Diane M. Houdek

When Bernard of Quintavalle told Francis he wanted to join his life of poverty, they spoke to the parish priest and, under his guidance, opened the Scriptures three times, a common practice in medieval times.

Francis took a literal approach to the Gospel. He began with the most basic interpretation of a text, but he didn’t stop there.

Pope Francis, like his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, calls us to read God’s presence not only in our holy books but in the holiness of the world around us, plant and animal as well as human.

The sun, the moon, the stars, and our own earth travel through time and space but there’s nothing random about those movements

The Holy Family were refugees from a corrupt political situation and an unstable ruler. No matter how much Matthew focuses on the way this flight into another country fulfilled passages in the Hebrew Scriptures, the fact is they were fleeing for their lives.