Community in Mission - Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington

In the readings at Mass this past Sunday we pondered  the account of original sin. Many tend to describe original sin merely as the eating of a forbidden fruit. While this accurate, it is incomplete and leads many to wonder why all this trouble came...

One of the bigger mistakes one can make is to read Scripture as a spectator, treating it as merely a collection of stories and events that took place thousands of years ago. While these are historical accounts, they are much more than that.
Truth be told, these ancient stories are our stories. We are in the narrative. We are Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Deborah, Jeremiah, Ruth, Peter, Paul, Magdalene, Mother Mary, and, if we are prepared to accept it, Jesus. We cannot simply read about what others...

The Gospel today says that Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert. Hebrews 4:15 also affirms, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
How exactly a divine person, with a sinless human nature, experiences temptation is somewhat mysterious, and yet the text affirms that He does. A Lenten antiphon from the Breviary teaches that He did this, or allowed this, for our sake: Come, let us...

The Gospel for Sunday’s Mass is from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), specifically 5:17-37. In a way the Lord is drawing a picture for us of the transformed human person. He is presenting a kind of slide show of what sanctity really is. In understanding...