The Chair of Moses
“Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida!…”(Mt 11:21). With these harsh words, Jesus condemns the hardness of heart and lack of faith of two cities in which he undertook the first phase of his public ministry. Returning to Galilee with his...
History’s Timeline and the Old Testament
The Bible tells a great story starring God and man, which is the story of salvation. It is not a conventional story about ancient Israel, but neither is it an imaginary fiction about an ancestral time. Its pages speak of relevant people and events of the past that can...
The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem
After the circumcision, the Law of Moses established that the firstborn son was to be presented to the Lord and then ransomed; in addition, the mother had to purify herself of the legal impurity contracted (cf. Ex 13:2; 12-13. Lev 12:2-8). This offering of every...
Reading the Gospel in Capernaum
During pilgrimages, guides habitually ask the accompanying priest to read a Gospel passage related to the place the pilgrims are visiting. At the basilica of the Annunciation, the Grotto of the Nativity, or the Church of the Transfiguration, to cite three examples, it...