Category: Advancing the Kingdom

In common parlance there are two expressions that offer the proverbial food for thought. Though they are seemingly unrelated, they share one aspect. The first, “He can’t manage the truth”, has two possible meanings. One is that an individual denies the truth by ignoring it…

Consider the difference in the terms memorable and unforgettable. There are people, places and experiences that impress us so greatly we choose to remember them. We cherish, even nurture, our recollection of them. They are memorable. Others impress us in ways we may choose not…

If you’re like me, you are embarrassed to admit ignorance of the obvious. My recent humiliation occurred when someone explained that the word ‘alphabet’ comes from alpha and beta, the first two letters of that millennial old lexical foundation, the Greek alphabet. (Go ahead, laugh!).…

It sounds like a joke, but when asked how the date for Easter is determined each year an acquaintance of mind replied in a tone of offended intelligence: “That’s easy, it’s the Sunday after Good Friday!” How easy it is for us to accept things…

“Artificial Intelligence Will Cause Humans to Think in New Ways” is the title of a recent, thought-provoking article in the Wall Street Journal co-authored by Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher. The writers expound on the risks , benefits  and unprecedented challenges of Artificial…

When I was young and still possessed of intellectual docility a French Jesuit introduced me to the role of paradox in faith. Paradox, rather than invalidating its tenets, leads us to a deeper understanding of faith. Examples abound: the servant/Savior; God/man; first will be last;…

The tabernacle was empty, its vigil lamp extinguished. Hope had abandoned the sanctuary. An oppressive emptiness replaced it.  I don’t remember to what it referred, but this mysterious passage appeared recently on my computer screen like some dark prophecy. On the same day I read…

This description appears in a real estate ad I recently read. The intention is clear and, one assumes, innocent. But, the words do provoke the question: can paradise be gated? People have different opinions about the existence of paradise, and believers have varying concepts of…

Some readers may remember the chorus to the song “My Grandfather’s Clock”: ‘Ninety years without slumbering, tick tock, tick tock, his life’s seconds numbering, tick tock, tick tock, but it stopped short never to go again when the old man died’.  This refrain came to…

The simultaneous appearance this year of the beginning of Hannukah and the fourth Sunday of Advent invites Christians to reflect on our Jewish roots. St. Paul’s arboreal image in Romans 11 comes to mind: the wild branch of Christianity is grafted to and nourished by…