Homily Prep for June 16th

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email 
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00pm, 9:30, and 11:00

Whose Living in You?

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Homily Prep June 9

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30, 9:30, and 12:30

What's the Truth? vs. What's the Teaching?
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Homily Prep June 2 - Corpus Christi

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
 -I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 11:00am and 6:00pm

Break It Down

Click here - June 2 homily prep - Corpus Christi

Homily Prep May 26 - Trinity

 -This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
 -I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00 on Saturday, 9:30 and 6:00pm on Sunday

Our DNA is Divine

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homily Prep May 26 - Trinity Sunday

Pentecost Homily Prep May 19

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email

-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org

-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 8:00 and 12:30 on Sunday

Do We Believe? It Ain't Easy!
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Homily Prep for Ascension May 12

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
 -This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
 -I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30 on Saturday and 12:30 on Sunday

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Homily Prep for Ascension May 12

May 5 Homily Prep

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 11:00 Mass Sunday

"God's in the House"

Homily Prep April 28

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00 on Sat., 9:30am and 6:00pm Sunday

He's Got the Whole World......

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 8:00am and 12:30pm on Sunday

Carved on the Palm of His Hand

I hear the words of Jesus referring to the sheep of the flock as those who can not be "snatched from the Father's hand". It reminds me immediately of that Glory and Praise song, Isaiah 42 "I have carved you on the palm of my hand." I used to love that song on weekend renewals when people would experience the tender care and closeness of God in their lives. Tears always accompanied that song.

If there is a tragic feature to people's spiritual lives today that I notice it is the lack of being held in the palm of God's hand. Everyone seems so vunlerable and frightened, abandoned and on their own, forced to defend and protect themselves, against everyone else, fighting for a limited amount of God's blessings for themeselves.

That is a spiritual sickness in our generation. Very few people seem blessed by the Providence of Almighty God.

On this Good Shepherd Sunday I am praying that all of us might experience the conversion of heart that would reassure us that God has us carved on the palm of His hand, there is no snatching us away from Him. No matter what life brings us, we and God can manage it together.

As a pastor of souls, I would expect that believers would experience this providential, tender care in and through the Church. That was Jesus' idea and intention in establishing the Church. Communion (yes in the Sacrament and in the Church) is "to be safe in the embrace of our loving God".

Are you open to that embrace? Is that security expressed in your life by calm and peace? Can you trust the Church to imperfectly provide that embrace in daily life?

I'd be interested to know why or why not.

Feed My Sheep

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00 Saturday and 8:00 AM and 12:30 PM Sunday

The lost sheep

In the context of this year of faith and the call to the new evangelization my thoughts have turned to feeding and tending the sheep, as Jesus commanded Peter, in regards to those who are currently"Lost".

Pope Francis has recalled for all of us the need to offer tender care, like St. Peter, for the sake of the love of Christ. I am thinking about all the Catholics who are baptized and registered in our parish alone who do not join us for Sunday Eucharist. I recently asked a group of parishioners as to why those 75% do not participate. The answers were varied.

We concluded that all of those who do not participate have received a message from the church that there is something "wrong" with them. Lapsed, fallen away, bad marriages, same-sex orientation, Contracepting, divorced, addicted, Or just for having a "mortal sin" for having missed mass.

Our message to them is that there is something wrong or irregular about them and that they ought to get their life right with Jesus and come back to church. I am not convinced that such a message is "tending or feeding the lambs". We need another message that precedes the current message. The message that they need to hear is Peter's answer to Jesus in today's Gospel, "Lord you know everything, you know that I love you."

How might the ministry of our parish church and our individual lives of faith express to our neighbors and the world that "Jesus knows everything and that we love Jesus?" Let's work on that and I believe we will begin to tend to the lambs and feed all the sheep So much more effectively

Mercy is "Believing" at Work

-Last Sunday's homily is NOT available
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30 Sat and 9:30 and 11:00 on Sunday

Believe By Becoming God's Mercy

Theologian Ronald Rolheiser has described for me the legend of St. Christopher. I knew St. Christopher only as a "debunked" patron saint of safe travel. I was unfamiliar with the story of his conversion.

