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- Written by EJ Sweeney
In John’s Gospel, Jesus says: “I have come that you may have life, life to the full.” (Jn 10:10) Life, in other words, in abundance. Life in all its fullness. Life the way it was meant to be.
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- Written by EJ Sweeney
What is the most beautiful thing in the Universe? The only other thing I ever wanted to do in life besides what I have done with my life is to be a firefighter. In fact, if I had two lives, I would have been a New York City Firefighter in one of them. In the South Bronx. During the “War Years” of the 1970’s, the busiest period for fires anytime and anywhere on the globe. So, after thirty plus years of being a volunteer firefighter, one of my favorite podcasts to watch—it’s videotaped on YouTube—is two retired NYC firefighters who, for two plus hours, interview other firefighters, most of whom are retired, most from New York. Many of them worked in or shortly after the War Years. When I watch, I am glued to the TV. Those two plus hours just fly by.
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- Written by Super User
Have you ever wondered how Jesus ever came up with the idea for Christmas? That He was God Incarnate? In several previous blogs, I’ve addressed the staggering conundrum this belief presents as it relates to Jesus’ disciples: Outside of Resurrection faith, scholars are stumped. For a first century Jew, the notion of God becoming human would have been utterly incoherent—literally unthinkable. Within their fiercely monotheistic worldview, this belief was so far beyond the realm of logical possibility that nothing else adequately explains how those first disciples could have conjured it up.
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- Written by EJ Sweeney
Does Christmas matter? Someone shared a comment about a recent blog I did that I really wanted to agree with. They picked up on something I said in that blog about the centrality of love and emphasized that, with all that is happening in the World today, it is more important than ever to focus on loving one another. But not just loving one another. Loving one another with a radical love, meaning even loving our enemies. We should love so radically, so unconditionally, they said, that we don’t allow anyone else to define someone or some group as our enemies. We should love so radically, so unconditionally that we no longer see anyone as our enemy. They punctuated their remarks with the thing I really wanted to agree with.
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- Written by EJ Sweeney
Are we in the End Time? One of the signs that is often cited that we are—from Jesus’ own words in Mark 13:7—is “wars and rumors of wars.” Especially wars and rumors of wars involving the Land of Israel and the Middle East. With the wars raging in Israel and Ukraine, and with rumors of both conflicts growing and potentially involving other nations, thereby sparking more wars, is this the sign that we are in the End Time?
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- Written by EJ Sweeney
For the first time ever last week, I saw the movie E. T. I’m probably the last person on the planet to see it. I remember when it first came out. People raved about how good it was. But for whatever reason, I never bothered to go see it. And in all the intervening years, even with all the acclaim and awards the movie was garnering, I never bothered to rent it. But last week I finally saw it. And if you asked me for my review, it would be: More E. T., less of everything else!
