God is holy by definition. When the prophet Isaiah describes the seraphs as singing “Holy, Holy, Holy” in the Jerusalem temple (Is 6:3), a praise of God taken over in the Christian liturgy, the triple affirmation precisely describes God. The word “holy” (Hebrew: kdsh) means something like “separate” or “different.” The word designates God’s separateness: God is not the cosmos, not a creature, not ...
Imagine a quick snowfall on an otherwise brutally hot day in August. By all accounts, that’s exactly what happened on the morning of August 5, 352 upon the Esquiline Hill in Rome! Legend tells us that a childless aristocratic couple had asked the Blessed Virgin Mary to show them a worthy cause to which they could donate their fortune. This couple, John and his wife, was privileged to be visited by...
A girl is standing in front of the teacher, a girl rather small for her age. The round face is quite childlike, while the slight body already betrays the early maturity of this southern race. The girl is clad in a peasant smock. She wears wooden shoes. But everyone, not the children only, wear them here, except those very few who belong to the so-called better circles. The brown eyes of the girl a...
Going into a new environment is always stressful, especially when heading into summer school. The kids don’t want to be there. They would rather be goofing around outdoors or spending hours playing PokemonGo on their smart phones. They do not want to be looking at my face trying to teach them study skills. Study skills, I know, is not an actual subject which made the teaching all the more difficu...
Being born into an extended family with more than 50 first cousins meant never having a shortage of playtime friends and sports buddies. It was easy to come to a family gathering and find my place, as my brother and I were on the younger end of the 55 first cousins. We were born into community and later mentored by numerous cousins who were good role models.
Last month, Pope Francis announced that the liturgical celebration of St. Mary Magdalene would be raised from Memorial to Feast, an attempt to honor the “Apostle to the Apostles” and the first witness of the Resurrection, as well as to emphasize the importance of this woman in the life of the Church. But who is Mary Magdalene, and why is this minor liturgical adjustment important? Some people asso...
Having crossed the midpoint of the Year of Mercy, it is time to take stock. During his eighth jubilee audience on June 30, 2016, Pope Francis challenged us by asking whether or not mercy has become our style of life. We can easily recognize this life style, the Pope noted, in a person in whom “mercy has eyes to see, ears to listen, hands to resolve.” In other words, “The works of mercy are not the...
Editor's note: These remarks were delivered at the annual Echo Mentor Dinner on July 9, 2016.
Catholics, Lutherans and the Eucharist: There's a lot to share, writes @timothypomalley https://t.co/PTg0N953Ib pic.twitter.com/gOBvztttiJ
