One way to hear the Advent Gospel message is to put ourselves in the shoes of all those people walking out to that desert to listen to John the Baptist.

As with all literature, there are many words in the Scriptures that need interpretation, that second look to get at their more underlying meaning.

Luke’s 19th chapter begins with a story of “two people looking.”

To keep God’s people safe and alive in their battle against Amalek, Moses has to hold his arms high in the air for a very long while.

For all of us who have been through the pandemic, we know first-hand how disease and sickness have a way of separating us, how they can isolate and cut us off from the rest of life.

Scripture Scholars tell us that the meaning behind the word “parable” is curve, as in throwing a curve.

There are hardly any words in all the gospels more blunt than the stark ones Jesus proclaims in Luke’s 14th chapter.

One of Jesus’ more intriguing images is that of the gate, the entranceway into his Father’s Kingdom. Entrance depends in large part on the practical steps we take to build the kind of unity, accord and cooperation that reflects his Father’s world.

“For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” (Lk 12:34)These words of Jesus shine a light on what it is that a given society values — what it treasures most, what tops its list of things most sought after?

Recently I came across an intriguing quote from the 18th century author, Henri David Thoreau, which touched on a theme prominent in the scriptures.