The second reading for the Fourth Sunday of Lent is from Ephesians 2 4-10 This passage is often used by both evangelicals and Catholics in apologetic contexts Ephesians 2 8-9 is cited by evangelical Christians to fortify a position that salvation is by faith alone and not by works Aha say Catho

In turning to the teachings of the Church Fathers on Matthew 15 22-28 I am drawing on the Catena Aurea of St Thomas Aquinas for Matthew who gathered portions of the Patristic writings on particular passages for each Gospel and which are now available online albeit in a rather old and stilted tra

I wanted to continue the post on Canadian Lenten Reflections by pointing out a few things which we gain from attention to source and redaction criticism in a study of this passage First the passage also appears in Mark 7 24-30 but not in the Gospel of Luke In the parallel passage in Mark the w

The biblical passage which appears below and the subsequent paragraph are taken from the 2009 lenten meditations of the Anglican Church of Canada for March 27 hellip a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting lsquo Have mercy on me Lord Son of David my daughter is tor

R R Reno has judged me in a new post today http www firstthings com onthesquare p 1324 to be an example of the wagon-circling guild mentality of so many contemporary biblical scholars More than a circler of wagons though my earlier response to him is the equivalent of a clarion call Ti

nbsp Beloved Christ suffered for sins once the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous that he might lead you to God Put to death in the flesh he was brought to life in the Spirit In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited i

Ash Wednesday whose ashes symbolize mourning and penitence is also it seems to me a period of joyous return The Apostle Paul captures this sense of joy in the second reading today 2 Corinthians 5 20-6 2 Paul has written earlier in 2 Cor 5 that the love of Christ urges him on in his ministry

I must come clean about something though I could plead guilty to a lot more and it has to do with the modern study of the Bible At times I have criticized the study of the Bible as practiced since the Enlightenment even to those who are not of the guild of Biblical scholars That is I have betr

The readings chosen for the Memorial of Saint Agatha are poignant and thought-provoking The first reading from Hebrews 12 18-19 21-24 speaks eloquently beautifully of the approach to the Living One God almighty now made less fearful since the mediation of Christ It also notes that in approach

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord celebrated on February 2 2009 comes at just the right time this year a time when we ought even more to reflect on the Jewishness of Jesus Fr James Martin noted in the In All Things blog yesterday a document posted on the website of the Society of St