Community in Mission, Monsignor Pope: Last Sunday’s Gospel about the raising of Lazarus points to a supreme irony in the Gospel of John: Jesus’ very act of raising Lazarus from the dead confirms the Jewish temple leaders in their conviction … Continue reading
Category: Holy Scripture
I Will Not Remember Their Sins
It is written (Ezechiel 18:22): “I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live.” Saint Thomas in the third part of his Summa Theologica, Q. 86, art. 1 … Continue reading
Meditation: ‘And I Knew Him Not’
Msgr. Pope: In Sunday’s Gospel (John 1:29ff), John the Baptist speaks of Jesus, calling Him superior, pre-existent, and anointed by the Holy Spirit. What also stands out is that John twice says, “I did not know Him.” This seems odd … Continue reading
The Literal Sense Validates the Other Three Senses of Holy Scripture
Excellent article follows here. For any man. No need to have a degree. I especially appreciate the way Mr. Kilby handled creation. Quote: “Also keep in mind that our God is the Creator of the laws upon which we base … Continue reading
Jefferson’s Four Gospels: ‘He Made a Socrates Out of Jesus’
I knew that Thomas Jefferson was a Deist and he rejected the divinity of Christ. And I knew that with his own hand he made for himself an abridged four gospels excised of all miracles. What I did not know … Continue reading
Testimony of Justin Martyr Shows ‘Peter’s Memoirs’ Became Gospel of Mark
National Catholic Register, Fr. Dwight Longenecker: Everybody likes a good mystery, and we like to watch as the sleuth sifts the clues, eliminates false leads, tracks down the culprit and gets his man. I enjoyed putting pieces of the puzzle … Continue reading
Did Our Lady Have a Sister?
Philip Kosloski of Aleteia poses this question. He gives a very weak answer leaving the question in doubt, although he does provide the correct answer when he cites the Catholic Encyclopedia and Saint Jerome. I tried to enter a comment … Continue reading
Challenging and Inspiring Parables of Our Lord
Holy Scripture abounds in analogy. There are similes and metaphors and that particular form of Hebrew poetry called parallelism. The Hebrews didn’t rhyme words in their poems, but they coupled ideas. An analogy is a comparison of two or more … Continue reading
Our Lord’s ‘Other’ Language
What language did Jesus speak with Pilate? With the Roman centurion? How about the Magi? What language did they speak with Our Lady and Saint Joseph? With the Jews of course Our Lord spoke Aramaic. Not only in Judea but … Continue reading
The Moral Sense of Jacob’s Battle With the ‘Angel’
Community in Mission, Msgr. Charles Pope: One of God’s stranger affections is the special love He had for Jacob of the Old Testament. We are reading through this story in daily Mass this week. According to some, the name Jacob … Continue reading
Peter and Malchus
And behold one of them that were with Jesus, stretching forth his hand, drew out his sword: and striking the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear (Matthew 26:51). But they laid hands on him, and held him. … Continue reading
Ascension Thursday
Ascension Thursday is one of six holy days of obligation (not counting all Sundays) in the United States, although most dioceses have now transferred it to the following Sunday. Canon Law has relegated the holy days to local bishops or … Continue reading
Queen of Heaven
As I noted in my article defending Padre Pio’s miraculous stigmata, if the belief is Catholic and traditional, you can bet that my friend, Pastor Joe, a Pentecostal minister, will be against it. The latest missive I received from him … Continue reading