This year on Aug. 16 we hear Jesus utter the words, “O woman, great is your faith” (Matt. 15:28). The woman is a Canaanite, the first gentile woman portrayed as having faith in Jesus in this gospel. Jesus and the disciples are in Gentile territory and an unnamed woman approaches him and begs for the […]
The Sunday Gospel readings this July contain several of Jesus’ parables. In teaching with parables, Jesus is clearly using a technique from his Jewish background since these short narratives are found in the Old Testament and later rabbinic literature. What is a parable? It is a brief story using something familiar to the reader/hearer to […]
As I write this (May 8) the New York State Police have issued an Amber Alert for a 9-year-old missing boy, Gustavo, probably kidnapped. The alert features the boy’s name, hair and eye colors, and what he is wearing. All were asked to be on the look-out for him. Thankfully, he was found safe. The […]
In 2002, I gave a presentation on Mary in the Gospels. During the discussion, one person remarked that she had heard that the blood and water coming from the side of Jesus on the cross in John 19:34 was a birthing image – the amniotic fluid and blood involved in human birthing. Since I was […]
