Draw near to him [i.e. Jesus], a living stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen and honored by God. Be you yourselves as living stones, built thereon into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. –1 Peter 2:4-5– The early
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Blind guides, who strain out the gnat but swallow the camel! –Matthew 23:24– In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, people are obsessing about unimportant things such as television shows, all the while failing to take any notice of the war that is threatening to destroy their society. That
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And they kept inquiring by signs of his father what he would have him called. –Luke 1:62– The account of the restoration of Zechariah’s power of speech (Luke 1:57-66) is one of my favorite biblical passages, because I believe it lends support to the reliability of the Evangelists, that
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(This is a copy of my classroom policies from those happy days when I taught at Bethlehem Catholic High School. Perhaps some of the insanity therein contained might be helpful to other teachers…) Introduction Welcome aboard! I am, by nature, a benevolent Captain.
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A Talk for the Serra Club’s Dinner for Newly Ordained Priests I have often told Jesus that if I had to invent a religion, I could not come up with a seemingly stranger one than Catholicism. How can the Eucharist, what appears to be bread and wine, really be
Read moreGod so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. –John 3:16– Just this past week, a friend sent me a YouTube link to a video by a young man named Aaron Harburg. It’s
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He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. –Mark 6:8-9– One of my closest friends in the priesthood is Father Frans Berkhout, former principal of
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But he [the bridegroom] answered and said, “Amen I say to you, I do not know you.” –Matthew 25:12– Years ago, my sister Elizabeth and her husband Rick were on their way to their friend Steve’s wedding some miles away from their home. Unfortunately, they got stuck in traffic and
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But I speak the truth to you; it is expedient for you that I depart. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. –John 16:7– If your car battery is installed properly, there is
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For this corruptible body must put on incorruption, and this mortal body must put on immortality. –1 Corinthians 15:53– I have a friend whose mother is named Natalie. Natalie tells how, when she was five years old, she wanted a doll, just like all the other little girls she
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