An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet (Matthew 12:39). Let us see how Our Lord uses the story of Jonas to refute some of … Continue reading
Category: Holy Scripture
Plucking of His Beard
I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me, and spit upon me. (Isaias 50:6) In His Agony in the Garden … Continue reading
It’s All Hebrew To Me
It is an interesting thing to consider why certain words of the New Testament were kept in Hebrew or Aramaic by the inspired authors rather than translating them into Greek, if indeed they were translatable. Our Lord’s cry from the … Continue reading
Reconciling the Gospel Accounts of Mary Magdalene at the Holy Sepulcher
What appears to be discrepancies in the accounts of Our Lord’s Resurrection and the witness of Mary Magdalene are not so; they are reconcilable. The readings for Easter moved me to address the issue. So, with the help of Cornelius … Continue reading
May Jesus Put Us Into the Pond and Heal Us of Our Sins
In Saint John’s Gospel there is an account particular to this Gospel of the healing of a paralytic by the Pond (or Pool) called Probatica. The poor man had lain there on his pallet for thirty-eight years hoping for a … Continue reading
The ‘Dilemma’ of Saint Joseph
Now the generation of Christ was in this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and … Continue reading
Rend Your Hearts Not Your Garments
In the Epistle reading on Ash Wednesday we have these verses from the prophet Joel: Now therefore saith the Lord: Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. And rend your hearts, and … Continue reading
‘Tell That Fox’
And he said to them: Go and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I am consummated (Luke 13:32). One cannot accuse the Son of God of being “nice.” … Continue reading
There Is Humility, and There Is ‘Humility’
It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs (Matthew 15:26). Now, suppose you were this Gentile woman to whom Jesus addressed these words. Suppose you had lived in the Canaanite … Continue reading
Was Our Lord’s Shoulder Wound Prefigured in the Old Testament?
Thou shalt take the fat of the ram, and the rump, and the fat that covereth the lungs, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder, because … Continue reading
We Are Unprofitable Servants
Doth he thank that servant, for doing the things which he commanded him? I think not. So you also, when you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants; we have done that … Continue reading
Let the Dead Bury Their Dead
And a certain scribe came and said to him: Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou shalt go. And Jesus saith to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the son of man hath … Continue reading
Cornelius à Lapide and the Catholic Biblical Renaissance, with Douglas Bersaw
Just over a month ago, this interview with Douglas Bersaw debuted as Episode 50 of Reconquest. Our subject was Cornelius Cornelii à Lapide (Cornelis Cornelissen van den Steen; 18 December 1567 – 12 March 1637), the noted Flemish Jesuit and Biblical exegete, whose Commentary … Continue reading
Shepherds, Angels, and the Hasting after God
And there were in the same country shepherds watching, and keeping the night watches over their flock. And behold an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them; and they feared with … Continue reading
Some Doubted
Holy scripture is replete with challenges. Many times in the Gospels Our Lord lays down commandments that are calling each of us to rise above nature and do the seemingly impossible: “Pray always,” “Be ye perfect,” “Love your enemies,” or … Continue reading