An angel said to Joseph in a dream, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod… is searching for the child to destroy him.” Who would want to destroy a child? What must be the anguish, the horror to be a parent who fears for … Continue reading “Journeys of Holy Families”
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Inside Edition: Joseph and All Fathers
I think sometimes I shall never have a son. I’ve wondered why I am forsaken. I am forsaken of my legacy, a bestowing of my self, my property to an heir. How then shall I live on? How shall I show I made a difference in this world? What will be my mark, if my … Continue reading “Inside Edition: Joseph and All Fathers”
Inside Edition: John and All Truthtellers
Though I live in the desert, my senses bring in so much. I see the beauty of people and the verdant landscape. I see too their suffering and its depletion. I hear words of love spoken and laughter exclaimed. I hear too the cry of the poor their sobbing cascading. I feel the softness of … Continue reading “Inside Edition: John and All Truthtellers”
Inside Edition: Mary and All Mothers
I have wondered if I am all alone in these feelings. Is it only me who feels suffocated? I struggle to breathe in this enclosure the world constructs for me. It feels like a tomb. They lay me in it from early on and expect I shall live in it, forever. But there is no … Continue reading “Inside Edition: Mary and All Mothers”
Inside Edition: Jesus and All Babies
Lately, I’ve had the sense I’m upside down. No one has told me this, I just have the sense I am. Shall I be so forever? Will this existence here be my existence forever? Shall this home be my only home? I think not. I can conceive of so much more, for I keep changing. … Continue reading “Inside Edition: Jesus and All Babies”
The Myth of Chosen Ones
People who believe they are ‘Chosen Ones’ are undertaking a violent coup. They believe their mythical warrior deity, ‘the Lord,’ has unchosen Saul as King and chosen David. “(T)he LORD said to David, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.” Soldiers will switch their allegiance from one king to another. … Continue reading “The Myth of Chosen Ones”
What in God’s Name?
Jesus is naming the many terrors rulers always devise and challenging us about them. Be peacemakers during the terror of rulers and their soldiers who will always devise “wars and insurrections.” Be conscientious when rulers and their soldiers devise for “nation to rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,” as they always do. Be courageous … Continue reading “What in God’s Name?”
The Deadly Just War Religion
The family Maccabees refuses to obey a foreign War Lord, King Antiochus IV. Antiochus was outlawing Jewish religious traditions and forcing the family to obey Greek ones, for example, the deadly just war tradition. Thus the king “slaughtered” many; “in the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost.” But the Maccabees’ Jewish religious traditions … Continue reading “The Deadly Just War Religion”
The Point of Our View
When Jesus was passing through Jericho “he looked up” and saw Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus had “climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus.” Zacchaeus had to change his point of view in order to see Jesus, to encounter him. He could not do so from his original point of view, it rendered him short-sighted. His short-sighted point … Continue reading “The Point of Our View”
Is Love A Folly?
Jesus has encounters with people “who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” In today’s Gospel he tells of a Pharisee who is praying nearby to a despised and humble tax collector who “stood off at a distance … and prayed” for “mercy.” The Pharisee’s prayer is, “O God, I thank you … Continue reading “Is Love A Folly?”