“Thoughts in Christ”

Unfortunately, many translations of Christ’s words lose the idiosyncratic way He had of beginning the most portentous sayings with “Amen, amen,” the word used to conclude prayer and sacred comments. More, He would repeat it for emphasis. What usually follows is a reference to the Kingdom of God. In the gospel of St. John alone, this formula is…

Funerals for the beloved departed begin with the words of this psalm of confidence and trust. Nothing is to trouble us, not even death itself. Why should we be afraid if we have trust in the One who promised to send angels to catch us as we drift through the unknown regions beyond this life, taking us in hand and transporting us to Him who created…

Here is a prayer to fix in your memory and reflect upon each time you light a candle and say a prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ. You are setting a flame before Him which represents the warmth of affection for God. Is it really burning love, or just some gesture your parents taught you to perform upon entering the church? Or may it be that some…

How delightful to hear people ask each other for prayers, or say they are praying for someone. It’s assumed we all know what a prayer means. Here, however, St. Paul uses four different terms to express the various forms of prayer.

The first word is basically a request. It expresses a need. It can be addressed to the Lord God, but it can also be a…

We live in a free nation. Liberty is a cherished element in our Constitution. But the freedom we uphold is often misused and abused. It’s made into a partial truth. Yet the true Christian Church insists that partial truths won’t do. They are branded heresies. A heresy is a teaching based on a portion of the whole truth; i.e., a basic idea or…

Consistent with our faith in the Lord to care for all those whom we cannot see, including those throughout the world whom we know or do not know, for the infants developing in the wombs of their mothers, for the apostles, prophets, martyrs and saints of the past, we include quite naturally and logically our own loved ones departed this life before…

Initially this was an order to the doorkeepers to be certain that all who were not baptized had gone from the church, and only the faithful were welcome to remain for the Holy Communion. Doors closed and doors open provide powerful symbols to ponder.

“Let us attend,” means, “Pay attention.” What follows is profoundly serious. It is now time to stop…

It’s not exactly like that—not anymore. It’s not the synagogues that present us problems, but the mosques. Jesus is offering consolation in the above prediction to His immediate disciples. And indeed it had happened as He said. But in today’s world we are hunted not specifically as Christians, but as Americans.

Let’s begin with the politically…

In the beginning of the New Testament we find an angel appearing to Joseph and explaining part of the mystery of this unique birth, which the heavenly Father is bringing about by the Holy Spirit. The angels, or at least this angel and Gabriel who visited Mary, knew about the incarnation of the Son of God before any human beings, since they were…

Men especially often justify fits of anger by referring to this passage. They like to say that even Christ lost His temper—and “I’m like Him that way.” But He didn’t have a fit of rage that day. Those who observed the scene asked Him, “What sign do You show since You do such things?” They understood that like the ancient prophets, Jesus was making…

It’s never easy to reprimand somebody and to do so graciously. Everyone wants to be praised, and if not praised, then understood. Old people, specifically older men, expect to be justified. We know all too well the type: They criticize everything but themselves. They go about making lists of all the things that are wrong with the world, the country,…

What is he saying? He is dead? How can that be? St. Paul is expressing something that shatters all logic, unless it is mere hyperbole—but he is dead serious. Rather, he is alive and quite serious. The crucified Christ is living in and through him, by the Holy Spirit. His life is an ongoing experience of faith in the Son of God, and we have to…

Every parish has them, praise the Lord. They are never heard, yet they hear all that takes place in the church. They rarely speak up at parish meetings or in the clusters of talkers who have so much to say about the pastor and the affairs of the congregation. They aren’t the ones who present themselves at banquets, offer toasts, or rush forth to be…

St. Luke, who had a gift for observing and recording human nature, capturing idiosyncrasies for his readers, offers us the contrasting characteristics of these sisters—Martha the extrovert, Mary the introvert. Jesus uses their differences to teach a lesson of values.

Martha has a point. The house is filled with guests, the honored One being Jesus…

Our Lord Jesus points out the miracle of life’s renewal in a grain of wheat. The inanimate grain multiplies when it dies and is buried. Living things also hibernate. Now in the late autumn countless millions of cocoons hang from branches across the northern hemisphere. Each contains a living creature entombed in a prison of its own making. What were…

Let’s contrast the ending of the conventional Old Testament [without the Apocrypha] with the conclusion of the New Testament. They are both presented above. The prophet Malachi predicted that Elijah would appear to Israel before the day of the Lord [Hbw. Yom YHWH]/ He was sent by the Lord Almighty to bring understanding between the generations.…

It sounds so obvious that you may wonder why the Bible would present such a platitude. It’s not a simple thing, however, to trust in the Lord with all your heart. We don’t always realize how often we trust others instead. For example, take the case of chain letters.

What do you do when you are sent a chain letter? Now that people utilize the…

I’ve always been intrigued at what it takes for a person to betray a leader or a country. It’s not done on a whim or an impulse—as we see above, it took forethought for Judas to turn against Jesus, until “from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.” He had been among the privileged inner circle. He was present to witness the many miracles…

An ancient Hebrew proverb says, “Raising children is like peeling an onion. You end up with tears in your eyes, and nothing in your hands.” Well, maybe not always. But the spiritual truth in the sad prediction is that it’s more often the case when we make the mistake of idolizing our children. How often do we find the opposite extreme from parents…

At the poignant parting of the Lord Jesus with His disciples, He gave them a gift and a promise. He left them His special peace, and He promised that the Father would soon send them the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is His partner in salvation. He will teach them and remind them—teach, meaning explain the implications of all that Christ had revealed to…