John the Baptist never became a Christian or follower of Jesus indeed there are signs of a cult about John even in the 50 s AD a sign that a number of John s followers never became followers of Jesus John s importance lies in the fact that for all four Gospels the reality of God s int

Mark introduces Jesus as Son of God While some consider this title another way of saying Messiah the tradition prior to Mark about 40 years indicates that with this title Jesus is professed to be divine and that is saying much more about him than does Messiah The Gospel will not be out to

The Messiah as Jesus own Jewish history shows was anything but a person who should die in humiliation powerless defenseless and public criminal Mark set himself the task in composing his Gospel story to flinch neither from the powerful demonstration of glorious attributes of a king Messia

Mark s opening line focuses his reader s attention upon Jesus Mark speaks about good news which has all the richness of divine blessing since it is God s joyful message to human beings for their good In the tradition leading up to the New Testament such good meant above all f

In offering a systematic interpretation of Mark s Gospel I follow him chapter by chapter with what can be called a center-slightly left interpretation this is in accord with many many Catholic exegetes today By following what I write you will see practically what it means to be cente

In commenting on liturgical readings and feasts of the Church I have found myself wishing that I could say more or better say more systematically So what I have suggested and have been given permission to do is offer a systematic run through Mark s Gospel later other New Testam

Matthew tells a story about a non-Jewish woman who sought a cure from Jesus His initial response to her helps define what we know of Jesus purpose on earth namely the appeal to his own people to repent so as to pass the final judgment and enter into eternal happiness Only at the end of the G

Over a number of weeks now the Liturgy has been offering readings from Romans 8 This chapter means to build on and reverse the disheartening reality of Chapter 7 highlighted in Paul famous saying I know what is right and I want what is right but I do what is wrong who will save me from th

The Fourth of July is a most appropriate time to recall a discussion St Paul had in his First Letter to the Corinthians There in a dialogue form he hears someone s saying to him Everything is lawful to me Paul s responds But I do not want anything to dominate me He is thinkin

The feastday of St Thomas the Apostle is over but there remains a consideration that is valuable for undersanding the Gospel of John in which Thomas s story occurs The Thomas story is the story that completes John s presentation of the Jesus event John 21 while inspired Scripture