best thing about the second half of life is figuring out what happened in the first and often the moment of insight comes when the smallest of memories is poked My mother has grown accustomed to questions from me that prompt her to reply ldquo

Pablo Picasso once famously said that art is a lie that tells a truth He rsquo s right There is something artificial about a work of art No matter how realistic the novel or painting might be we none-the-less recognize the presence of an artist the artificer in the work of art And that rsquo

St Ignatius of Loyola suggested that we read scripture by picturing ourselves in its scenes nbsp It rsquo s a fruitful insight because God rsquo s word aims to accomplish more than just communicating information nbsp It seeks to transform us nbsp But who can picture him or herself praying wi

On my eleventh birthday I was finally old enough to join the Boy Scouts Back then Troop 153 was led by Roy Barber a local farmer a Kansas Andy Griffith To my mind he was everything a Scout Master should be My parochial school had no male teachers and I had never bonded with a coach They were

Here are the lyrics to Hank Thompson rsquo s Wild Side of Life In 1952 it was 1 for 15 weeks on Billboard rsquo s Country Charts You wouldn rsquo t read my letter if I wrote you You asked me not to call you on the phone But there rsquo s something I rsquo m wanting to tell you So I wrote it in t

To take in the tumult provoked by the death of Arthur Prince of Wales the first born son of King Henry VII and of his wife Elizabeth of York early in 15th century Tudor England combine the affection currently felt for Prince William with the fear for the future engendered by the death of John K

In 1967 Robert Kennedy went on a fact-finding tour of the Mississippi Delta An eyewitness recalled that he and his party went into one of the worst places I rsquo ve ever seen A dark windowless shack smelling of mildew sickness and urine There was no ceiling hardly the floor had holes in it