As the days shorten and the beautiful autumn colors begin to fade the church reminds us of both the splendor and frailty of Christian life Goodness and love of God and neighbor in the lives of countless and nameless holy ones have illumined our way but they have departed as we commemorate the fea

Scripture is both a beautiful tapestry of God’s loving deeds and a mirror that enables us to gaze at our own lives.

There are far deeper values and far deeper joys than great possessions can assure.

Marriage is increasingly described as a fragile institution in our society Divorce rates hover around 40 per cent with the divorce rate among Catholics at roughly 20 percent The readings for this Sunday provide a biblical countervision The Gospel begins with the Pharisees testing Jesus by asking

In today rsquo s Gospel the sweet Jesus of much Christian piety seems to be having a bad day He rebuffs a disciple and his sayings echo with images of intentional drowning self-mutilation and permanent residence in Gehenna with unquenchable fire These sayings which once may have been independen

Christians today tend to think of the age of martyrs in terms of the early centuries of the church with vivid pictures of lions about to devour those who would not deny Christ Yet Karl Rahner once noted that today we should speak not only of martyrs of the faith but also of martyrs of justice Th