Tag Archives: kindness

The one question that matters

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Note: the pastor is preaching this weekend for the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal, so I have a holiday from holiday preparation.  Here is homily from three years ago

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 →

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 →

Being Family, Being Holy

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flight-into-egyptOne of the things I do to prepare for the homilies is to continually read – books, magazines, on-lines articles and commentaries, and a host of other sources. I spent part of Saturday morning looking through the internet to see what people were saying or had said about the Holy Family.  There is no shortage of sources. There were very good articles with inspiring insights, but there were too many articles that, it seems to me, were simply not too helpful.

There were sources that bemoaned the rate of divorce and the state of families in the United States, but said little else. Articles that scolded. Articles that had true and factual things to say. But so many articles failed to hold up one of the readings from Scripture that might speak to families having a rough go of it – to hold out encouragement, hope, and a touch of compassion.  Continue reading →