Evil is not a "force." It is a lack, a deficiency. We find our confidence in knowing that the Author of Life supplies for all the deficiencies we find in ourselves.

Is there an incident that better captures the humanity and the divinity of Jesus than his calming the sea? He makes short work of the subduing of nature ... because he wants to get back to sleep!

On June 3, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI transferred Bishop George Lucas of Springfield in Illinois to the Archdiocese of Omaha. We will be experiencing at least a few months of "sede vacante" and waiting for a new bishop. Life is messy, so why should we be so surprised by Moses splashing blood all over the altar?

The Bible is not the Book of Lists. There are a few lists in the book, and today's celebration highlights a couple of lists: the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5 and their antitheses.

This is a big year for weddings for me; I have six scheduled. I thought I might record the homily for my first wedding of the year.

The Lord Jesus ascended because he descended -- into the depths of the misery humans experience because of the broken, sinful situation we are in. He is on his throne but he has also embedded himself in our anguish.

How can anyone talk about love? The subject overwhelms any human being. God is love, and we discover who we are in being loved by God.

Today is the forty-fifth anniversary of my first Communion. I speak about the "Obama-at-Notre-Dame" thing, questioning the outraged response of some Catholics. The unity that St. Paul sought was not immediate when he made his debut as a converted person. Vine and branches, mother and child -- these say much about the organic unity of the Body of Christ.

Profound things are found in each of the readings. "Salvation is in no other name." "We are God's children now. What we shall later be has not yet come to light, but we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." "There will be one fold, one shepherd."

The novel I refer to is The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler; I find the lives of Theobald and Ernest to be a caution against the establishment of religion. When religious faith is one with the postal service and internal revenue, what sort of faith is it?