15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, RCL)

It’s hard to greet people with a blessing without sounding ostentatiously pious.

Who knows what took place in Herod’s guilty heart after John’s death?

The myth that alternative gospels were suppressed by empire and only recently rediscovered is too good to be true.

The prophets God sends among us are often vilified, distorted, and silenced.

Maybe she's more than just a wet blanket.

The gap in the lectionary’s account of the return of the Ark of the Covenant echoes a pattern we have seen too often in our country.

An incident in Germany reminded me who we all belong to.

Not just suffering

According to Josephus, Herod Antipas desperately wanted to be called “king.”

Put your ear to the ground. You will not detect a single note of good news in the story of Herod, Herodias, and John.

Both Elijah and Peter face a stark reality: fear.

We tend to think biology matters, and matters very much—except when we don’t.

The Dakota Access pipeline poses a threat to indigenous people. Their resistance poses tough questions for all of us.

Robert Barron’s grasp of the complex development of David’s character in 2 Samuel is unsurpassed. And his references to history and literature are more than adornment.

Christians didn’t baptize Aldo Leopold’s land ethic after the fact. They got there years before his work.

Perhaps there is a connection we shouldn't miss between David's dancing with all his might--uninhibited, unclad, unaware of disapproval--and the generosity with which he blesses and distributes food to all the people. Both are extravagant gestures that turn love into action, withholding nothing.

I like Mark’s frequent mention of how people felt. In this week’s text, Herod is greatly perplexed about John the Baptist.

I've never knowingly visited purgatory or fairy land, but I have set foot in a few small places that, once entered, prove to be larger.