Grew up in Providence RI. BA at Providence college, Ph.D. in historical theology from Catholic University of America. Former professional musician and theology professor at Loyola College in Maryland and the University of Dallas. Currently owner of Wellness Business Ventures LLC and director of CrossroadsInitiative.com. Father of five.
Many are ready to give a polite nod of some sort to Jesus of Nazareth. Most honor him as a great moral teacher. Many even confess him as Savior. But the Incarnation of the Eternal God? Second person of the Holy Trinity? God can’t be one and three at the same time. Such a notion [...]
We don’t know where Thomas was. All we know is that he missed it. All the others were huddling together behind locked doors, hoping that the authorities would be satisfied with the blood of their master and leave them alone. But Jesus wouldn’t leave them alone. Despite the locked doors, there He stood, glorious in [...]
4th Sunday in Lent, Cycle C “For our sakes God made him who did not know sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the very holiness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). Some Christians reading these words over the last few centuries have gotten the wrong idea. They’ve put this Scripture together [...]
Most religions in the ancient world were local or national cults. The Egyptians worshiped Isis and Osiris. Athens was named after the goddess Athena. Ephesus was the center of the cult of Artemis. But when the Church was born on Pentecost Sunday, it was comprised of people from every nation under heaven, all of whom [...]
The Second Vatican Council taught us that the Eucharist is the “Source and Summit” of the Christian life. Yet we must keep in mind that the same council makes clear that the Eucharist is not the sum total of the Christian life. In fact, the Eucharist and all the other sacraments are memorials of a [...]
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C Peter. Paul. Isaiah. Frodo Baggins. They have more in common than meets the eye. Of course, there are differences, too. Peter is a small business man, wringing a living for his family out of a lake in Hicksville. No one expected much from Galilee. Its inhabitants had a [...]
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C There is a myth that we must lay to rest, once and for all — the myth that Protestants are all about the Bible, while Catholics are all about the Sacraments. While I can’t speak for my Protestant brethren, I can say this with certainty: the Catholic Church [...]
At first glance, the scene makes little sense. John’s strident call to repentance provokes an overwhelming response. People of all shapes and sizes flock to him in the wilderness. They are baptized in the Jordan as a sign of repentance and cleansing. Suddenly, out of the crowd steps John’s cousin, Jesus. Wait a minute! What [...]
Up until now, all has been quite humble. A donkey-ride to a dusty town south of Jerusalem. Hotel rooms all booked up. Giving birth in a stable and laying the baby in a feed trough instead of a cozy cradle. Into this scene of obscure poverty suddenly bursts an exotic entourage from a far-off land. [...]
Every year right after Christmas, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. There is an important reason for this. It’s easy to think the “incarnation” means God took on a human body, that he appeared in human flesh. But there is much more to it than that. In Jesus, God unites himself entirely with [...]
4th Sunday of Advent (Cycle C) The Beatitudes rank high on the list of all-time favorite Bible passages. But what is “beatitude,” anyway? In the bible, a “blessed” person is someone who has received gifts of the greatest value, gifts that lead to true fulfillment and lasting happiness. If I were to ask you [...]
3rd Sunday of Advent (Year C) On the third Sunday of Advent, the penitential purple of the season changes to rose and we celebrate “Gaudete” or “Rejoice!” Sunday. “Shout for joy, daughter of Sion” says Zephaniah. “Draw water joyfully from the font of salvation,” says Isaiah. “Rejoice in the Lord always,” says St. Paul. “Do [...]
Second Sunday of Advent Faith, hope, and love. St. Paul, in I Corinthians 13:13, say these three are the bottom line. They are called the theological virtues, the qualities that make us most like God. We hear plenty about faith and love. But when is the last time you heard a rousing homily on hope? [...]
1st Sunday of Advent “Advent” is simply the Latin word for “coming.” If we can manage to meditate on any “coming” in December besides the comings and goings of Christmas shopping, it would be Christ’s coming to Mary in a stable But the liturgy of the first three weeks of Advent speaks of another coming, [...]
34rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, From the dawn of civilization, kings have dreamed of possessing a world-wide dominion, a universal kingdom that would last forever. Some have come close to conquering much of the known world: Alexander, Genghis Khan, Augustus Caesar, to name a few. And some kingdoms have lasted a very long time, such [...]
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B Whenever I lead a trip to the Holy Land, the question inevitably comes, “Will we visit Armageddon?’ This refers, of course, to the battlefield surrounding the ancient city of Megiddo where some think the final confrontation will take place before the end of the world (Rev 16:16). Catholics [...]
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B The time lag between the two widows in this Sunday’s readings was considerable. Lots of things change in 800 years. But one thing their two societies had in common–they didn’t offer social security, welfare, 401K’s, or pension plans. With no husband to provide for them, both widows were [...]
As a rebellious teenager, I thought that Catholics should stop wasting their money on expensive churches. We ought to sell them all and buy food for the poor, I argued.Funny thing. Jesus, who cared much for the poor, did not have this attitude. As an adolescent, he yearned to spend time in Herod’s sumptuous Temple [...]
I’ll never forget that bleak January day when my father died. It was very hard to believe in the resurrection as I watched the undertakers carry away his lifeless corpse in a body bag. But imagine this scene. You are an unborn child who has lived in cozy but cramped quarters with your twin for [...]
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time The Blind Man Speaks Up There were hundreds in the crowd that day at Jericho. No doubt all of them had needs, many of them urgent. But this Sunday’s gospel tells us that apparently only one of them had the audacity to speak up and ask for help from the [...]
In 1958, a congenial old man, Angelo Roncalli, was elected to the chair of Peter. He was to be a caretaker pope, someone to keep the ship steady while the cardinals identified a more long-term leader. That smiling old man soon stunned the world by calling the first ecumenical council in nearly a hundred years. [...]
You often see a garden statue of him with a bird on his shoulder. Yes, St. Francis of Assisi did have a special relationship with animals. He preached to the birds, pacified a wolf, and put together an animal cast for what is widely regarded as the very first live nativity scene. But he had [...]
Finding the hidden meanings. Unraveling mysteries. Deciphering symbols. The thrill inherent in all this is partly why Dan Brown’s book, the Da Vinci Code, sold so well. But Brown’s secret code, the 2000 year chain of clues supposedly leading to the true identity of Jesus and his holy grail, is simply a parody of the [...]
Lots of perks come with being the boss, whether you are the boss of a church, company, or nation. You get to call the shots, for starters. Then there is good food, good drink. Travel. Parties. Expense accounts. Pomp and circumstance. Bodyguards. Technology has changed a lot, but people haven’t. In ancient times as in [...]
