Category Archives: Culture

Gen. 16: 1 – 16 – The Birth of Ishmael – Held on Sunday, September 16, 2012

Gen. 16: 1 – 16 – The Birth of Ishmael We began with introductions, a few new members, and a few older ones who were not present.  There were so many coincidences; we begin on the September 16th with the … Continue reading

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23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mk. 7: 31-37 – The Healing of a Deaf Man Background Again I am presenting the work of John Meier, A Marginal Jew, Vol. Two: Mentor, Messiah, and Miracle. The opening geography is Jesus passing through predominantly Gentile region with … Continue reading

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22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mk. 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Tradition of the Elders Background I have drawn this background material from the fourth volume of John P. Meier’s A Marginal Jew in which he devotes 55 pages to this one passage that reference 145 … Continue reading

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Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time

Jn. 6: 60 – 69 The Words of Eternal Life Background It seems clear that the setting of this passage has changed. The crowd has been replaced by the disciples, some of whom react as the crowd did. What might … Continue reading

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Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jn. 6: 51 – 58 The Bread of Life Discourse [Continuing] Background This passage concludes the church’s focus on the Bread of Life Discourse from John’s Gospel. We may notice that the passage begins by repeating the last verse from … Continue reading

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Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jn. 6: 41 – 51 The Bread of Life Discourse [Continuing] Background Fr. Ray Brown’s masterful Anchor Bible study of The Gospel According to John points out that there are two themes in the Bread of Life Discourse; one – … Continue reading

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Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jn. 6: 1 – 15 Multiplication of the Loaves Background Whenever I review the literature on the Sunday passage, I am torn, on the one hand, to provide the overwhelming evidence of how the tradition developed over time, and what … Continue reading

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Religion and Culture – The Bishops’ call to defend “our most cherished freedom.”

To get a handle on the relationship between religion and culture, I would like to point out who we are as Christians, state what I take religion and culture to be, express the relationship between these two terms, take a … Continue reading

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An Improbable Message on The Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

The Reading – Lk. 1:57 – 66, 80 When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and … Continue reading

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Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

In Mk: 4:26-34 we hear / read Seed Grows of Itself. He said, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God;* it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night … Continue reading

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