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Nov 2018
It is a holy and pious thought (2 Mc 12:45) to pray for the dead. In the month of November the Church remembers in a special way the souls in purgatory and how we can help them by our prayers. An important, but forgotten, practice that can benefit the souls of the faithful departed, as well as ourselves, is the gaining of indulgences. Pope Paul VI taught: “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who......
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November 02, 2018
Review
I began this year writing about the Church as a sign of hope in the world precisely because she is a sort of sacrament of intimate unity with God and the unity of the whole...
October 19, 2018
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
I have written at length now about what Jesus refers to as the weightier matters of the law: judgment (mishpat), mercy (chesed), and fidelity (emeth) (cf. Mt 23:23). This three inseparable covenant virtues provide us...
October 12, 2018
The offering of judgment, mercy, and fidelity in the life of Jesus
When we consider sacrifice in the Old Testament we discover that no matter how we approach the matter, sacrifice always falls short. As a gift of tribute to God, the ruler of all, it falls...
October 05, 2018
Fidelity or ’emeth’: the solid foundation for the covenant
Jesus teaches that the weightier matters of the law are judgment, mercy, and fidelity. I have been examining the Hebrew words that lie behind these inseparable covenant qualities: mishpat for judgment, chesed for mercy, and...
September 28, 2018
‘Chesed’: The mercy that gives security to the vulnerable
Jesus speaks of judgment, mercy, and fidelity as the weightier matters of the law. (Mt 23:23) Setting these three together is essential for the right understanding of the more compact statement that mercy is better...
September 21, 2018
Who am I to judge?
In order better to understand the words of the prophet, I want mercy, not sacrifice (Hos 6:6), I turned to Jesus’ statement about the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and fidelity. I am...
September 14, 2018
The covenant qualities of judgment, mercy, and fidelity: judgment
In the past weeks I have been writing about how the Old Testament compares the covenant between God and Israel to a marriage. We have seen that Israel acted in relation to God as a...
September 07, 2018
Sacrifice and Covenant in Hosea and Ezekiel
I have been writing about sacrifice in the Old Testament in the context of the covenant between God and Israel, which was compared to a marriage. In this context idolatry was seen as the spiritual...
August 31, 2018
Idolatry, Adultery, and the renewal of the Covenant in the Prophet Hosea: Part I
Last Sunday I began writing about the role of sacrifice precisely within the context of the covenant between God and his people Israel. The covenant between God and Israel, precisely because it is founded not...