Category Archives: Sunday Morning

Rummaging

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Although most everyone calls today Palm Sunday, today is properly called Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. In the opening Gospel we recall the wonderful account of Jesus entering Jerusalem. We get to get to celebrate, wave palms, and greet the Messiah. It is a moment of joy.

It is all rather short lived. Not only in history, but in our liturgy, too. As soon as our entrance procession is over, the readings take on a decidedly different tone. There was a time when I thought that reading the Passion was jumping the gun a bit. I mean, won’t Good Friday arrive in its own good time? Can’t we let the week unfold, walking the journey with Jesus as he spends the week? Can’t we wait to hear about the Last Supper, the betrayal, Gethsemane, the trials, Pontius Pilate, scouring, the crucifixion, and Jesus dead, laid in a tomb? What is the rush? Continue reading →

Empathy and karmic balance

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“A man had two sons …” (Luke 15:11) – such is the beginning of the beloved and well-known Parable of the Prodigal Son. But you know Scripture doesn’t come with titles for such things. That’s just what the parable has always been called. But we could call it something else. The Parable of the Waiting Father? Or perhaps the Parable of the Petulant Older Brother? I guess it all depends on what draws your interest and attention. What about you? Where are your thoughts drawn: to the younger son’s selfish greed, the older son’s arrogant fury, or perhaps the patient father’s extravagant love? Continue reading →

Being prodigal?

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I have had a life-long interest in etymology, the study of the origin of words and phrases. I subscribe to the Merriam-Webster “Word of the Day”, not for the definition, but for the etymology of the word. I think it was in my first year of theology, the word “prodigal” came up. I thought to myself, “I know that one, it means having lived a less than worthy life, a sinful life.” – probably based on the older brother’s assessment of his wayward, wandering younger sibling.  Who knows? Perhaps the older brother was correct, but the word prodigal means “a profuse or wasteful expenditure.” Continue reading →

Taking a break….sort of

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I am taking some time away from the parish and hoping to enjoy Springtime weather. That is the definitive “taking a break” part. The “sort of” part is that through planning and magic of scheduled publishing, it will seem as though I am hard at work posting. I have queued up a bunch of posts between now and my return. One of the Sunday homily posts may or may not happen, but I will give it a try. Be well. Pray for me as I will keep y’all in prayer. God bless.

Courage

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From the Sunday just before Ash Wednesday, Jesus said: “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45). What is in your storehouse ready to pull out when needed?  Lots of things. Moral discernment begins with family of origin experience, what we take in with our eyes, our ears and in all manner of choices we have made.  And in the experience of the consequences of those choices. They form memories, which become our thoughts, which are played out in word and action, forming habits, developing character, all leading to the person we are becoming. Continue reading →

Ain’t going away

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When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time (Lk 4:13). Technically, the translation should be that Satan departed from Jesus for a more favorable time. In other words, it was not a one-and-that’s-it temptation for Jesus. Satan was coming back for another try.  And if Satan was coming back to tempt Jesus, there is no reason to think that our life will be free of temptation.

The historian Shelby Foote tells of a soldier who was wounded at the battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War and was ordered to go to the rear. The fighting was fierce and within minutes he returned to his commanding officer. “Captain, give me a gun!” he shouted. “This fight ain’t got any rear!” Same with temptation – it comes at you from all directions. Continue reading →

The one question that matters

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Did you catch the language of the second reading when St. Paul talks about “the first Adam” and “the last Adam?” It is his reference to our human nature and, with God’s grace, our possibilities. St. Paul talks about the first Adam being an earthly creature – and that is a good thing. When God created this world, he pronounced his work to be good – and when we created the first Adam and Eve, he pronounced his work to be very good. We are the work of the divine potter who knew us before we were created in our mother’s womb. We are part of that divine, creative outpouring of love that is how and why the world was created and what sustains the world in being…. and yet it was through Adam and Eve that sin entered the world. And in the millennia since, we have all participated in sins from the most grave of mortal sins to that “little white lie” and “harmless gossip.” Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet had it right: “What a piece of work man is…” The deck was stacked in our favor by a loving God and yet we do what we do…Yikes! Continue reading →

Ever closer to blessings

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“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.”(Luke 6:20)

Almost a quarter of a century ago, I was in the midst of formation to become a lay missioner with  Franciscan Mission Service as a prelude to my time in Kenya.  Fr. Joe Nangle, a Franciscan friar, was our speaker that morning.  We had begun the day with the Eucharist and the gospel was the same gospel we heard this morning.  “Blessed are you who are poor… for yours is the kingdom of God.”  Fr Joe told us that if he could only have one verse of Sacred Scripture for our formation, this would be it.  Within were the two great challenges to all Christians, but perhaps especially so for Christians from the affluent countries of the world:  to learn to see the poor and to learn to see the kingdom of God in the world. And then he told us this story. Continue reading →

The lap of fools

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Our gospel today is the second half of the account of Jesus in his hometown. Last Sunday Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah promising there would come an anointed one filled with the Spirit who would heal, restore, set free, and declare a year acceptable to the Lord. Jesus proclaimed the Word and then simply told everyone. “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Talk about your “drop the mic” moment. Continue reading →