Latest Articles
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The Greatest YES
No YES in the whole of human history is as consequential as Mary’s to the angel. Her yes stands alone, above and beyond any king’s or queen’s or pope’s or pauper’s. With her Yes, Mary divides the whole of human history in two—before it and after it. We are blessed to be after it We…
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With You All Days
Here at St. Ignatius Hall, the sixty-some Jesuits do not concelebrate at our daily community Mass. Rather, we attend Mass. This proved quite a change for me who was accustomed to celebrate Mass daily, often by myself. I was living the tradition of some great priests who would find a way to celebrate Mass even…
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The First Last Supper
The Savior’s Last Supper was in a real sense the First Savior’s Supper—in the sense that Jesus instituted the Eucharist at that supper. This can hardly be something Jesus thought of only as they were sitting there at dinner (an idea I have heard vaguely preached). Jesus had already told them what was about to…
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Jesus the Carpenter’s Son
He had no older brothers.. So He had to learn from the men around him what to say and how to behave. He was not in the capital city but Galilee, that back-woods town that Jerusalem looked on with amusement. Neither did He grow up among the rich and powerful. He was the Son of a carpenter. Jesus…
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Feast of St. Joseph
Today is St. Joseph’s feast day and so a special day to the Joseph who writes this. I’m also glad that Pius XII added the feast day of Joseh the Worker, though a Jesuit friend asked me, “Why would you be interested in “worker”? Good friend, too. Jesuit, though ….. Anyhow, the Church is still…
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What’s Important Now
The current powers around the world do not speak truth or even seem to think truth. We do not belong to them. We belong, instead, to the God of gods, the infinite, all-powerful One who created and is still creating the us. God our Creator has infinite power, but that is not what is most intimate about…
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Looking Directly at Who
I sat in the chapel yesterday evening. Suddenly, the sun was streaming directly in my eyes. “I cannot look at you” I thought–not at the sun nor at the Son. That’s better said that I “cannot look directly at you” now—the time will come. Meanwhile, I have to find Him in those around me who…
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Politics in the Spirit
This blog might seem a little political but that’s because any comments, in any nation, about what’s real in everyday life is, in fact, well, political. And we need to see how these opinions fit into our spiritual lives….. So…. To understand how putting tariffs on imports hurts the “everyday American consumer,” you have to care about…
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Everything Human
Everything human is approximate. That’s a principle we need to keep in mind and in prayer. So, when St. Paul says that this commandment summarizes all the rest: You shall love your neighbor as yourself, he doesn’t mean to love each other one in exactly the same way (Rom. 10). No—we are to love others in…
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Laetare/Rejoice Sunday
Laetare Sunday, Rejoice Sunday—I suppose because we’re half-way through Lent, which used to call for “giving things up” and maybe fasting for daily Communion—and adults’ fasting on assigned days each week. So, “Rejoice Sunday” had a certain bite to it when I was a kid in the 1940s. What I really remember of this different Sunday…