Posts from April 2024

Here is an official invitation to get a spiritual tune-up. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. John 15:4 It is about daily life lived while being supernaturally grafted to Christ, the way a branch is naturally attached to its vine. Hence, we shall assess our spiritual condition in relation to Jesus as the…

In 1898, the British painter, Francis Barraud, created a portrait known as His Master’s Voice that became the symbol for a powerful, upstart company of the 1920s—Radio Corporation of America (RCA).  The painting is of his dog, Nipper, who enjoyed “nipping at the back of patrons’ legs.” When asked about the inspiration for the painting, he said: It is difficult to say how the idea came to me beyond the fact that it suddenly occurred to me that to have my dog listening to…

“I am the Good Shepherd.” This simple, yet most powerful statement, reveals the uniqueness of Jesus’ shepherding. Compelled by the realism imposed by life itself, we do not want to dwell on the fact that in countries where there are real shepherds, they raise sheep for profit. The most benevolent aspect of such profit is usually wool and milk. But eventually, sheep would have to be sold and butchered for human consumption. From what Jesus tells us about himself, we…

In the Book of Exodus (19:3), when Israel was encamped at the base of Mt. Sinai, God summoned Moses and provided him with a message to convey: “You have seen how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now, if you obey me completely and keep my covenant, you will be my treasured possession among all peoples…” (19:4-5) On that day, God’s glory shone upon Moses and His chosen…

Almost every day the news media bring into our living rooms immediate images of harrowing pain, hardships, and death from our country and from other parts of the world. We love Jesus too much to be able to turn away from those horrible scenes unfazed, unaffected. The most painful aspect of our empathy for these unfortunate people must be our powerlessness to do something tangible and concrete to alleviate their suffering besides our thoughts and prayers, and the occasional donation. Our…

For more than 30 years, I’ve served as a an adjunct lecturer in economics at a local university. During Covid, I remember the department chair asking if anyone would be willing to teach in person, to which I gladly replied— “YES.” Now if you remember, during the midst of the pandemic, few cars were on the road. At the university, the same was true when my students and I seemed to be the only cars in the parking lot. Each…

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19) The first thing that might strike us as relevant in this passage from our gospel passage for the Second Sunday of Easter could be that the doors of the Upper Room were locked. Yet also in this environment of defeatism, fear and…