Ask this question of people who are somewhat familiar with the contents of the four Gospels: What command does Jesus give to His followers the most during His public ministry?
My second-grade teacher, the long-suffering Sr. Edna Marie, said something in religion class which went off in my brain like a bomb: “When you follow Jesus, you discover that the more you give away, the more you have left over.”
Rachel Carson, a famous author of a few years ago, was once quoted as follows:
1. When I look at the beauty of the world and see the mountains and the valleys, the ocean and the sky. I am reminded that I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth.
Having just buried my own mother at the start of Holy Week I am grateful to the apostle Thomas for offering us all a crash course in grieving the loss of a loved one.
Since the early centuries, perhaps no preacher has ever captured and expressed the power and glory of Christ’s victory over death, sin, and hell itself in words equal to those of St. John Chrysostom (“The Golden Tongue”).
Palm Sunday is a good summary of our faith. In it we mix both glory and suffering, two opposite sides of what is the same coin, and all of it makes sense in the context of Jesus’ mission.
When I was a child, playing games with my siblings and friends, if someone stumbled and fell, you would hear a voice saying, “God got you for being bad.”
Not many people look forward to taking tests. That is quite normal. Even when we feel that we are well prepared there is that heightened anxiety, even dread.
At the time today’s first reading from the Book of Leviticus was written, people were ignorant about the cause and cure of leprosy, but they did know one thing and that was the devastating impact the disease had on the society of the Jewish people.
