Sunday reading

The argument between Jesus and the Jewish establishment continues and now, the figure of Abraham is dragged in.

The Jews were intensely proud of being children of Abraham as he had received a promise from God that a great nation would rise from his offspring, a promise which was sealed with a covenant.

Jesus has said, If anyone obeys my teaching, he will not know what it is to die. In other words, he will gain eternal life. Read more »

The devotion to St Joseph, husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus, has grown in popularity in recent centuries.

Today Joseph is the patron of families, the patron of workers, as well as of the universal Church, and is invoked in preparation for a happy death.

His is one of the most popular name for boys and girls.

This is all the more remarkable considering that we know so little about Joseph from the Scriptures. But that little tells us much. Read more »

As we read through these passages from John’s Gospel we realize how conflicting were the opinions which people had about Jesus.

A true ‘sign of contradiction’!

On the one hand, the common people were charmed by the way he spoke, and many felt that Jesus indeed was the Messiah. The temple police reported to their masters that there had never been anyone who spoke like him. Read more »

Pope Francis is the first Jesuit pope in history.

When I heard his name announced, after shouting aloud, my first thought was how improbable it all was.

But why? Why was a Jesuit pope so hard for people (including me) to imagine?

And what would St. Ignatius Loyola, the 16th-century founder of the Jesuit Order (more formally known as the Society of Jesus), have thought? Read more »

The newly elected Pope Francis joked with cardinals over dinner, telling them he hopes God forgives them for having chosen him.

“When the secretary of state toasted to him, he toasted back to us and said, ‘I hope God forgives you,’” Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York recalled at the Pontifical North American College.

“He has already won our hearts, and we had a very fraternal meal at the Domus Santa Marta, where we have been staying,” said the cardinal during a 11pm March 13 press conference. Read more »

One of the enduring motifs in John’s Gospel is that of ‘witness’, or testimony.

Jesus accepts the general principle of jurisprudence; no one is to be taken simply at his own word; one needs the supportive testimony of others.

Already in his opening chapters John presents the great prophet, John the Baptist, as the first witness to Jesus. Read more »

Science and the Catholic Church share a long and sometimes tumultuous history.

As the church leaders gather for the start of conclave Tuesday (Mar. 12), their choice of a new holy leader will affect Catholic views on science in the coming decades, say scientists.

The Catholic Church has come a long way from its inauspicious treatment of Galileo Galilei in the 17th century. Read more »

No parable Jesus told ever describes God’s loving kindness towards us better than this, the parable of the Prodigal Son – or better, the parable of the Prodigal Father, the father who is lavish in generosity towards his wayward boy.

The story is occasioned by the sneering remarks of the Pharisees and scribes: “This fellow welcomes sinners and actually eats with them!”

So Jesus paints this picture of the true way in which God deals with us. Read more »

The Vatican Apostolic Library, one of the oldest libraries in the world containing more than 80,000 codices and 1.1 million printed books, is to see the majority of its work digitized thanks to 2.8 petabytes of storage being provided by EMC.

The library, established in 1448 and located in Vatican City, will see its entire catalogue of manuscripts and incunabula (a book or text written before 1501) preserved in an ISO-certifiable digital format. Read more »

In the first encounters of the Gospel with Judaism, especially in the early Jewish Christian communities, the relationship between Jesus and the Law was an urgent question.

The Law had sacred value. It was thought to be the summary of all wisdom, human and divine, the revelation of God himself, a complete and secure guide to conduct in every human situation.

For most Jews, the Law was the final revelation of God himself. Read more »