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    Perhaps you know this Old Testament story (2 Samuel 11). King David, on his roof after a nap, spied a married woman, Bathsheba, bathing on her own roof below. Admiring her beauty, he sent for her and lay with her. Shortly afterward, Bathsheba sent the king word that... Read More →

  As Moses spoke face to face with God his own face was being transformed into a glowing brightness that would be too much for the Israelites to look upon; for their sake, he covered his face when he went out to speak to them. Moses’ transfiguration is a type or anticipation... Read More →

  Last week, we celebrated the 248th anniversary of our nation’s Declaration of Independence, a bold act of defiance that ultimately, after eight long years of revolutionary war, resulted in Great Britain’s recognition of the sovereignty of the United States in the Treaty of... Read More →

      Patriotism is a form of gratitude to God for the blessing of living in the land of our birth, or in the land that is our adopted home. We recognize that God has placed us in a particular place and calls us to contribute to the well-being of our society. This... Read More →

    In recent years, I’ve become fascinated with the use of “extravagance” as an expression of Christian spirituality. While the word has negative connotations of waste or indulgence, Jesus often invokes fiscal extravagance positively: the forgiveness of great debts,... Read More →

    This pastoral reflection was outlined on May 31. Ninety years before that day, on May 31, 1934, The Barmen Declaration was adopted by the votes of more than one hundred Protestants—both clergy (pastors and professors) and laity who were assembled at a church in... Read More →

  One is not likely to think of Barbie as a pro-life film. Its premise is that there is a “Barbieland” ruled by women, an excessively pink world of upbeat and positive people who never age, perfect in skin and attitude. It is not a world of sin and hardship, where people age... Read More →

    Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. (Jeremiah 31:8) In considering... Read More →

    This last week in May, either on Thursday or on Sunday, Catholics celebrate Christ’s gift of himself to us in the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of his Body and Blood. The Feast of Corpus Christi was established in 1264 by Pope Urban IV, who asked St. Thomas Aquinas... Read More →

    A couple of years ago, a colleague shared with a few of us that her daughter was suffering from a likely terminal cancer. The child rallied and faltered, and we rode the waves with her family in our prayers. We cooed over photographs of her bald little nine-year-old... Read More →