The Narthex
Read the Letter of St. Jude!
The Epistle is brief, one chapter of just 25 verses, but it is exceedingly rich and evergreen
By John M. Grondelski | October 28th 2025 10:49 AMToday is the feast of Ss. Simon and Jude. They are two of the lesser known apostles, although in the American Church in the 20th century, there was a popular devotion to St. Jude Thaddeus. Many parishes conducted novenas to him as patron of impossible causes and things despaired of.…
READ FULL BLOG POSTMercy, Humility, & Hell-Fire
Mercy as concern for the other is prominent in Jesus’ Judgment
By John M. Grondelski | November 29th 2023 2:59 PMLast Sunday’s Gospel for the Solemnity of Christ the King is Matthew’s Last Judgment account. I have to admit I’m partial to that text because, prior to the 1969 Calendar Reform that inserted Christ the King as the last Sunday of the liturgical year, there was a kind of eschatological…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWill the Synod Offer Clarity or Confusion?
Christ's 'welcome' message was 'Repent and believe the Gospel'
By John M. Grondelski | October 3rd 2023 8:46 PMThe recent Gospel about what two sons did with their father’s call to work in his vineyard seems fitting for the week we begin a “synod about synodality.” The Gospel is ultimately about sin and repentance. Both sons sin. One sins by refusing to work in the vineyard, although he…
READ FULL BLOG POSTDon’t Take Your Anger to Bed
Anger inflates to seem a lot bigger and more important than it often really is
By John M. Grondelski | September 21st 2023 1:06 PMLast Sunday’s readings focused on the corrosive effect of unjust anger and its ability to choke off -- as in the case of the wicked servant’s debtor, literally -- mercy. There is, of course, the danger of thinking that all anger is always bad. That’s not true. Anger is an…
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