Fr. Samuel Keyes

“O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom 11:33) St. Paul has been speaking, in Romans, for the previous few chapters, of the mystery of election, and his hope for the ultimate salvation of ethnic Israel despite the majority’s apparent rejection of the new covenant in Christ. Perhaps we might just pause here to say that, in the face of, on the one hand, a resurgence in what I can only call weird and...

Today’s readings are filled with the promise of God’s expansion of the covenant beyond the bounds of ethnic Israel. In particular, Isaiah’s description of all the nations “ministering” to the Lord — using distinct priestly language — is a striking reminder that the newness of the New Testament, the newness of the expansion to the Gentiles in the book of Acts, is new only in part. This was, in other words, part of the plan all along. Israel’s particularity, her status as the chosen nation, was...

I have to wonder what the disciples were thinking in the story of our gospel today. In another story, of course, a storm comes when Jesus takes a nap. And today we hear about a storm that comes on while Jesus goes off alone to pray. Surely these were both a little discouraging, and we can imagine the men asking that question that seems to constantly plague us in moments of trial: Where’s Jesus when you need him? Or, if you prefer, cue Lena Horne’s plaintive voice in her classic 1943 film,...