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The 20th century composer Arnold Schoenberg wrote a beautiful piece entitled Verkärte Nacht—“The Transfigured Night.” Originally it was a chamber piece for string sextet, later expanded to be played by a full string orchestra. I know you don’t care, but my recordings of these pieces are by the Juilliard String Quartet and Friends, and by the Chicago Symphony with Daniel Barenboim.

I hope and pray that the day after most of you see this essay, I’ll be “under the knife” (finally!) for the repair of a hernia. This surgery has been postponed since the end of January, as (again) most of you know. It’s not life-threatening (I’m not having a heart valve replaced), but it is necessary. I’ll take a couple of days to recoup, and after that, I expect to be back at full strength.

Married or not, the answer is not in our state of life but in the state of our adherence to Christ.

Pretty well everyone knows that “Mardi Gras” is French for “Fat Tuesday.” But this year is different (and hopefully will be the only year so marked). So I’m thinking we should call this coming Tuesday the title of this essay: “Thin Tuesday.” And honestly, I don’t think that’s such a bad idea, after all.

There are two Greek words that are of importance this weekend (even though only one features in the Scriptures for Mass): dynamis and exousia: “power” and “authority.” The latter word has special meaning in this weekend’s Gospel excerpt. We need to see their inter-relationship.

This Monday is marked by the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul. It also marks (among other things; more later on that) the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. There is a definite connection here—let’s explore it.