This Sunday’s Old Testament church reading, according to the Revised Common Lectionary used jointly by a number of Christian denominations, contains arguably one of the oddest passages in the Bible.

After Jacob left Bethel, he continued on his way to his mother’s relatives in Paddan Aram. He arrived at the local well, inquiring where he might find Uncle Laban. He’s told the pretty girl ...

The pursuit of the spiritual life is not for the fainthearted. After some initial consolations and encouragement, the way of the Spirit calls forth a certain level of discipline and mentoring. The ...

As human beings, we don’t pray in one world and live in another. We are called to have an integrity, a unity, between the way we pray and the way we live. If we live by our own whims and neglect moral ...

True prayer is a "fight" with God in which those who think they are strong are humbled and faced with the reality of their own mortal condition, Pope Francis said. The story of Jacob wrestling with ...

Note: The English translations of the Sacred Scriptures here are from the New Oxford Annotated Bible, unless noted, with some minor adaptations. One of the most important stories in the Hebrew ...

Throughout the Scriptures, God introduces himself to his people as the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” His name would be forever associated with the Jewish patriarchs as a reminder that his promise ...