Category Archive

Laetare Sunday March 10, 2013 Joshua 5:9-12, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3,11b-32 prod·i·gal   adjective. Lavish – profuse – extravagant – wasteful – spendthrift         In my old school, when I was a child¸ I remember that this parable was commonly called the Prodigal Son. Lessons focused on the young man who left with his premature inheritance to squander it unwisely, until muddied and hungry he had no choice but to return home, where – no surprise to those of us with many siblings – he was shown so generous a welcome that his obedient brother spent the …

Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent:  Reflections on Exile and Figs, Manure and Potatoes   I mentioned to my twin that I would be preaching today. His response was that he saw it as very fitting since the central metaphor of the Gospel is manure.  Actually, he wasn’t quite that polite. The first reading is one of those that I came to love the very first time I heard it. And, as I learned more about it, I have become even more impressed with its power and depth. It was written by someone we have come to call Deutero Isaiah, since …

Holy Wisdom Monastery First Sunday of Lent 2013 Luke 4:1-13[1]   There’s no sense in searching your Bible dictionary for the word, “Lent;” there was no such thing in biblical times.  There is some evidence that early Christians fasted 40 hours between Good Friday and Easter, but the custom of spending 40 days in prayer and penance did not arise until later, sometime after Christianity was legalized A.D. 313, when that first rush of Christian adrenaline was over and many believers had gotten rather ho-hum about their faith, hanging their crosses on the wall and settling back into their customary …

Homily – Feast of Saint Scholastica February 10, 2013 Mark 3:31-35 Many of you may know the story of Scholastica. According to tradition, she was the twin sister of Benedict who wrote the Rule Benedictines follow. They lived in Italy in the sixth century. What we know about Scholastica comes from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great in which he writes about various saints to inspire the people of his time. Gregory is asked whether the saints are able to do everything they wish and obtain all that they desire.  In response, he says there was one time when Benedict …

February 3, 2013 Luke 4:31-41, I Corinthians 13, Jeremiah 1:4-10 I wish I had a tally of all the weddings I have either officiated at or attended and what percentage of them had I Cor 13 for a reading. Probably most of them! It is a passage as familiar as the 23rd Psalm… if I speak with the tongue of men and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal… The gospel reading is much more of a puzzle to our 21century minds. Jesus speaking to the demons, an exchange we don’t …

Baptism of Jesus  January 13, 2013 Isaiah 43: 1-7  ;   Acts 8:14-17;   Luke 3 :15-22   The Benedictine tradition of a silent pause after each of our Scripture readings, allows the words to resonate in our minds and hearts. Hopefully there will be a word or phrase that echoes for you throughout today, and maybe it will shape your week ahead. That experience – of the Word of God as a living thing – the Hebrews called dabar.   This pairing of Isaiah 43 and Luke’s Gospel highlights one such phrase that powerfully proclaims God’s presence with  us:  Fear not! Fear …

Epiphany, 6 January 2012 Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12 In Matthew’s gospel both Jew and Gentile appear as, of course, does “the Word within a word, unable to speak a word,” Jesus the Savior, in Bethlehem.  The Gentiles in the persons of the Magi “saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage.”   To the extent that Herod does not and the Magi do actively live Isaiah’s words—“your light has come, and the glory of God has risen upon you”—the suggestion is that the advantages that once lay strictly with the Jews are …

24 December 2012 Isaiah 9:2-7, Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7, Luke 2:1-21 Picture this scenario.  Forget every ten years.  The census will be taken this year during Christmas week.  We will all have to return to the birthplace of the man of the family.  This means that I must take my wife who was born in the Montreal area to Brooklyn, New York—a foreign country where the English language is unknown in any recognizable form to anyone from the Middle West.  That’s my itinerary.  Each of you can imagine your own.  But think of the larger picture.  Think of what the Interstate …

Philippians 4, “Rejoice…be anxious for nothing”   I would like to begin by taking a poll. This is for everyone. Not just the grownups but also the youth and kids.   Are you someone who worries? Do you get anxious? Do you ever get stressed?   Raise your hand!!   Once I asked David, my husband, if he ever worries.   His response was something like this , “I don’t have to worry because you do enough worrying for both of us”   That was a huge reality check!   I will confess that I do get anxious…   Anxious …

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time * Dan 12:1-3, Heb 10:11-25, Mk 13:1-8 * November 18, 2012   When the readings turn apocalyptic, we know Advent’s approaching; we’re completing one church year and preparing to start another.  Fall turns to winter, which will turn to spring.  Our faith turns on turning.  Death is a hinge to resurrection, and every end turns to beginning. This is good to remember as we hear about super-storms, climate change, spreading war in the Middle East, European debt crises, our own fiscal cliff … and, as my mom said, “Don’t look at the Mayan calendar!”  It’s …