We live in an age of online dating Having done most of my own courting before the French Revolution mdash I gave it up when pantaloons went out of style Why pursue romance without panache mdash I rsquo m reluctant to opine on the surety of this new approach but I would note one novelty of we

In January 2012 I began blogging a commentary on the Gospel of Mark available at the Bible Junkies blog and now at America Magazine which I completed just last week My somewhat ambitious goal is to write an online commentary on every New Testament document though I have given myself the equally

Jesus preached by way of parable I reckon that if it worked for the master the disciple can ply the same craft which is why I often begin sermons with a story something that hopefully has a emotional hook to draw in the hearer But the Parable of the Prodigal Son is already so emotionally evoc

Last year I spent some time reading the powerful book The Night of the Confessor by nbsp the Czech Roman Catholic priest Tomas Halik His readings of the Gospel in light of the Church today moved me to write four blog posts at Bible Junkies I reproduce one of those posts here Church as quot Commu

Had he made the wrong choice of schools His courses were demanding quot We have tremendous long and hard lessons to get through in both French and Algebra quot The discipline was dogged quot They give a man one of these black marks for almost nothing If he gets two hundred a year they dismis

In case you have not heard, Pope Benedict XVI resigned. Nowadays, to choose a successor they gather all of the Cardinals under 80 from around the world and fly them to Rome to choose a new Pope. But how did Peter become the first Bishop of Rome, the man we call "Pope"? Practice, practice, practice? No, that’s how you get to Carnegie Hall not Rome. So, what are the lessons that the New Testament offers for those who are about to choose a successor to Peter as the Bishop of Rome? First of all, each Gospel tells us that Jesus called Simon bar Jonah early in his ministry to follow him and Peter answered that call . This is a call all the papabile have already answered, so they are in good position in that respect, though Simon bar Jonah was a Jewish fisherman when he was called, which none of the Cardinals can claim to be. Second, Jesus gave Simon a nickname, and this fact in itself is very cool, but the content of the nickname, Cephas or Petros, “the Rock,” is even better (Mk. 3:16; Matt. 16:18; Jn. 1:42). Once Simon received his nickname, he generally was called Peter, except by his mother and Paul; she doubtless kept calling him Simon and Paul kept calling him Cephas, probably to show that he still knew Aramaic. We do not know if any of the possibilities for Pope have nicknames, such as Marc “Frenchy” Ouellet or Peter “The Young” Turkson, but even if they did, their names were not given to them directly by Jesus, so this might not be a deciding factor. Upon becoming Pope they do get to choose a new name, which is itself cool, but not as excellent as having Jesus choose one for you.