Jesus is transfigured in glory, giving his astonished disci­ples at his feet a glimpse of the glory of the Resurrection awaiting all who follow him. Jesus’ outstretched arms in the form of the cross remind us that it is through the cross, Jesus comes to the unfading glory of heaven. Moses and Elias in the upper part of the fresco tell us that Jesus’ death and Resur­rection are not an accident of history, but God’s plan already foreshadowed in the Law and the Prophets.

In the midst of our present crisis, there is a haunting question that keeps intruding itself into our thoughts. A disturbing interrogative. Not new. Not uncommon. In fact, it is found in the biblical narrative of Judges. It is Gideon’s question: “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?” How could God allow so many people to suffer and die from an illness that knows no age, no race, no nationality? If God is all powerful, why does he allow this? Why does he not intervene?

Mosques, synagogues and churches across the country have closed their doors to public gatherings for worship. Faced with the fast spreading, contagious and sometimes fatal coronavirus, many religious leaders of every faith have chosen to use caution in safeguarding the health and life of their faithful. But not all agree.

In 1957, pop sociologist Vance Packard made the New York Times best-seller list for an entire year. His book The Hidden Persuaders explored the dark side of advertising. He exposed the use of motivational psychology that companies were using to advertise their products and entice people to buy them. His point was well taken. People respond to what promises them comfort and security, health and happiness.

In 1635, the Boston Latin School was the first public school to open in the colonies. And it is today the oldest public school in the nation. Throughout the 17th century, the colonies opened public schools. But, unlike our public schools today, these schools concentrated not so much on mathematics and science, but on reading. And they used the Bible as their textbook. They tried to inculcate in their students discipline and virtue, respect for family and community. They were unashamed to emphasize the practice of religion as essential for a good life and a sound community.

In a time when leaders are constantly under scrutiny and their flaws widely published, it is good to open the pages of Sacred Scripture and read of those whom God himself chose to lead others. With utter frankness, the Bible refuses to misrepresent its heroes and heroines as individuals without flaws, failings and even grave sin. Many of those whose accomplishments were great were not perfect people.

In its 1962 landmark Engel v. Vitale case, the United States Supreme Court ruled that prayer in public schools was unconstitutional. The court judged it a violation of the First Amendment clause forbidding the establishment of a government religion. In subsequent decisions, prayer was also banned at school graduations and sports events.

Hilaire Belloc was one of England’s most prolific writers in the 20th century. He was a poet, writer, orator, historian, BBC Radio commentator, and political activist. He was a friend of Winston Churchill and a student of St. John Henry Newman. Ernest Hemingway held him in high esteem and even imitated his style. Belloc was most especially known as an apologist renowned for his Catholic faith.

Recorded history and archaeology have uncovered the sad fact that abortion and infanticide are not modern phenomena. Peoples across the centuries have terminated the life of children in the womb of their mothers and have exposed children already born to death. Whether it was to eliminate children with deformities, to conceal illicit sexual behavior, to avoid the expenses of raising a family, innocent lives have been discarded. Some societies such as the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incans, the Carthaginians, and the Canaanites even tried to appease their false gods by sacrificing their children.

Among the original 13 colonies that seeded our great country, Philadel­phia was the fastest growing city. And it was not without its problems. Benja­min Franklin noted the increasing number of mentally ill and homeless people wandering the city streets. With the help of his Quaker friends, in 1751 he opened the doors of America’s first hospital to care for such people. Homelessness has been a part of our national story from its very beginning.

I am taking the opportunity of this Christmastide to offer you my special gratitude and encouragement for your lives as priests. While the secular world around us strips away its Christmas ornaments, we keep the light of Christmas burning brightly in our churches.

In 1970, Russian writer and activist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Stripped of his freedom, he had spent eight years in prisons and forced labor camps in the former Soviet Union. He was awarded the Nobel Prize because he had made the world aware of the dehumanizing and repressive measures of the communist state.

Sumptuously robed, the Magi pay homage to the barely clad Jesus “ who … became poor although he was rich, so that, by his poverty, [we] might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9).

Led by the bright light of a star, they have found their way through science to “ the true Light who enlightens everyone” (Jn 1:9). And now they make their act of faith.

On Sept. 6, 1620, one hundred and two pilgrims sailed on the Mayflower from Plymouth, England. They were seeking freedom to worship God according to their conscience and not according to the dictates of the state. After an arduous journey, they dropped anchor in the New World on Nov. 21, 1620. They had intended to go to Virginia but found themselves in present day New England. There they first set foot at Plymouth Rock.

In March 2017, Kevin Shaw, a student at Pierce College in Los Angeles, filed a lawsuit against the community college. The college administrators had stopped him from passing out copies of the U.S. Constitution in Spanish. They argued that he had not sought permission from them and that he was doing this outside the school’s free speech zone, a designated area the size of three parking spaces. Shaw argued that his civil right to free speech had been violated.

In The Golden Girls, Dorothy Zbornak fires off one caustic remark after another to the naïve Rose from St. Olaf, to Southern Belle Blanche, and to her feisty mom Sophia, a match for her sharp tongue. In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper constantly puts down his friends with his scientific retorts. And, womanizer Charlie Harper from Two and a Half Men comes in for a tie for sarcasm with sharp-tongued Max Black from 2 Broke Girls. From these characters comes an unrelenting barrage of sarcasm.

Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln both fought bravely on opposite sides of the Civil War. Both were convinced that they were doing what was right. Yet, no matter who won the war, slavery was evil before the war just as it was after the war. Hitler worked passionately for the evil cause that he espoused, just as Gandhi exerted his energies for the goals that he judged morally good. Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist convicted of delivering babies and then killing them, steadfastly pursued his goals while Mother Teresa worked with untiring zeal to save the lives of the destitute and abandoned.

From the beginning of the 21st century, the English language has been undergoing radical surgery. Words once acceptable have been cut from common usage and branded as a cancer infecting society with sexist attitudes. Today, it is better to ask for a server in a restaurant and not for a waiter or waitress. These last two nouns might offend a person who identifies as neither. Better to say flight attendant and not steward or stewardess. First-year student, not freshman. Chairperson, not chairman. Firefighter, not fireman. Spokesperson, not spokesman. The list could go on.

With the end of silent movies in the early 1920s, Hollywood bounded into the glitz and glamour of the Golden Age of Movies. Names such as Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Tyrone Power and Judy Garland still conjure images of beauty and brilliant acting. These and many others rose to stardom in Los Angeles, the City of the Angels. However, in so many instances, their ascent to fame left behind a trail of sordid scandals in the city of those less than angels. While the public viewing their movies were felt constrained by a puritanical morality, many of these actors and actresses were freely indulging in a hedonistic pursuit of pleasure.

One of the greatest paintings displayed in the Louvre is Veronese’s Wedding Feast at Cana. The artist depicts the first miracle of Jesus at the wedding of Cana in the midst of a sumptuous feast of food and music. Veronese’s vivacious style brilliantly joins the Biblical event and the contemporary. The artist places Christ at the very center of a lavish wedding feast of 16th century Venice, because Christ is at the center of every Christian marriage.