We live in a world of email, text messaging, tweets, instagrams, and all manner of connectivity in social and electronic media. It has become all very ordinary. Yet, each day, I am more than a little curious about what comes “old school” via USPS into my mailbox. There is correspondence from the Diocese, advertisements for one thing or another, bills and invoices, catalogues, and “ta-da!”… Christmas cards. Continue reading
My friend, mentor and Franciscan brother, Joe Nangle OFM passed away on December 14th. His funeral was today. Joe requested that I give the homily – and so, here it is….
I first encountered Fr. Joe while he was celebrating Mass in a small-town church in Loudoun County – seating capacity 89. What I remember most clearly is him coming down from the altar to stand among the people and to proclaim the gospel as though it was a story – “Hey, did you hear….?” It was clear that this was a story being passed onto each one of us with the expectation that we would share the story, the good news of Jesus Christ. We were to be people who heard the gospel, gossipped it over the back yard fence, lived the gospel and became People of the Word. In the same way as Fr. Joe had in the course of his own life become vir evangelii – a man of the Good News, the Gospel. That was 40 years ago.
Continue readingWhat mother and father have not waited until the first “kick” of their child in the womb? It is a universal experience of anticipation fulfilled, spontaneous joy, wonderment and so much more. What was already quite “real” has become even more so. There is life in the womb! There were already layers of expectation and now how much more? This was true for Elizabeth and Mary, but they were also aware that their hopes and joys were simply gateways to release divine hope, joy, redemption and more upon a waiting world. All such moments are signs of God’s graciousness, blessedness, waiting on promise, and in the end, a sign of salvation’s approach. Continue reading
Today’s gospel is a familiar part of the Christmas story – the Angel Gabriel inviting Mary into the plans of God for redemption and salvation of the world. Given its proximity to Christmas, I suspect we quickly want to jump the 9 months of pregnancy and have our thoughts move quickly to the Nativity of Jesus. But let us put things on “pause” for a moment and savor the scene on its own – as have Da Vinci, Rembrandt, El Greco and countless iconographers over the ages.
Continue readingThis coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Advent. Elizabeth’s joy at her own pregnancy after so many years of barrenness is overshadowed by the joy at Mary’s visit – or rather that the unborn Lord would honor her with his presence. How wonderful it would be if we had that same attitude concerning the presence of our Lord in our gathering together, and in the Word, and in the Supper: “Blessed be God who has come to us this day.” I think that too often we think of worship as our good deed of bringing ourselves to God, when, in fact, it is a time and place where God comes to us. Continue reading
Today’s first reading is part of the story of Samson, one of the Judges of Israel in the time before the kings of Israel were established. The account is part of the birth narrative of the last of the Judges, perhaps well described as an “annunciation.” It stands in comparison (or contrast) with today’s gospel, the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets. There have been some writers that hold Samson to be a messianic figure, but today’s reading set seems to compare Samson, not to the Messiah, but to the herald. Granted there are similarities in the accounts, but apart from the stories of notable strength, Samson is not someone upon whom one should model their life. Read the story of Samson and you’ll find he murders 30 men for their garments because he lost a wager. Not exactly your model citizen. Still, the narratives share some notable similarities but also some differences. Perhaps a comparison will reveal a larger purpose at hand.
Continue readingThis coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Advent and the story of the Visitation when Mary went from Nazareth to the hill country near Jerusalem to visit Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah, who for many years, had prayed to conceive and have a child. During the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel had informed Mary: “And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren.” (Luke 1:36) And so Mary sets out in haste to visit. Continue reading
“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about…” What follows in today’s gospel, provides a wonderful answer to the Advent question: who is coming? The gospel reading provides its contribution to the larger answer: Jesus Christ (v.18), son of Mary (v.18), adopted son of Joseph (v20), son of David (v.20), named Jesus (v.21), the one who will save his people from their sins (v.21), and Emmanuel…God with us (v.22).
Continue readingThis coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Advent. In previous posts we explored the background of the first reading from the Prophet Micah: “But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel” But before delving into our gospel text, it is good to recall the flow of Luke’s narrative: an interweaving of the stories of births of the herald of the Messiah, John the Baptist, and the Messiah, Jesus to tell a single story of redemption. Continue reading
The gospel for today is St. Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. It is Matthew’s way of showing how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament storyline and takes up the first 17 verses of the gospel – and since Matthew’s gospel is almost always the first book of the New Testament, one could say it is the first 17 verses of the entire New Testament! … and I am sure most people skip it and move on to the Nativity and Infancy narratives.
Genealogies in the Old Testament are always working to communicate multiple layers of information to readers. Genealogies obviously trace family trees, but they also help us follow priestly and royal lines through Israel’s story. You can see each of these types of genealogies in the first nine chapters of Chronicles. In fact, there’s little doubt that the author of Matthew had the book of Chronicles and its genealogies in mind when he wrote his own Gospel account and began it with a genealogy.
Okay… But why does this genealogy matter?
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