The Presentation: “Long for the Lord’s coming” : Lessons from Ludolph
Simeon (Lk 2.25-35) is one of my favorite saints. I love the way he emulates life in the Spirit. Whatever Paul teaches us (Rom 8; Gal 5-6) about the Spirit, we see beautifully depicted in this amazing...
View ArticleThe Sermon for the Summer: Beatitudes
“So it is good to take a break occasionally—from preaching as from fishing—to repair your nets,” so says Ludolph, one of my medieval guides. As we enter the summer season, I find his counsel so good....
View ArticleFrom Virtue Signaling to Virtue
Ludolph’s commentary* on the Sermon on the Mount moves into touchy ground when he begins to talk about Christ’s plan to fulfill the law, and his warning that his disciples, too, must demonstrate true...
View ArticleThe Author of Purity
“Purity” is a term reserved today for the properties of vitamins or the quality of drinking water or specialty treatments at spas. It has long sense lost much moral weight with people, and “purity...
View ArticleThe Sermon, Hair Color, and Swearing
Of course I don’t cuss. Well, not much. So that takes care of the Sermon’s verses about oaths, right? (You potty-mouthed people might want to spend more time with them though.) Ludolph, my medieval...
View ArticleGenerosity, from the Inside Out
At this point in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gets very irksome. Until now, we can see the value of his counsel—control your anger, be faithful to your spouse, stay honest. Okay. All good points. But...
View ArticleThe Goodness Conundrum
Jesus sums up his counsel about relationships with this command: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5.48). This perfection, Ludolph explains, is “the perfection of grace,”...
View ArticleWhat Is the Prayer of Salvation?
In his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, my medieval friend, Ludolph of Saxony, brings to our attention the Lord’s Prayer, beginning by commending it to us as the prayer that “excels all other...
View ArticleThe Lord’s Prayer: Our Father
Ludolph now moves into the specific petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. The “address” causes him to reflect deeply on the mysteries of that introductory phrase. Whom are we addressing when we call on “Our...
View ArticleFrom Blue Christmases to Blue New Years
Those who suffer experience a deep relief when the holidays are finally over. At least they can stop pretending jolliness, if they even had that much energy. The blues, however, are not banished by the...
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