From Season to Season

All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee. —Mark 1:27-28 When many people hear the word “prophet,” they imagine someone who is essentially a divinely sanctioned fortune-teller. But, if we look at the full story of salvation as it is presented in the Bible, we recognize that prophets were just as concerned with the here and now as they were with the world to come. In fact, it was the prophets’ special mission to help the people recognize the truth about themselves and the world around them, especially calling them to the see how their words and actions impacted their relationships with God and others what the consequences of those words and actions might be. Prophets told the truth. Because of this, prophets were often hated, especially by people in power.   "Moses" by Michelangelo Buanarroti in the Church of San ...

Note: I have been publishing reflections via Aletia.org and on Facebook Notes for the past few years, but I am   happy to begin sharing again on this blog.  An earlier version of this reflection was posted Aletiea.org. on August 26, 2017,  For the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2020) You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.  — Matthew 16:18 Several years ago, I read the novel  The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham . It’s the story of two brothers coping with the death of their mother and their family’s histrionics. One of the brothers, Barrett, is always trying to find a way to escape his own life and over the course of the novel, he comes realize how shallow he has become. At one point in the story, he remarks that, “The moment matters more than the future. The present—today, tonight; the sensation of walking into a room, and creating a real if fleeting hush—is what I care ...

Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching… be self-possessed in all circumstances, put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry . —2 Timothy 4:2, 5  St. Norbert Window from St. Norbert Abbey in De Pere, Wisconsin Saint Norbert was born near Wesel, Germany, around the year 1080. Through the influence of his noble family, he was able to obtain a paid position at the church of St. Victor in Xanten. His only task was to take part in the daily prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, but he paid someone to take his place so he could take a higher paying position as a religious counselor (chaplain) to Emperor Henry V . Eventually, Norbert converted from a worldly life, embracing the religious ideal, and he was ordained to the priesthood in 1115. Feeling called to a more austere way of life, Norbert gave away all his possessions and moved to the va...

In those days, like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace. Their staff of bread he shattered, in his zeal he reduced them to straits; By the Lord's word he shut up the heavens and three times brought down fire. How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! - Sirach 28:1-4 In the Advent carol “Watchman Tell Us Of the Night,” the lyricist, Sir John Bowring , presents a dialogue between a watchman and a traveler. In the song, the night is far spent and the morning star announces the coming of the dawn: Watchman, tell us of the night, What its signs of promise are. Traveler, o’er yon mountains height, See that glory beaming star. Watchman, does its beauteous ray Aught of joy or hope foretell? Traveler, yes—it brings the day, Promised day of Israel . The prophet, like the traveler in this carol, is the one who is able to discern the presence and action of God at work in the world  and who i...

In his Rule , Saint Benedict instructs the abbot to call the community together whenever there is important business to discuss: “Let the Abbot call together the whole community and state the matter to be acted upon. Then, having heard the brethren's advice, let him turn the matter over in his own mind and do what he shall judge to be most expedient. The reason we have said that all should be called for counsel is that the Lord often reveals to the younger what is best” (Ch. 3). As with so many of the Rule’s precepts, Benedict bases his teachings on a balanced understanding of the human person and community dynamics, as well as the experience of the broader Church.   Synaxis of the Apostles 14th century icon  In the Acts of the Apostles , Saint Luke presents the first generation of believers as living an almost idyllic existence: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers… A...