The Sunday Gospel
Choosing God as we live with human limitations
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary time Matthew 13:24-43 The Book of Wisdom provides this weekend’s first reading. Wisdom is the name not only of this book of the Old Testament, but […]
Columns Archive
A more human society
Two approaches to racism
It is clear where the Catholic Church stands on racism. The U.S. bishops’ document for Catholic voters, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” has long condemned acts of racism as “violations […]
Perspective
Martin Luther King Jr. and the religious motivation for social change
A principal reason why the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was so successful both morally and practically was that it was led largely by people with a […]
Perspective
This moment of judgment
I’d be willing to bet that not many of us have watched a man die. Those of us who don’t go to war or work in intensive care units are […]
Perspective
‘Go and tell the Good News: the feast of St. Mary Magdalene’
This July 22, in the midst of the Church’s ordinary time of everyday life and summer heat, is the feast of St. Mary Magdalene. Catholic tradition nicknamed her “the apostle […]
The Sunday Gospel
The Word of God, planted in our hearts, is a command
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 13:1-9 The third and last section of the Book of Isaiah is the source of the first reading for this weekend. This reading was […]
Perspective
Justices fail to correct a serious mistake in latest abortion ruling
By Richard W. Garrett On Monday, a divided Supreme Court handed down its decision in a case called June Medical Services v. Russo, which involves a Louisiana law requiring abortionists […]
The Sunday Gospel
The Spirit of Christ is alive in us
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 11:25-30 This weekend, the first biblical reading is from the Book of Zechariah. It is thought that Zechariah was of the priestly caste and […]
Perspective
Learning how to saunter: the gifts of quarantine
Tonight, I wrote two events on my calendar: a birthday party and a baptism. They will be sanitized, scaled-down gatherings — and they will be fun — but still, it […]
Perspective
The inoculation of sin
I’m a very sick man. In fact, I knock daily on death’s door. You see, I inherited it from my parents, and it has been in the family tree ever […]
The Sunday Gospel
The Lord asks us to take up our cross and follow Him
Thirteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time Matthew 10:37-42 This weekend’s first reading is from the first of two books in the Bible that bear a name suggesting that they are about […]
Perspective
It was a zebra, not a horse
This patient of mine was a huge man. He was 6-foot-4 and weighed 290 pounds. He did not look at all overweight. He was just big. He had significant coronary […]