A book of remembrance was written before him… Malachi 3:16 There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, of an American professor of philosophy doing research in Asia. Deeply involved in her work, she asks a Japanese colleague to explain some of the complexities of Shinto and Buddhist belief. The Japanese scholar at first demurs. But the…

With the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus we are nearly at the end of Luke’s narrative of Jesus’ journey from the region between Galilee and Samaria up to the city of Jerusalem (17:11 – 19:27) for the events leading to the Cross. The stories and parables told in this section all point to one of…

We say in the Declaration of Independence that everyone is created equal. In general, we know better than that. All of us are not equal in most things. We are not equal in height, in intelligence, in ability, in our opportunities in life, in life expectancy, in moral or other virtue. We are not equal…

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn spent many years in the prison camps of Siberia. Along with other prisoners, he worked in the fields day after day, in rain and sun, during summer and winter. His life appeared to be nothing more than backbreaking labor and slow starvation. The…

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. Let us look again at the scene described in the Gospel story, for it is riveting. This encounter with Jesus has a unique quality that must be examined closely. Jesus was a great walker. He covered…

Often parishioners come to their clergy or spiritual advisors seeking help with issues of deepening or increasing their faith or of overcoming doubts and uncertainty. This is not surprising because most of us experience such needs. It is a mark of strength of faith to want to grow spiritually. Today’s Gospel reading relates a similar…