The ancient Jews had two calendars, one civil and one religious. The religious one was reckoned to start in spring. The civil one in the fall. Of course, our calendar starts, weirdly enough, in the dead of winter. The Jewish religious calendar started just as all of nature was coming
I once read an interview with Garrison Keillor in which he recounted going to a funeral. During the final prayers, the minister prayed for the deceased—“and for the next person here who is going to die.” He said that most of the guests were outraged and offended, but that he
One of the most mysterious rifts to have developed in the Christian world is the rift between those who pray to the saints in glory or for the dead in Christ and those who regard all this as utterly sinister. The rift is, of course, of extremely recent vintage, historically
In the gospel of Luke, the angel Gabriel tells Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Some sufferers from Mariaphobic Response Syndrome look
Sufferers from Mariaphobic Response Syndrome have certain passages they love to bang away at in order to makes sure that nobody thinks Mary is special or anything. Indeed, so zealous is the tendency of some Christians to diminish Mary that some Christians even like to bang away at things Scripture
One common complaint among many Evangelicals or Fundamentalists is that Catholics honor Mary “too much.” It’s a highly specialized complaint, much like the complaint about Catholic “graven images” that completely overlooks the Evangelical’s own bowling trophies. After all, (and I speak from experience here), Evangelicals have no problem honoring Paul.
The Rosary is a deeply scriptural prayer and the words “The Lord is with thee” root that profoundly Christian prayer, not merely in Scripture but even in Old Testament Scripture. One of the things that marks the writers of the New Testament is their appreciation for the fact that, since
At the time Gabriel appeared to Mary, there was an emperor who ruled the known world. His name was Augustus Caesar. A common greeting among citizens of the empire at that time was “Hail Caesar!” Caesar, while originally a proper name, had already begun to morph into a title (a
In the Old Testament, the standard protocol for angelic appearances is as follows: 1. The angel appears. The human to whom he appears either a) does not realize he is an angel and so behaves as he would toward a fellow human being (that is, he makes the angel a
As our Lord himself showed on the Emmaus Road, Scripture is ultimately about him. But the curious thing is, this vast panorama of parted seas, plagues, kings, vineyards, whirlwinds, floating axeheads, blessings, curses, patriarchs, prostitutes, assassins, prophets, laws, peasants, sages, lions and hippopotami does not immediately suggest to us just
A remarkably 19th Century Manichaean view of religion has enjoyed rather a lot of favor in our press and among the manufacturers of culture since 9/11. Theologically illiterate to the bone and proudly hostile to the bent knee, the New Atheists appear to have learned nothing either from the actual teaching
My friend (we’ll call him Bob) has a problem with the Church’s “authoritarianism.” In particular, he suspects the Church’s creeds. For Bob, they are secret passwords which, if you say them while stupidly bobbing your head “yes,” allow you into the Church. He complains creeds keep people from thinking. He
When people complain that the Old and New Testaments have nothing to do with each other, I often think of a dinner I had one evening with some friends. That evening, Kim, a teacher, remarked with amazement that some of her students seemed to like eating Play-Doh. “Well,” said I, “That’s probably
Through history, there’s been no shortage of antichrist wannabes and antichrist hunters, particularly in the last century. Hitler, Stalin, and Mao all gave good college tries for the position. But one difficulty with those who are keeping an eye out for Mr. Big with his sinister plans to use the
When God commands something, it’s usually because we need to be reminded that the thing commanded is a good thing, despite the momentary testimony of our circumstances. Hence, he commands us to worship him and have no gods before him, precisely because life is constantly presenting us with alternative objects
October is, among other things, the month in which the devil sends out the most press releases about how business is booming, what with Halloween and all. Of course, like any big international business operation, Hell has to maintain several faces depending on the public it is talking to. To
There is the old joke about the helicopter pilot, lost in Seattle air space in the fog with a panic-stricken passenger. Suddenly, out of the fog looms a tall building. The pilot, running low on fuel, grabs a bullhorn and shouts to one of the people in the window, “Where
It’s no secret that the promulgation of the doctrine of the Assumption (like the promulgation of other Marian doctrines) is a scandal to many non-Catholics. Why did the Church promulgate such teachings and not just leave well enough alone? The answer lies in the reason the Church promulgates Marian doctrine
Catholic tradition sometimes hails St. Augustine as the doctor of Original Sin. If Congress ever gets around to creating similar titles for our nation’s historical figures, I would nominate James Madison. During this month of fireworks and hoohah about the American Founding, Jefferson tends to get the lion’s share of
Some people play hardball politics. I play oddball politics. I can’t help it. I’m Catholic. Am conservative or liberal? I am ardently prolife. I oppose artificial contraception. I believe in private property. I think parents have the principle responsibility for the education of their children. I am suspicious of Big
I have a little chess set I inherited from my Dad. He used it to teach me and I have been teaching my five year old, Peter. Peter is an apt pupil, but only about as apt as you expect a five year old to be. He beats me-if I
I’m a big believer in unforeseen catastrophes and the crushed hopes of mice and men. The Titanic sinks and most people say “How could this happen?” I say, “Figures.” I’m the guy who listens for the other shoe to drop, who looks for the downside of Paradise, who keeps his guard up
One of the odd paradoxes of life is the peculiar attraction of poverty. Part of us hates and fears the thought of poverty: the grind of it, the frustration of not being able to do what we would like, the shame of it (especially for competitive types), and the fear
I’ve always felt that evolution is so fascinating to its friends and foes alike, not only because it has real explanatory power for certain aspects of why organisms act like they do and are built like they are, but even more because evolution embodies one of the great mythic stories of the
Christmas is weird when you think about it. God becomes a human being after giving centuries of mysterious hints that this is what he plans to do, yet when the moment comes, hardly anybody realizes it. He lives for thirty-odd years among his people, repeatedly telling them “I am going
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