Category Archive

The economy of love is not like the economy of money.  Love multiplies when it’s shared. To me, this is the primary message of the stories where Jesus feeds crowds.  These stories invite us to a leap of faith, from seeing situations through the lens of the money economy to seeing them through the lens of the love economy.  When we take that leap, we find, like the disciples, that after the sharing there’s actually more of what matters. Let’s see what happens if we apply the two economies to the words of Jesus about the bread and the cup: …

Joseph Wiesenfarth Trinity Sunday, 22 May 2016 Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15   “Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?”  The answer to these two questions in the first sentence in today’s readings is:  Yes! because we are dealing with the confounding mystery of the Holy Trinity that has exercised and exacerbated theological speculation since the 2nd century when Theophilus of Antioch tried to make sense of it to himself and his bewildered contemporaries. More recently Hans Kung told the story of a Bavarian parish priest who when called upon to preach on Trinity …

The Spirit on the Threshold of a Hard Question John 14: 8-17, 25-27 Acts 2: 1-21 Colleen Hartung May 15, 2016   A week ago Friday, I turned 60 years old and as part of my surprise celebration, Michael and Mary Kate came with me to the SA to help with CLW.  Partly they did it to humor me and partly they did it because they loved CLW when they were regular participants here at the SA.  It was fun to have them participate and to hear their reflections on our scripture story.  Last week, we read a story called …

Ascension Sunday (May 8, 2016) Holy Wisdom Monastery   As I listened to David McKee’s homily last Sunday, I was struck by how different what I want to say today is. I think it’s good to have two such different homilies back-to back, because it brings out the two sides of Christian faith and life—the contemplative and the active. In last week’s homily David reflected on the contemplative side. My reflections today will emphasize more the active side. Some people are troubled by the picture of a three story universe reflected in the portrayal of Jesus rising up to heaven. …

Sixth Sunday of Easter May 1, 2016   Acts 16:9-15 Revelation 21:10, 22–22:5 John 5:1-9     I have to confess that I’ve had quite a time with today’s readings; dare I say, a devil of a time?  I’ve always tended to have a block with the book of Revelation:  all the hyperbole, all the over-the-top, fantastical imagery; and then there’s the use and misuse of Revelation in many contemporary Christian circles…you could easily get the impression from some that it is the only book in the Bible.   Then there is the reading from John:  a miracle story.  When …

Libby Caes April 17, 2016 Acts 9:36-43, Rev. 7:9-17, John 10:22-30 Wonder   One of my most vivid memories of fifth grade is writing book reports. I would end them with something like, “If you want to know more about the book, read it!”   My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Mulberry, made it very clear that she did not like such endings. April 17, 2016             What else do you say??   I am not going to end my homily by telling you to read Wonder! If you haven’t read Wonder and decide you want to, I expect there are …

Third Sunday of Easter April 10, 2016   “Jesus is the Christ – And So Are You!”   Readings: Acts 9:1-20, Revelation 5:11-14, John 21:1-19   THIS IS A ‘COMPARATIVE SERMON’   What I would like to attempt this morning, on this the first time in 41 years that I have the privilege of presiding at the Eucharist, is what you might call a “comparative sermon.”   Over the past 20 years or so, many Christian theologians, both Protestant and Catholic, have come to realize that what is true of every human being is also true of theology, or of …

Easter Sunday                                                                                             Lynne Smith, OSB John 20:1-18   We might ask with Mary this morning: Where is Jesus? In her loss, suffering and grief Mary is distraught: “They have taken Jesus away and we do not know where they have laid him.” She wants this one last connection with him – to care for his dead body. But “they”, the violent forces at work in the world have deprived her even of this. Many forces in our world threaten our connection with Jesus. Violence, suffering, injustice, even busy-ness can cause us to question: Where is Jesus? Where is Jesus when …

I suppose that for the 21st century attention span, this Gospel selection is quite long enough. But I do miss the nicely paired shorts featuring the lost 100th sheep and the conscientious shepherd who sets off to find it, followed by the the woman who sweeps out her house to find a lost drachma and then hosts a spontaneous party when she does. I increasingly identify with this woman, as my family and coworkers can testify. This Lukan crescendo of three joyful “lost and found” parables peaks with today’s beautiful story of a loving father and his two sons. The …

Homily 2.28.2016 Isaiah 55:1-9, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Luke 13:1-9 Joseph Wiesenfarth   There could be more appropriate and less confusing readings than the passages from Isaiah and Paul that we just heard read.  Isaiah, for example, starts off with what language scholars call paraprosdokians.  A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a phrase or sentence is unexpected, as we see in this sentence:  “War does not determine who is right, only who is left.” Or: “The last thing I want to do is hurt you . . . but it’s still on my list.”  …