Category Archives: Uncategorized

“All week I have been working as usual.” How many people in America can say that right now? And yet, that was the opening line of Brother Jim’s update email to me. I had been thinking about the poor community, … Continue reading →

… All things are vanity! For what profit comes to a person from … anxiety of heart…? (Ecclesiastes) If today you hear God’s voice harden not you hearts. (Responsorial Psalm refrain 95:8) Think of what is above, not of what … Continue reading →

July 2018, police officers shot a 30 year old man in the back 5 or 6 times. He died on the West-side of Chicago. Anger and protests followed. The police videos showed the victim with a gun he refused to … Continue reading →

Baruch 5:1-9; Phil. 1:4-6, 8-11; Lk. 3:1-6 A voice crying out in the desert, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths!” John, son of Zachariah, was born a priest within the comfort and prestige of the Jerusalem … Continue reading →

  Acts 9:26-31; 1 Jn 3:18-24; Jn 15:1-8. We know that we should obey Jesus’ commandments. But what are they? Rules? Laws? Are they complicated? Are they difficult to understand? Do we need to study the Bible day and night? Do … Continue reading →

A year ago I met James at 15th and St. Louis on Chicago’s West-side. He asked if I could help him obtain a State ID card. He had a baby on the way and needed a job. I said no … Continue reading →

Ezekiel 33: 7-9 Romans 13: 8-10 Matthew 18: 15-20 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time If Today You Hear God’s Voice Harden Not Your Heart. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes that the Torah found God to be both Transcendent and Immanent. And … Continue reading →

Being a Light in the World Today’s readings point out four people who were lights in the world. Being a Light in the World is a theme of Jesus, but he gets it from today’s passage from Isaiah. “It is … Continue reading →

Amos 8:4-7 1 Timothy 2:1-8 Luke 16:10-13 The world yearns for a moral voice, but other voices seem to drown it out. We intrinsically know right from wrong, but we ignore that inner voice because it works for our benefit. … Continue reading →

During the summer of 1985, I was a seminarian working with street gangs at St. Malachy Church adjacent to the old Henry Horner housing projects.  One day a family came to see me.  A teenage gang member had been arrested … Continue reading →