Bible at Home

It has been said that the Hebrew people were the only ancient people who believed that time itself is “linear”; it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. All other ancient people believed that time is cyclical, exhibited in the seasons of the year, and the positions of the sun, moon, and stars. The…

There are a least three Saints Teresa in the Catholic Church. The second one, chronologically, Therese of Lisieux, France was the one chosen by Mother Teresa of Calcutta as her namesake. Therese of Lisieux was a young woman born in 1873 of a devout Catholic family, one of five sisters, all of whom became nuns.…

The painted bunting is a small bird. It looks as if it has been dipped into four different paint pots: blue, red, green and yellow, all brilliant in the sunlight, less noticeable in the shade. “Noticeable “ is an understatement , for the sight of one of these in a splash of sunlight is unforgettable.…

Shake up your faith, bring the eyes of your hearts to bear, not your human eyes. You have other ones inside, after all, which God made for you. He opened the eyes of your hearts, when He gave you faith. (St Augustine, sermon 286) One of St. Augustine’s challenges was to address his congregation on…

My grandmother could remember that as a very young child she had gone with her mother to the post office where she saw some old men setting on benches talking together. They were amputees from the Civil War, and they were talking about having seen Abraham Lincoln in their youth. My grandmother knew people who…

Picking Pears Before fire blight killed the pear tree in our front yard, the tree bore abundant, juicy pears for many years. Across the street from us was a family with three children: Lindy, the oldest, was about seven years old when they moved in, with Geoffrey five, and Michelle only three. One day when…

Invisible as it is, nevertheless, love is still the engine of the Christian life. Love is often glazed over, or sugar coated by more currant and interesting concepts, and pushed to the back of our minds and experience, but high and low, deep and shallow, love remains the engine of human existence. “This world was…

In sewing a button onto a garment I find that if I use too long a thread, I will inevitably end up with knots in it, which spoils the whole project, and forces me to start over. I believe that we all have knots in our souls that frustrate our hope of drawing close to…