Priest. Hermit. Aspie.
Early on in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, we learn that our hero, Indiana Jones, hates snakes. Later on, in the video clip above, he needs to enter a chamber where the floor is filled with snakes. “Why does it have to be snakes?”, he moans. Continue reading “The Snake And The Cross”
You are a parent who has reached retirement age. You have had several children. Only one or two of them still practice their Catholic faith in any recognizable fashion. You know you made mistakes as a parent – who hasn’t? – but you also know that you did the best you could to raise your children and to pass on your faith. Have all your efforts been in vain, you may wonder? What will become of my children? Will my grandchildren have faith? Continue reading “Taking Away The Stone”
Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” – John 1:38
“I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.” – John 4:35
“Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” – Matthew 13:17
Seeing is believing – or so the saying goes. But is it so?
In the ninth chapter of John’s Gospel, we are presented with a story of Jesus healing a blind man, and its aftermath. Many witnessed the healing, or at least its result. Yet, many did not believe, for various reasons. How can this be? Continue reading “What Are You Looking For?”
(Note: Although we are in Cycle B this year, parishes that have RCIA catechumens and candidates can use Cycle A for these next three Sundays. This is the situation in the parish where I help out, so this is what you will have for these next three weeks!)
Today, John’s Gospel introduces us to a woman in the Samaritan town of Sychar who comes to Jacob’s well, located outside the town, to draw water. It is about noon. Continue reading “Living Water”
“The earth… is divided into three parts, one of which is called Asia, the second Europe, the third Africa… Apart from these three parts of the world there exists a fourth part, beyond the ocean, which is unknown to us.” – St. Isidore of Seville, Etymologies, c. 600 AD
This quote may challenge the way some of you have viewed European history. Here is someone who lived nearly two centuries after the collapse of Roman rule in Western Europe – during a time often dismissed as the “Dark Ages”. And yet, he reports this concept that the world is more than he or anyone of his era knew – that there is a “fourth part of the world… unknown to us”. This idea doesn’t come from Isidore himself; he reports it, matter-of-factly, as something commonly assumed in his day. A belief that there was more to the physical world than what they could see then. Continue reading “The Fourth Part of the World”