Jesus’ prophetic career seems to get off to a rocky start. Standing up in the synagogue in Nazareth, he proclaims that God’s reign, the final and definitive moment of divine judgment, is at hand. It is fulfilled in his very person, the
If you’re a frequent user of Twitter, you are aware of the internecine squabbles that break out among Catholics. This Catholic academic declares his or her bona fides against the rest of the hoi polloi who lack a proper education. That Catholic
The feast of the Epiphany has traditionally been a celebration of three significant moments in the life of Christ. First, the Church remembers the coming of the Magi from among the Gentiles, revealing to the world that the babbling babe is the
Jesus undertakes a baptism for the repentance of sin. Likely, this gives us pause. Jesus Christ is supposed to be the sinless one. Why would he receive baptism? What is to be forgiven? The early Church asked these exact questions. Professing Jesus
For the Christian, sentimentality is a temptation. The sentimental person is so driven by the desire for strong affections, reducing nearly everything to kitsch or a nostalgia for some imagined past. This sentimentality can easily seep into the feasts of the Christmas
Advertising tends to romanticize family life. Christmas meals are celebrated on pristine tables, while adults, teens and children share a bucolic feast. This romantic commercialization of the family can creep into our understanding of Jesus’ family. We imagine a saccharine picture of
Belief in the modern age is often misunderstood. First, we can see belief as an irrational leap into the absurd. When Bill Nye critiques religion, particularly Christianity, he reduces belief to such a leap into the unknown. But Nye is not alone.
On the Third Sunday of Advent, God gives us space to rejoice. Gaudete Sunday gets its name in Latin from the opening antiphons, taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, “Rejoice (Gaudete) in the Lord always. I shall say it again:
Clothing expresses our identity. It shapes how we’re viewed in the public sphere. The man who wears a flannel shirt, puffy vest and large plastic glasses appears as a hipster (whether or not he runs an artisanal cheese shop in Brooklyn). In
Clothing expresses our identity. It shapes how we’re viewed in the public sphere. The man who wears a flannel shirt, puffy vest and large plastic glasses appears as a hipster (whether or not he runs an artisanal cheese shop in Brooklyn). In