[caption id="attachment_667" align="alignleft" width="341"] The Raising of LazarusLĂ©on Joseph Florentin Bonnat (1833-1922)[/caption] Itâs appropriate that on this last Sunday before Palm Sunday and Holy Week we hear the story of what Saint John presents as the last mighty act of Jesus' ministryâa mighty act that, according...
ââIs the LORD among us or not?ââ Iâd like to day to spend a few minutes with you looking at the story from Exodus that was our first lessonâthe story of that time in the desert when there was no water for the people to drink,...
[caption id="attachment_640" align="alignleft" width="393"] A Medieval Picture of the Universe: humanity at the fringes looking in.[/caption] People in the Middle Ages* assumed that the sun went round the earth. Given what they saw every day, that was a perfectly reasonable assumption. Because we no longer share...
It had begun the week before.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke are agreed about that--the week before, with that never-to-be-forgotten conversation at Caesarea Philippi. Perhaps âconversationâ was hardly the word for it.  It had been more of a quarrel, really, if we are to trust Matthew and...
For the Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12 I would like to spend a few moments this morning looking with you at the passage we just read for the gospel, the so-called âBeatitudes,â presented by Matthew as the prologue to Jesusâ âSermon on the Mount.â Surely itâs one of...
John the Baptist is back with us again this morning. He appears a lot during the seasons of Advent and the Epiphany, doesnât he? Today we have part of St. Johnâs take on himâSt. John, who always has a slightly different slant on things from...
[caption id="attachment_558" align="alignleft" width="359"] Francesco Albani (1578-1660), Baptism of Christ(http://public-domain-images.blogspot.com/)[/caption] âThen,â Saint Matthew tells usâthat is, while John the Baptist was preachingââJesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan.â Jesus comes with a purpose: âto be baptized by himââand so Matthew prepares us for the conversation...
In Shakespeareâs Romeo and Juliet Juliet is frustrated that her love for Romeo is forbidden for no other reason than that he belongs to her familyâs rival family, and has their name: Whatâs in a name? That which we call a rose /Â By any other word...
âFear not!â[1]Â Â That, according to Luke, was the first word of the angelâs Christmas message to the shepherds. And as we listen to Lukeâs story, following the decree of Caesar Augustus and all those other high imperial goings-on, it is also the first word of the...
This morningâs gospel passage is from the first chapter of Matthewâs gospel. If you know your Bible youâll know itâs preceded by what Matthew calls âan account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiahââor, as the old KJV translated it, âthe book of the generation...