In yesterday’s homily, I noted that God’s Word is always related to human need. If a person is dying of cancer, the gospel is God’s strong word of resurrection. If a person is permeated with guilt, the gospel is God’s assurance of forgiveness. If people experience extreme suffering, God’s word is our refuge and strength.
If a person is under the power of the devil, to that one has come the proclamation of liberty to captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, and letting the oppressed or possessed go free. In this day’s gospel, we are presented by what we understand as a classic exorcism, a quite dramatic expulsion of a demon from a person. The stuff of movies, Hollywood, but sadly also real life. But if this is just a narrative of particularly dramatic demonstration of the power of the Word, then how is it related to your human need? Your need on this day? Continue reading
This coming Sunday, the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year B, we will hear the 
On January 1st 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in the midst of the Civil War. Slaves who lived within the borders of the Confederacy remained in bondage. Most never heard about the proclamation until the last days of the conflict; some only heard well after the war’s end – the basis of Juneteenth Celebration when freedom from slavery was proclaimed to the people of Galveston months after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. 
This coming Sunday, the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year B, we will hear the 
A popular line of anti-Catholic apologetics centers on our gospel reading. The argument is this: “you Catholics have lost your way. You rely on human traditions and ignore the commandments of God.” Their usual list of Catholic errors includes the veneration of Mary, her Immaculate Conception, and her bodily Assumption into Heaven. There is also transubstantiation, praying to saints, the confessional, penance, purgatory, and more. We might take great offense at their assertions – but it is a reminder that we should always be mindful about losing our way on the journey to God. We do in fact have our Traditions and our traditions. Lots of Catholics confuse the two. One can easily lose one’s way. 
I appreciate the good turn of a phrase, expressions of speech local to a region of the country, knowing the etymological origin of words, and many other things about language and dialogue. And if one lives long enough, one becomes witness to the changes that are ever ongoing. Lexicographers document our changing use of words even as the take on the exact opposite meanings over time – for example, the word “
friarmusings 