In Rembrandt’s Simeon and Anna Recognize the Lord in Jesus, Anna is by far the most physically active figure. Positioned behind the holy family and Simeon, she stands straight and thrusts...

Step by careful step, Luke shows us much in this passage. We see the poverty of a couple that offers only pigeons instead of the usual goat. In their determination to...

I like to imagine the faces of those who first hear the opening verses of John’s Gospel. What they hear must astonish them. In the highest philosophical language of their Greco-Roman...

“Think of what lies behind the gift.” My mother smiled as she spoke the words. She always did. I first heard them the day before my fourth Christmas. Presents had appeared...

Today’s passage offers a portrait of overflowing joy in our divine adoption. It reminds us that the child in the manger comes to give us a new identity. When Paul writes...

If we consider today’s reading in its original context, we recognize a portrait of a people yearning for righteousness and receiving God’s response to that yearning. The first Israelites to hear...

I am always grateful when another person sees something in scripture I have missed. Biblical scholar Artur Weiser worked for years on his commentary on the book of Psalms. A man...

Scripture’s characteristic word from heaven to earth is “Do not be afraid.” When an angel announces this to a human, the human is usually “in for it.” To understand Mary’s response,...

Romans 16 contains scholarly puzzles. First, Paul knows twenty-nine people in a church he hasn't visited. (Have you a similar conundrum in your Christmas card list?) Greetings to friends, final instructions,...

Elizabeth blesses Mary who “believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord” (Luke 1:45). Mary’s response is now a great liturgical canticle, the...