God Really Does Answer Prayers
Did you ever pray incessantly for something, and it seems that God doesn’t hear you? You wonder if maybe he doesn’t like you! Jesus did encourage us to ask, to seek, to knock and our Father will give us what we ask him for. Surely Jesus wasn’t fibbing. Why then do our pleas sometimes apparently fall on deaf ears? In teaching about prayer, I tell my students that God always answers, but it may be in several ways besides “Yes.” Take the example of the Israelites’ request for a Messiah. In this case, God answered, “Wait awhile.” Patience and perseverance were required. Many centuries passed before the Christ was sent to save us. And he came in a way far beyond what people had hoped for: God himself in the flesh. (more…)
Wait! It’s Advent.
Almost three years ago I sent a manuscript to a publisher. As months passed, I often wondered what was happening to the book. Then last week I was e-mailed the final copy before it goes to the printer. The book is outstanding. I e-mailed back that “it was worth the wait.” We’re in Advent, the season of waiting, waiting for God, and surely it is worth the wait. We Americans don’t like to wait. We find red lights, long lines at the checkout counter, and lengthy downloads frustrating. But as poet R.J. Thomas observed, “The meaning is in the waiting.” (more…)
Twelve Insights into the Life of Jesus
My latest writing project about Jesus requires quite a bit of research, which has taught me a number of things about him and life in first-century Israel. Here are “twelve” of them that you might find interesting too.
1. In Aramaic, the Savior’s name was Yeshua or Yehoshua, a form of Joshua. It was a common name translated into Greek and then from the Greek into English to give us Jesus. Calling him Jesus is like someone calling me Katerina instead of Kathleen. I don’t think he minds. Mary was probably Miryam or Maryam.
2. When the Gospels say that Jesus went from one town to another, they don’t provide the mileage. From Capernaum where he ministered to Jerusalem where he went for Jewish feasts was a journey of 120 miles. Someone calculated that during his public ministry Jesus walked a total of more than 3,000 miles. (more…)
Who Is Mary Virginia Merrick?
Through my involvement with a diocesan saint project, I became acquainted with Mary Virginia Merrick. This woman, who was born in Washington, D.C. in 1866, is an extraordinary example of what a Christian is capable of despite all odds. Her cause for canonization was opened in 2011. At the age of fourteen Mary Virginia suffered a spinal injury that confined her either to bed or to a reclining wheelchair for the rest of her life. She died in 1955, when she was 88. Instead of wallowing in her misfortune, Mary Virginia refused to speak of it and as a teenager spearheaded a movement that evolved into the Christ Child Society. It began when she inspired her friends to find and need and fill it. They discovered a poor expectant mother who did not have baby clothes, and the girls made a layette for her. (more…)
Presenting the Face of Jesus
No doubt you’ve heard of the 80-year-old woman in Spain who recently turned a valuable fresco of Jesus into an unrecognizable blur. The thought occurred to me that this is a metaphor for what we sometimes do. We attempt to be Jesus for the world–other Christs. Our intentions are good. But then we make a mess of things. The Gospels give us a true picture of Jesus. He was patient, kind, forgiving, wise, loving, and good. Is that what people see when they look at me? Not always! A work of art is the result of a combination of talent and plain hard work. To be a Christian, a genuine likeness of Christ, we who are baptized have the potential. The sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit with all his gifts is at work in our hearts. However, the task still requires effort on our part.
