Introductory comments on the Pastoral Epistles and Paul’s greeting to Timothy.

The war with Iran, begun by the US and Israel on 28 February 2026, involved Israeli and the US airstrikes on nuclear facilities, military and civilian infrastructure and the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenai—and other key religious and political leaders. But wars are judged by how they end, not by successes along the way. Much of the fighting is over, but the consequences—the brutal realties—of the war remain. As we near the end of summer 2026, what can we conclude about this war?

Jesus is resurrected from the dead, conquering sin, Satan and death and then proclaims His Great Commission to His church.

Karl Marx (1818-1883), the founder of ideological communism, was ethnically Jewish and came from a long line of rabbis on both sides of his family. However, his parents converted to Christianity for professional and social reasons before his birth, and Marx himself was baptized, raised without Jewish religious traditions, and later embraced atheism. Marx famously dismissed religion as an illusion, calling it the “opium of the people.” Yet, as Robert Orlando argues, “when his thought is examined carefully, a striking parallel emerges: Marx didn’t eliminate redemption. He translated it into political economy.

We live amid insecurity, uncertainty, and anxiety. Wars and threats of war remain constant, but financial pressures can also provoke deep concern. As I write, the U.S. stock market is reaching record highs, buoyed by investments in artificial intelligence and expectations of greater productivity. For now, there is little sign of a downturn. Some investors warn that the AI bubble will eventually burst, though not immediately. Even so, two major concerns should trouble thoughtful Christians who value wise stewardship at every level of life: the future of Social Security and the weakening market for U.S. government debt.

Jesus has his two trials with Pilate and is scourged, mocked and reviled as “King of the Jews.”

Ethically speaking, does the end always justify the means? Does a seemingly good end (having healthy babies free of all genetic disorders) justify the means (in vitro fertilization, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, etc.)? Reproductive and Genetic Technologies have empowered humans to a degree unimaginable only a few years ago. These technologies are also empowering parents to decide what kinds of children they want. Therefore, these technologies raise profound ethical questions, including ethical questions about the human embryo.

Jesus prays at Gethsemane and is arrested, and has 2 of His 6 trials.

Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), is very long (more than 42,300 words). Although he deals with multiple issues, the central purpose of the document, however, is to challenge the unregulated development of artificial intelligence, which is of great interest to me. “Too often the debate over AI presents two extremes. Technological pessimists speak as if modernity itself were a mistake. Technocrats and transhumanists greet every computational advance as a step toward transcendence. One side would smash the machines; the other would surrender to them.”

Jesus teaches about who enters the kingdom and the events leading up to His crucifixion unfold.