Think of one person in your life who you just can’t believe is so wrong-headed about living in this modern world as a Catholic. That person whose politics make you wonder if they ever encountered Jesus in the gospels. That person who just… who just… “It doesn’t matter, I’m not talking to them anymore. It is a waste of time.” Hold that thought. Continue reading
About ten years ago I was serving as Pastor at Sacred Heart in Tampa. I had been in Tampa for six years and had no aspiration or desire to be elsewhere. It was the year that Pope Francis was elected. The joke in the parish office was that I was waiting for a call from Rome telling me that I have been appointed Papal Household Swim Coach. Oddly enough, it was only a few weeks after the election when the parish telephone rang – and on the other end was a call from Rome. It wasn’t an offer to be swim coach, but rather it was the Minister General of the Franciscan Order worldwide asking me to consider a new job. It was not a pastoral job, but a full time job more akin to running a business – and in a place where people wear sweaters even in summer. As a vowed Franciscan it was something I had to consider and take into prayer.
And then came the gospel for this week. Continue reading
You encounter someone whose actions you judge as inconsiderate, hurtful, brusk, and dismissive. What do you do? ….hold onto that thought. We’ll come back to it.
Today’s gospel has a month of Sundays worth of content about which one could preach. But I want to focus on these few, rich, amazing words: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Continue reading
“…early in the morning, while it was still dark…” and so Easter begins. Begins in the place and time when it is hard to see, difficult to be sure what we are seeing, making it harder to be sure what we will later remember. We all have our own experiences of joyous Easter celebrations. My own memories are of churches blooming into color after the somber decor of Lent, easter egg hunts with the cousins, the quest for the golden egg, and many other happy memories. Perhaps your memories are similar. Maybe so much so that we pass over the beginning: disciples stumbling around in the half-light when the memories of Good Friday loom large. Jesus was captured, tortured, and crucified. He was buried in a tomb hewed out of the side of a hill – a stone covered the entrance. Hope died with him. It is now the third day and these disciples move about in the not-yet-light. Continue reading
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
“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
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
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.
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
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
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