http://www.americamagazine.org en-us {ts '2008-10-23 13:17:15'} webmaster@americamagazine.org - http://www.americamagazine.org/images/top-trans.gif 615 100 http://www.americamagazine.org - http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?id=3460DA8F-5056-8928-10ED27848B0ACFD0 Author: Richard Leonard, S.J.; When couples who are going to be married in the Church come to see me for the first time I get them to fill out a brief questionnaire. The last two questions on the form ask: "What do you like best about your partner?" "What do you like best about yourself?" The first question usually presents no problems, although it can hold a few surprises and sometimes a playful punch if the right answer is not forthcoming! The second question seems to present all sorts of difficulties, especially for prospective grooms. Some of us find it hard to name the God-given qualities we value most in our character. Some couples try to pass it off, "That's for others to say" or, "I don't want to blow m - http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?id=33D54577-5056-8928-10D92DD31345A8B8 Author: John W. Martens; "Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, " and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13:8-10). As the kids say – or used to say – "sweet!" Instead of all these laws, hard to remember, hard to follow, Paul offers, as Jesus himself did, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Romans 13:9, cited from Leviticus 19:18 - http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?id=3093B735-5056-8928-10A0E5BA6EDA808C Author: John Kilgallen, S.J.; The Messiah, as Jesus' own Jewish history shows, was anything but a person who should die in humiliation, powerless, defenseless and public criminal. Mark set himself the task, in composing his Gospel story, to flinch neither from the powerful demonstration of glorious attributes of a king Messiah nor from the extreme contradiction of these attributes which the crucifixion proclaims. For Mark, one must integrate both aspects of Jesus of Nazareth, if one claims to know the one into whom one has been baptized. But one what grounds is the Christian to see how crucifixion does not contradict regal glory and power? They seem to be two opposed states; what unites them so that what seems at fir - http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?id=261EC8C6-5056-8928-1002948BA53594FF Author: John Kilgallen, S.J.; Mark's opening line focuses his reader's attention upon Jesus. Mark speaks about 'good news' which has all the richness of 'divine blessing', since it is God's joyful message to human beings for their good. In the tradition leading up to the New Testament, such good meant above all forgiveness of sins and reunion with God – eternal happiness. The message is Jesus, Messiah and Son of God; in Jesus we find what is good about God's intervention in human affairs. Immediately we note that while Jesus is a physical fact which we can touch and hear and see, 'Messiah' and 'Son of God' are titles which state who we think Jesus is; they are titles of faith, we say. It is most unlikely th - http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?id=00828989-5056-8928-1057505B0E6C2CCC Author: Richard Leonard, S.J.; At the morning parade in Dachau on 22nd July 1943, six prisoners were found to have escaped. Retribution was swift and brutal. Randomly selected, 12 people were hanged. As the other prisoners watched their 12 fellow inmates gasp for breath, someone in the crowd cried out, "Where is God?" Silence descended on the yard. The 12 bodies were now in spasm, jerking and struggling for breath. As everyone watched, the voice came again, this time more urgently, "Where is God now?" "My God," another voice yelled back, "My God is hanging there." This sort of faith is what today's Gospel is all about. Christianity is the only world religion that holds that God took our flesh, suffered, died and was