Luke 11, 1-13 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given you; search and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” “Truth or Dare?” Have you ever wonder, “what exactly is Jesus talking about here?” Every single day, in every single corner of this troubled planet, a hungry child asks and does not receive; a desperate cancer patient seeks and does not find; a homeless “bum” knocks and nobody opens the …
Patti LaCross' Homily from July 14, 2013
Deuteronomy 30:9-14; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 1o:25-7 Were there any specific phrases or images that spoke to you from this rich feast of Scriptures? Maybe “God’s delight in prospering you?” Or, “the nearness of the word in your mouth and heart?” “The love you have for all the saints”, “the hope laid up for you”, the “joyful giving of thanks”, or the image of mercy shown by the Samaritan? Any number of phrases from today’s 3 SS might one that resonates for you; listen for it! You may be gifted with a soundtrack for the next few days. Is there anyone here who has not heard …
Libby Caes' Homily from July 7, 2013
July 7, 2013 Isaiah 66:10-14 Last Sunday we sang in the Eucharistic prayer, O Holy, holy, holy God, O God of time and space, all earth and sea and sky above bear witness to your grace. We experience God in time and space All of us have memories of times and places where we have experienced the Holy. Kathleen Norris, in Dakota: A Spiritual Geography writes of returning to her childhood and ancestral home: This is my spiritual geography, the place where I have wrestled my story out of circumstances of landscape and inheritance. The word “geography” derives from the …
Sister Lynne Smith's Homily from June 2, 2013
Body and Blood of Jesus Last week I caught the end of a TV ad for the Volunteers of America. A smiling young man says: “We use our bodies to help others.” It is such an earthy image. I thought “That’s what the celebration of the Body and Blood of Jesus is about: using our bodies to help others.” Because Jesus lived among us as a flesh and blood human being, he showed us that human life is holy. To follow him is not a matter of having some esoteric knowledge. Christian discipleship involves us in the earthiness of life …
Sister Lynne Smith's Homily from Ascension Sunday on May 12, 2013
Ascension Sunday Acts 1:1-11 Some weeks I can hardly bear to read or listen to the news. This was one of those weeks: the murder trial in Lafayette County; the report of three women held captive for a decade in Cleveland; more than 1,000 deadin the collapsed building in Bangladesh, the on-going killing in Syria. The amount of pain and suffering in the world seems too much to bear sometimes. I wonder how the suffering is ever going to stop. When I was a child a Sunday School image from the book of Revelation used to console me. I …
Libby Caes' Homily from April 28, 2013
April 28 Acts 11:1-18, Rev. 21:1-6, John 13:1-31-35 Doesn’t it feel like we are living in a new heaven and a new earth? Now that we have had several consecutive days of sunshine and warm weather, the relentless succession of gray cold rainy days are becoming a distant memory. Spring is finally here! It is one thing to look out the window and see blue skies, green grass, crocuses and daffodils. It is another thing to go outside, soak up the sunshine, smell the newness, clear out the flower beds, walk the Farmer’s Market. Sit on the back porch and …
Joseph Wiesenfarth's Homily from April 14, 2013
Acts 9:1-20, Revelation 5:11-14, John 21:1-19 If one reads the Irish writer Colm Toíbín’s The Testament of Mary, one gets a very different view of the Holy Family and of the disciples of Jesus than one ordinarily gets. Toíbín’s Mary is very unhappy with what her son has decided to do with his life, refuses to be there at the last moments of his crucifixion, and forbids any one to sit in the chair that once belonged exclusively to her deceased husband, Joseph—indeed, threatens an evangelist so inclined with a knife in her hand. Her exacerbation is created by a …
Sister Lynne Smith's Homily from April 7, 2013
John 20:19-31 April 7, 2013 Some years ago, this season of Eastertide, the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost, took on new meaning for me. I read the chapter on Easter in The Holy Longing, by Ronald Rolheiser. In it he describes Eastertide as a time to grow into the new life given us by Christ’s death and resurrection. I read his book at a time when I was struggling to make the transition to a new stance in life. I was moving from living life as a victim to living proactively. It involved a great deal of time and …
Jim Penczykowski's Homily from Holy Thursday, March 28, 2013
Our action this evening is simplicity itself, wash one another’s feet. What does it mean to you? Does this action mean, “I wish I had had time to put on clean socks before I came here so I wouldn’t offend anyone when I take my shoes off?” There is something to this, you know. This is a very sensual activity to come into close proximity to another person’s feet. Those feet have seen a lot of miles; they may be tired; they may be ticklish; they may be suffering some neuropathy. I want to be gentle with those feet; I …
Libby Caes' Homily from March 17, 2013
Mary: a dangerous old woman John 12:1-8 (Is.43:16-21; Psalm 126, Phil. 3:4b-14) In the early 90’s ads began appearing in the New York Times for a new kind of hearing aid. I am sure you have all seen ads for hearing aids: invisible, in your ear, cheap with catchy names…ads that make outlandish promises and probably with little to deliver. This New York Times ad was for a new technology: digital hearing aids made by 3M. Dave, my husband, would make sure I saw the ad. He told me that I should check it out. Each time I brushed him …