The Old Testament uses a variety of different words to refer to God. Some of them are fairly similar to words used to describe other deities, while some clearly set God apart as unique. We can find many different words to describe God in one passage in the book of …

The mission of the Baptist often is described as heralding or proclaiming the coming of Jesus. It’s worth exploring this idea in greater detail as it gives insight into John and his relationship with Jesus. The Greek verb προκηρύσσω (proskerusso) comes from the word κῆρυξ (kerux), which means “herald.” A herald …

One of the central elements of the practice of the Church is the liturgy, or as it’s commonly understood, the celebration of the sacraments and the Liturgy of the Hours. Liturgy is at the very heart of Christian life, and as such it is helpful for us to have an understanding of what …

Pentecost comes at the end of the Easter season. In the Old Testament, Pentecost was a celebration that occurred 50 days after the Passover and commemorated the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. For Christians, it falls 50 days after Easter and commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit …

Two related but different concepts that come up when we talk about our faith are apostasy and heresy. In recent years, we tend to hear much more about heresy in Catholic circles, but it may be more appropriate for us to be talking about apostasy. Let’s look at the roots …

We now have entered the Easter season. The word Easter comes from Middle English and has no significant value to Christianity. The season itself, however, has roots in our Jewish past and should be celebrated in that context. The Jewish feast forever transformed by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is …

That Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world stands as a key concept in Christianity. During the season of Lent, we begin the period of preparation for celebrating the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus at Easter. At this time, we focus on sacrifice …

In the Gospel According to Mark 1:21 (NABRE), we see that the synagogue was one of the major places where Jesus engaged in his public ministry. The role of these synagogues, especially at the time of Jesus when the Temple still was standing, easily can be overlooked. The word synagogue comes from the Greek …

In book of Deuteronomy 18:15–19 (NABRE), Moses tells the people that he will raise up a prophet “like him” to speak to them because the people have requested that they do not want to hear the voice of the LORD directly. We often think of a prophet primarily as one …

In the First Letter to the Corinthians 6:12–20 (NABRE), Paul warns the Corinthians against a particular sin of the body translated in the Mass readings as “immorality.” This translation is a bit confusing as we tend to use the word immorality to refer to any sinful act rather than to …