The unifying love that is friendship (Sunday VI of Easter)

Cornelius, a leading character of our first reading this weekend, was a Roman, and so not Jewish, although not necessarily a pagan, for he was sufficiently devoted to the God of Israel to received the angelic vision that led him to call for the Apostle S. Peter. The Romans looked down upon the Jews asContinue reading “The unifying love that is friendship (Sunday VI of Easter)”

Commandments of love (Sunday III of Lent)

I would like to look at the readings this weekend very broadly. I shall give the usual introduction I give at our scripture-study hours. The problem mankind has had, from its very beginning, is its determination to ignore the direction or guidance of the God Who made it – the Shepherd King of hearts –Continue reading “Commandments of love (Sunday III of Lent)”

Forty days and forty nights (Sunday I of Lent)

And so we begin the forty days, or so, of Lent. As the gospel story indicates, our forty days is a shadow of His forty days, the period in which He prepared for his three-year mission of preaching and teaching and for His great Sacrifice with the retreat into the wilderness. “At this time, JesusContinue reading “Forty days and forty nights (Sunday I of Lent)”