Tag: Faith

The worm turns

A homily for Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, March 28, 2021

Mk 11:1-10, Is 50:4-7, Phil 2:6-11, Mk 14:1—15:47

Regular church-goers know Palm Sunday’s Mass as the one with the extra Gospel and the extra-long Gospel. A lot of standing; a lot of thinking. With any luck, not a long homily or sermon, though the extra time to sit might be welcome if the preacher is not too boring.

And today’s Gospel about the humiliation, torture and horrifying death of Jesus, though familiar, always provokes strong emotions. What his persecutors did to Christ. What Christ did for us. What Christ still does for us every day of our lives, which themselves are a gift from our Triune God and for which we should — we must — be grateful every day of our lives.

This isn’t a homily about any of that.

Continue reading The worm turns

Like father…

A homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 21, 2021

Jer 31:31-34, Heb 5:7-9, Jn 12:20-33

We were reminded in last week’s Gospel of the great gift of God’s love — Emmanuel, God With Us, Jesus the Christ, God’s only-begotten Son — and this week our Gospel lays out in blunt, almost harsh, terms just how far Jesus is willing to go to save us from ourselves.

His divine perfection vs. our human imperfection.

His freedom from sin vs. our perpetual sliding into sin.

His laying down his life vs. our running from the slightest hint of danger.

Continue reading Like father…

Cat’s eyes

A homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 14, 2021

2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23, Eph 2:4-10, Jn 3:14-21

Whenever some people hear this Gospel proclaimed or read it for themselves, they quickly jump to the second paragraph, known popularly by its chapter and verse: John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.

And that is a beautiful, powerful verse from John, perhaps the essence of John’s Gospel. That verse encompasses faith, hope and love, the bedrock virtues of our relationship with our Creator.

What it has to do with rainbow wigs and clown makeup at pro football games, I’ll never know.

But it’s the verse at the end of today’s selection from Scripture that’s worth exploring today.

[W]hoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Continue reading Cat’s eyes

Righteous

A homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, March 7, 2021

Ex 20:1-17, 1 Cor 1:22-25, Jn 2:13-25

“I want you to get up right now. Sit up. Go to your windows. Open them and stick your head out and yell – ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad! … You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first, get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’” — From “Network”

That was 45 years ago. It could be today. It should be today.

Continue reading Righteous

Socks off

A homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, Feb. 28, 2021

Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18, Rom 8:31b-34, Mk 9:2-10

When was the last time you let yourself be wowed, be amazed, to have your socks knocked off?

We’ve all been in some degree of lockdown for about a year now, and there haven’t been a lot of opportunities or reasons for our jaws to drop. We do have Zoom, and we do have our small joys, but all in all, many of our lives these days are more humdrum than historic.

So:

When was the last time you let yourself be wowed, be amazed, to have your socks knocked off by Jesus?

Continue reading Socks off

Three pillars

A homily for the First Sunday of Lent, Feb. 21, 2021

Gn 9:8-15, 1 Pt 3:18-22, Mk 1:12-15

Chocolate and ice cream are not sinful.

Hot dogs and bologna are not evil.

Tuna casseroles are, but that’s a whole nuther kettle of fish.

As we mark the First Sunday of Lent 2021, we can concentrate on the little things we choose to “give up” or we can concentrate on the big things we really ought to be giving up. And the crosses of all sizes that we should be picking up.

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Morning glory

A homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Feb. 14, 2021

Lv 13:1-2, 44-46, 1 Cor 10:31—11:1, Mk 1:40-45

AMDG.

No, it’s not one of those cable news mesothelioma law firms.

AMDG — Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam — is Latin, meaning “for the greater glory of God.”

And while Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s reminder about the true purpose of our work and prayer and interaction as people sounds highfalutin’ — I mean, Latin and all that — it’s simple and meaningful.

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Wow. You too?

A homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Feb. 7, 2021

Jb 7:1-4, 6-7, 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23, Mk 1:29-39

The cliché tells of the patience of Job, but today’s first reading sounds more like the whining of Eeyore, the tail-less donkey friend of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery? …
So I have been assigned months of misery,
and troubled nights have been allotted to me.

There’s heavy, and there’s soul-crushing. Then there’s this passage.

Continue reading Wow. You too?

Get out!

A homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jan. 31, 2021

Dt 18:15-20, 1 Cor 7:32-35, Mk 1:21-28

How many demons have you seen lately? Have you gone to the neighborhood exorcist for your unclean spirit problem recently?

Among our many challenges as 21st Century Christians is finding the deeper truths in First Century Scripture or, especially, in The Law and the Prophets that were compiled millennia before that.

We are challenged to see through the eyes of the Apostles and other early disciples when we usually see things through our more scientifically educated eyes, our eyes that have seen and experienced far more than simple fisherman and shepherds who rarely traveled far from their home villages. Who were educated by oral tradition, by word of mouth, and who passed along that knowledge to the next generation orally as well. Who were not exposed to the men who counted the stars or examined anatomy.

To understand, we are challenged to walk in their sandals.

Continue reading Get out!

Never … er, always mind

A homily for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jan. 24, 2021

Jon 3:1-5, 10, 1 Cor 7:29-31, Mk 1:14-20

In the gently beautiful movie “Field of Dreams,” Ray Kinsella, the Iowa farmer who felt compelled to plow under some of his corn to build a baseball diamond, drags a skeptical and unwilling Terence Mann, a writer who deeply inspired him, to a Boston Red Sox game.

As they are walking to their seats, they share this pivotal conversation:

Ray Kinsella: So what do you want now?

Terence Mann: I want them to stop looking to me for answers, begging me to speak again, write again, be a leader. I want them to start thinking for themselves. I want my privacy.

Ray Kinsella: No, I mean, what do you WANT? (gestures to the concession stand they’re in front of)

Terence Mann: Oh. Dog and a beer.

Misunderstandings can be like that.

Especially when people misunderstand God.

Continue reading Never … er, always mind