What the Divine and human authors intended to communicate through this encounter with YHWH and Moses is that the essence of the name of God is who God is in praxis. God actually is who He says He is.

There many other things that can be said about Divine consolations, especially about the reasons why God decides to give them to us in the first place, but I believe that the most essential treatment that needs to be made here concerns how we ought to respond to them. I say that because Divine consolations will come to many us for whatever reason God deigns, but it is how we respond to them is what is most crucial to know.

What Jesus primarily does three things in His dialogue with the Pharisees in today’s Gospel Reading is: (1) Restore the true definition of marriage by reaching back to God’s original intent; (2) Restore the equality of spouses by raising the dignity of woman in marriage; and (3) By His word He promises to sustain and perfect marriage.

There are two things in this life that are spiritually unhealthy; the first thing is meddling in God’s business; the second is meddling in Satan’s business. The latter will frustrated you, while the former will possess you. The best place to be is minding the business that God has given you to mind – tending to the things that God has given you to tend to.

In this day and age, many of us aren’t very far from Jesus physically, in the sense of seeking Him out in Holy Eucharist, and most of us aren’t lepers, but there are certain aspects of our life that do need to be cleaned and made whole and turned over to God. You may live near the Church, but how close is your heart to Jesus? You may not be a leper, but is there an aspect of your life that separates you from the people of God and is requiring you to receive the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation?

Jesus said to his disciples: “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, [...]

Jesus said to his disciples:“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpassesthat of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. [...]

Today’s Gospel Reading at the Sunday Mass comes from Matthew 5:1-12a: When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for [...]

Today’s Gospel Reading comes from Matthew 15:29-37, and it is about the Jesus feeding the ‘four thousand’ after he had fed the ‘five thousand’: At that time:Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee,went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to [...]

Today’s First Reading comes from Revelation 10:8-11: I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me.Then the voice spoke to me and said:“Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angelwho is standing on the sea and on the land.”So [...]

I am perpetually annoyed when I hear people say that their deceased loved one is now an angel in Heaven. There are so many theological problems with that statement that I don’t know where to begin to correct it. Nor would my proper theology on angels be welcomed on the ears of those in mourning. But let’s be clear here. Jesus clearly said that after death we would be like angels – not that we would angels.

As I was sitting next to the pond today, reading the second book of the Philokalia (published by Faber Faber), I came across one of St. Maximus’s last entries in his collection of spiritual teachings of the First Century – It reads: “When the intellect [...]