of the human person from conception until natural death
The Book of Sirach (its older name) is an Old Testament book variously known as Sirach, the Wisdom of Jesus, Ben Sira, or Ecclesiasticus, not to be confused with another similarly-sounding book entitled Ecclesiastes in the ancient Hebrew Canon of the Old Testament. The earliest of those titles appears to…
Nearly half of the material found in Saint Luke’s Gospel is unique and, as such, not found in any of the other three. Those differences, whether considered to be additions or omissions, if taken collectively, reveal that Jesus was most closely connected with people who appeared to be on the…
The word Genesis (geneseōs) comes from the Septuagint or the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. According to Genesis 2:4, literally, it is “the book of the generation (Gk. γενέσεως) of the heavens and earth.” Its title in the Jewish Scriptures is the opening Hebrew word, bereshit, “in the beginning,”
During the first weeks of Ordinary Time, the Gospels focus upon the call of the Apostles. Among the Synoptic Gospels, Saints Mark (Mk 1:16-20) and Matthew (Mt 4:18-22) recount Jesus walking along the Sea of Galilee and, then, abruptly calling two pairs of brothers to follow Him – Peter and Andrew,
Jesus speaks in the synagogue in Nazareth after having read from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. The importance of the reading of Isaiah in this Gospel can scarcely be exaggerated. For Luke it proclaimed the fulfillment of Scripture and embodied the hopes of Israel through Jesus’ ministry as the Son of God.
Two biblical words, the Hebrew Shōshbēn and the Greek Paranymph mean roughly the same thing: friend or relative of the bridegroom who accompanies the groom to bring home the bride. An entry in Ellicott’s Bible Commentary for English Readers yields the following explanation of the term: “The ‘friend of the bridegroom’—
Fourth Sunday of Advent The Blessedness of the Virgin Mary Having heard from the angel Gabriel that she was to be the Mother of God, Mary immediately set out to…
The season of Advent originated as a fast of forty days in preparation for Christmas, commencing on the day after the feast of St. Martin (12 November), whence it was often called St. Martin’s Lent – a name by which it was known as early as the fifth century. Later on…
Nature and dignity 