Elijah is hungry. Walking a day in the desert, he settles under a broom tree. This fragrant shrub, native to the Middle East, blossomed with beautifully scented white flowers. But Elijah doesn’t notice. Tired from the journey, he falls asleep, giving up
The crowd doesn’t get it. Hours after Jesus had provided bread from heaven, they murmur to him, “‘What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?'” (Jn 6:30). The crowd now gathered around Jesus echoes the grumbling of
In lectionary cycle B, the Church turns from Mark’s Gospel for five weeks to contemplate the Bread of Life discourse in the Gospel of John. John 6 is important to Catholics, who see in Jesus’ words a foretaste of the Eucharistic banquet
There’s a temptation for us fallen creatures to reduce the Church to a space of political gamesmanship. Vatican-watchers pay attention to the appointment of bishops, hypothesizing what this means for the pope’s political vision of the Church. Individual clergy may wonder to
God elects Christians. I don’t mean that individual Christians are placed on some celestial ballot. Rather, every Christian is part of the elect, those who have been graciously chosen by God for salvation. But whom does God elect? And what does God
In a fallen world, power wins. Laws are passed in favor of abortion, against the immigrant and criminalizing the homeless because the powerful exert their will over the weak. There are winners, and there are losers. It’s better to win. Yet divine
At Pentecost, Christians are healed of the awful tendency to cultivate division in the world
The Ascension shows us that our whole person is involved in salvation, which we live by loving others
Good Shepherd Sunday is not for the faint of heart. Sure, it’s consoling to contemplate Jesus as the shepherd who seeks out the lost sheep. He finds us caught in the thistles of our wayward hearts, lifting us up and taking us
Even after 2,000 years, people continue to misunderstand or misrepresent Jesus. Examples are plentiful. From televangelists who churn out cheery books and breezy sermons that sidestep the realities of sin, the cross, and the Passion of Christ, to New Age mystics who