Judica 2023
The University of Helsinki announced this week they are awarding Greta Thunberg with an honorary doctorate in, of all things, theology. It’s fitting, I suppose, since climate activism has become a religion in its own right….
Read MoreOculi, the Third Sunday in Lent 2023
There is a spiritual realm. There are demonic powers. And if our eyes were opened, we would see it at work in our world, with terrifying intensity.
Demons harm people. In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns about the danger of people being freed from the demonic returning to its servitude, because—the image goes—the house was not furnished. There was no change….
Read MoreReminiscere Vespers 2023
Once they walk, we don’t carry our children anymore. Until they’re sick, or something is wrong; then we revert to treating them like babies, carrying them, wishing we could take all their burdens unto ourselves.
But we can’t. This father knows that. That’s why he says to Jesus, “I carried my son to you.”
How many times had he made similar journeys, carrying his son to physicians, priests, anyone who might be able to help?
His boy seems to have two problems: he’s alalon - what we would today call “non-verbal” - and he has seizures. They cause him to writhe on the ground, foam at the mouth, grind his teeth, and then be non-responsive.
The father attributes all this to demonic activity.
It’s quite natural to say, “Well, today we know better. We have sciency words for it: autism, and seizures.”…
Read MoreInvocabit sermon 2023
Temptations are rarely grandiose. On occasion temptation to a front-page-headline kind of sin comes along. Most of our temptations appear as innocuous choices. Small, daily things tempt us to take baby steps away from God’s Word.
Frequently we should pray the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus teaches us there to ask for help: “Lead us not into temptation.” This takes on urgency once we realize we are constantly under spiritual assault….
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