Category Archive

January 19, 2014, Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Isaiah 49: 1-7, John 1: 29-42 We have all received birth announcements, either with a phone call or through the mail or the social media. The parents tell us the name, sex and weight of the baby. If it by mail or the social media there is often a picture of an angelic infant and the mother or maybe both parents gazing at their newborn with adoration and wonder. Never have I a received a birth announcement with a picture of the newborn’s mouth wide open, eyes screwed shut and screaming! Nor …

Isaiah 9:2-7, Titus 2:11-14, 3:5-7, Luke 2:1-20    I bring you a star tonight in the person of Joseph Brodsky (1940-1995).  He was exiled from the Soviet Union after spending 18 months in the bitter cold of Arkhangelsk for being a poet.  But not just for being a poet, but for answering the court’s question of why he was a poet by saying:  “I think it’s . . . from God.”  That was the right answer at the wrong time.  It got a chilling reception.               Brodsky was exiled upon his release from prison, came to the United States, …

Advent 1 Matthew 24: 36-46, Romans 13:11-14   Both the gospel reading and the Epistle reading command us to “wake up!’ This is not an easy thing to do with the sun coming up later each morning and the days often gray. Besides that, it is cold outside! I much prefer my toasty warm bed! Who wants to wake up?? But the alarm clock goes off. Wake up! Does anybody jump out of bed when the alarm goes off the first time?? Not me! How many of you hit the snooze button? Do you hit it more than once? Do …

Luke 23:35-43 When I first saw what the Gospel was for today, I thought there was some mistake. I was expecting an apocalyptic reading – like last week’s – where the world crumbles and then we see Christ reigning in glory. Even though I’ve preached on this Sunday before, the reading caught me off guard. I was looking for Christ in his glory not Jesus on the cross. My initial reaction was disappointment: the fulfillment is Christ on the cross? I found myself caught up in looking for fulfillment in the ways our culture extols. We are taught we will …

Our back-to-back feasts of All Saints and All Souls challenge us to practice what we preach.   All Saints is a flamboyant type of feast, reminding us of our destiny on the one hand and of our role in the here and now.   In the good old, bad old days one might have heard of ‘The Church Triumphant’ and ‘The Church Militant.’   Those of us here and now had a battle on our hands, but we were assured victory and access to the beatific vision if we persevered.   All Souls is a more pensive and reflective type …

29th Sunday, Ordinary Time October 20, 2013 Genesis 32:22-31; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8 It is no mystery to me why a man with 2 sister wives, 2 maids and 11 children would find himself alone after decamping his household across river – because he felt constrained under his father-in-law’s roof. But I do have a little respect for someone who can hold their own in a wrestling match; with God no less. I didn’t learn to swim properly until I was in high school, and was excited to do so. In Junior Life-Saving, we were taught that the struggling …

Holy Wisdom Monastery Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time October 13, 2013   2 Kings 5:1-15c 2 Timothy 2:8-15 Luke 17:11-19   To be agents of the reign of God is a full-time job.  It requires a whole-life commitment: courage, compassion, and energy.  Today, on the 18th anniversary of the first celebration of Solidarity Sunday in 1995, the scripture passages present some challenging lessons and offer a serious charge to all of us who would be shepherds of the new church.   Make no mistake: No sphere of society is beyond Jesus’ reach. Who would Jesus love? An obvious thread that runs …

Any questions?   This set of readings begs for a fire and brimstone polemic on class warfare.  But alas, you will have to settle for something equally revolutionary, but a little less fiery. While Jesus follows in a long line of prophets in the history of Israel, he veered off quite a bit from the ethical prescriptions that earlier prophets doled out liberally. From my point of view, Jesus made a huge effort to avoid ethical prescriptions. What Jesus did do was emphasize relationships, his relationship with the God he called Abba, his relationship with his followers, his followers relationships …

Luke 15:1-10 This past Monday I woke up with the intention of writing today’s homily. I began my usual morning routine…getting dressed and putting the usual stuff in my pocket…chap stick, cell phone. But, I could not find my cell phone. It was not on the bathroom window sill where I usually put it. It wasn’t in the pocket of the pants I had worn the night before. I didn’t find it on living room sofa where I had gone after calling my sister. I was baffled and frustrated. I knew I wouldn’t settle down until I found that damn …

September 2013 Proverbs 25:6-7, Hebrews 13”1-8, 15-16, Luke 14:1, 7-14   If you don’t know the name Lee Child, you will not know the name Jack Reacher.  Child writes crime thrillers and Reacher appears in each of them.  Child came up with Reacher’s name in a supermarket when, as he tells it, “a little old lady approached me and said, ‘You’re a nice tall gentleman, so would you reach that can for me?’  My wife said to me, ‘If this writing thing doesn’t work out , you can always be a reacher in a supermarket.’  I thought, great name!  And …