Category Archives: Sunday Morning

Humility

Posted on by
Reply

Luke 14:1, 7-14
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

1 On a sabbath he went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. … 7  He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, 9 and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. 10 Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 Then he said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. 13 Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14 blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Continue reading →

The Queenship of Mary

Posted on by
2

Crowned Madonna Della Strada in the Church of ...

“Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy….”  So begins one of the prayers from our Catholic treasury.  Have you ever wondered why we use the title “Queen” for Mary?

The beginning of the concept that Mary is a Queen is found in the annunciation narrative.  For the angel tells her that her Son will be King over the house of Jacob forever.  So she, His Mother, would be a Queen.  While in our age we are quick to think that “queen” means wife of the king, the meaning in ancient Israel also included the mother of the king, the “Queen Mother.”  The first formal definition and basis for the later title “Mary Queen of Heaven” developed at the Council of Ephesus, where Mary was proclaimed as “theotokos” (lit. “God bearer”) or in English, the Mother of God.  The Council fathers specifically approved this version against the opinion that Mary is “only” the mother of Jesus.  Nobody had participated in the life of her son more than Mary, who gave birth to the Son of God. Continue reading →

Mindfulness

Posted on by
2

The angled image of Hurricane Charley was take...“Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.” (Luke 12:37).

The underlying Greek word “vigilant” is also used in the parable of the “Wise and Foolish Virgins” who fall asleep when the bridegroom is coming.  It is the same root word used when Jesus admonishes the apostles sleeping the in Garden of Gethsemane.  These and other passages always bring out the worry wart in me.  People, good people, at the gate to the wedding banquet, present with the Lord while he prays – and they are asleep, not paying attention, or distracted. What about me? Am I wasting time, working on the wrong things? Am I asleep at the switch, or unprepared and without a clue? Am I vigilant about my faith? Hmm…, am I vigilant about my faith? Continue reading →

Buidling New Barns

Posted on by
2

Thoughts on Luke 12:31-21, the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Inheritance and riches being stored up – certainly two strong images from this Sunday’s gospel. Themes not uncommon in the gospels. St. Luke also tells the story of the man who comes to Jesus and asks, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  After learning from the man that he had followed all the commandments Jesus tells him, “There is still one thing left for you: sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven. (Luke 18) It is a recurring message from Jesus that wealth, riches – in themselves not bad – just have a way of getting in the way of the true inheritance. The man goes away sad – he just can’t let go of his wealth, can’t let go of the one thing that keeps him from following Jesus. He is likely a good person – both in his own mind and in the thoughts of others – yet there is a hidden, unseen greed operative in his life. A covert greed that has become, as St. Paul says, an idolatry keeping him away from true and right worship. Continue reading →

The choices we make

Posted on by
Reply

all-kinds-doorsThere was a time in the history of the Franciscans where we were a raucous, contentious, squabbling bunch – each group claimed to know St. Francis’ real intention about the way to follow Christ. The minister general of the day, St. Bonaventure, gathered the friars together- and like Moses, gave a sermon that was not too mysterious or too arcane. In a way, he simply told them that to truly follow the intention of St. Francis they had to choose. Choose what each friar would become as a result of their choices and, just as important, consider what the world becomes because of their choices. They were becoming a religious order noted for internal to fighting.  And because of it, the world was become darker because of their example of following Christ. Continue reading →

Dr. Sheldon Cooper, Mystery of a Kiss, and the Eucharist

Posted on by
3

Sheldon CopperIn seminary, one of my theology professors (not Dr. Sheldon Cooper – although that would have been interesting….) offered that the Johannine “And the Word became flesh” becomes the starting point of most Christological heresy if one attempts to explain “how.”  Eventually the limitations of language and human fumbling will eventually lead to the heterodox expression of faith. Continue reading →

Holy Trinity Sunday – why we celebrate

Posted on by
2

HolyTrinityWindowWe have all kinds of solemnities, feast days, and other special days in the church year. We commemorate happenings in the life of Christ: Mary’s visit from Gabriel announcing the miraculous child she was to bear into the world. We celebrate the arrival of the Three Kings, the Baptism of our Lord, the Transfiguration when the glory of Christ is revealed, and on Palm Sunday, we celebrate Jesus riding triumphant into Jerusalem amidst palms and cheers. We celebrate the empty tomb and Resurrection of Easter, the glorious Ascension, the explosive coming of God’s spirit to the church at Pentecost … and then we have Holy Trinity Sunday.  And suddenly it is like we have moved from these great events in the life of Christ, and now…. tadah!!  We are celebrating a …..a….. a church doctrine. Continue reading →

…each in his own language

Posted on by
Reply

Pentecost3The description of the first Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles tells us that when devout Jews from many different nations heard the Spirit-inspired proclamation of the gospel by the disciples, “each one heard them speaking in his own language.”  The outpouring of the Spirit of God united this very diverse group of people in a powerful moment of God’s self-revelation.  Such is the power of Spirit.

Continue reading →

The dangerous memory

Posted on by
2

dangerous_memoryI have been musing about memory this week because I had a wonderful two days in Atlanta with my dad’s side of the family – all the cousins and their children.  It was all a walk down memory lane especially with my cousin Frank.  Although at times I wondered if we walked the same lane – but then he has had the advantage of all the things that can trigger memory:  people, places, sights, sounds, smells, and all the rest. It did seem that the longer I was around the family, the more I recalled, and made more memory connections. More and more, a whole range of memories came to ready recall – out of storage somewhere in the misty past of memory. Continue reading →