Not Far is Close Enough
Bishop Kelly
Many Christians who live in the State of Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Syria, and whoever remains in Iraq, have difficulty listening to readings like the first reading of today. It is from the Hebrew Bible, the book of the Prophet Hosea. He lived …
The Kingdom of God
In today’s gospel, Mark quotes Jesus as having difficulty in explaining what the Kingdom of God is. “To what we shall compare the Kingdom of God?” In the beginning of Mark’s gospel, we are told in the 1st Chapter that Jesus went around preaching the …
Sleep Well, Pleasant Dreams
This morning in the Vatican there was a short ceremony that takes place every year on this date. Today is the feast of St. Agnes, a young girl martyred in the early 4th century. “Agnes” in Latin means “lamb” as in Agnes Dei-Lamb of God. …
Bring a Message of Love and Hope
The state of Idaho is approximately 83,000 square miles in area. The state of Israel (including Palestine) Is only about 8,000 square miles in area. Israel is one-tenth the size of Idaho. It is a very small country. In the time of Jesus, it wasn’t …
Disease
Throughout history, there have been many diseases that have killed millions of people. For example, in the Middle Ages, bubonic plague devastated Europe and up to half the people died. In 1918, immediately after World War I, a world-wide flu pandemic killed more people than …
Practice what you Preach
In today’s gospel, Luke quotes the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. He would have been familiar with Isaiah and he wants to connect Jesus with Isaiah, implying that Jesus, too, was a prophet. The passage Jesus read (he’s at a synagogue service, similar to what we …
There Weren’t Three, and They Weren’t Kings.
There weren’t three and they weren’t kings One of the most endearing stories of the New Testament is Matthew’s account of the Magi. In Greek, the text introduces them as “magoi apo anatolon”. The number of magi is not mentioned and the text explicitly identifies …
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary
Not long ago, editors of major newspapers around the world were each asked the same question: what was the single most important event of the 20th Century? It was a century unlike any other. On the negative side, there were two world wars and countless …
Divided or United
Last week, Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew signed an historic document in Istanbul. Francis is the leader of the Catholic Church and Bartholomew is the leader of the Orthodox Church. For a thousand years, the two churches, one representing the West and the other representing …
St. Francis Xavier
Today is the feast of St. Francis Xavier, a remarkable man. He was born in 1506 in Navarre, now part of Spain. Depending on who you talk to, Navarre is part of the Basque country. In any case, Francis was Basque and Basque was his …