As a youth, Christopher was gifted in every way, except faith. He was a big man physically, powerful, strong, goodhearted, mellow, and well liked by all. He was also generous, using his physical strength to help others. His one fault was that he found it hard to believe in God. For him, the physical was what was real and everything else seemed unreal. However, he yearned to believe in God and deeply respected those who did believe. And so he lived his life in a certain honest agnosticism, unable to really believe in anything beyond what he could physically see, feel, and touch.

This, however, did not prevent him from using his gifts, especially his physical strength, to serve others. This became his refuge, generosity and service. He became a ferryboat operator, spending his life helping to carry people across a dangerous river. One night, so the legend goes, during a storm, the ferryboat capsized and Christopher dove into the dark waters to rescue a young child. Carrying that child to the shore, he looked into its face and saw there the face of Christ. After that he believed, for he had seen the face of Christ. The very name, Christopher, contains the legend. Christopher means Christ-bearer.

Are we not all at times like Christopher and like St. Thomas, weak in faith? We don't even feel like we believe. There are, for everyone of us, dark nights of the soul, silences of God, cold lonely seasons, bitter times when God's appearances to us cannot be truly grasped or recognized. The history of faith, as witnessed by the life of Jesus and the lives of the saints, shows us that God often seems dead and, at those times, the reality of the empirical world can so overpower us that nothing seems real except what we can see and feel right now, namely our own pain.

Whenever this happens, we need to become Christ-bearers, Christophers, honest agnostics who use their goodness and God-given strengths to help carry others across the burdensome rivers of life. God does not ask us to have a faith that is certain, but a service that is sure. We have the assurance that, should we faithfully help carry others without first thinking of ourselves, we will one day find ourselves before the person of Christ who will gently say to us: "See for yourself, that I am real, and not a ghost".

By living mercy we can become believers in the flesh! Help, Lord, our unbelief!

Non-condemnation - a spirituality

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00pm Saturday and 11:00am on Sunday

Non-condemnation as a way of life!

Last week in my reflection on faith as a condition of the heart and unforgiveness as the hardening of the heart I think we may have been misled. What I mean by that is that the life of forgiveness or non-condemnation that Jesus displays today in the Gospel of the woman caught adultery, we see that, for those of us called to be the disciples of Jesus, non-condemnation is a way of life.

The call to be forgiving can be misunderstood, in my opinion, as the goal of forgiving particular persons for particular offenses. What I hear in the Gospel today is that Jesus is inviting us to a new way of being, "metanoia" which literally means "a change in knowing or mind. That we might on a daily basis adopt a new approach to loving and it excludes condemnation.

Think of all the people that in one day can disappoint us, frustrate us, offend us, insult us, disrespect us, look down on us, et cetera. We can come to the conclusion that all of them are condemnable. We can begin to live a life of self protective, condemnation- "all THOSE people". This attitude of condemnation colors our loving. In fact, our loving can disappear because we are dominated by self protective condemnation. Wow..

I recall a parent of a child with ADD, who said that every night she had to forgive her child and forgive herself, get a good night's sleep, wake up the next day and begin again - free. That is the formula that all of us can adopt if we are to live the life of Jesus-"neither do I condemn you".

Does this make sense to your life?

Homily Prep March 10

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 9:30am at church and 11:00 at youth retreat

Atrophy of the Heart: Unforgiveness

You may have called it "holding a grudge" or simply complained about it "I just can't forgive". In whatever way you speak about the unforgiveness of the Christian heart it is atrophy of the Christian life.

I know I have spoken about the relatively young father of my college friend who had a serious stroke at age 54. His experience of immobility of his right hand and his therapy in recovering from the stroke is for me an image of the unforgiving Christian heart.

There is a condition called "rigor" that a muscle freezes in a position as it has lacked stimulation of the nervous system or the blood stream. The Christian heart is such a muscle. When we refuse to forgive or find it difficult to forgive, our hearts experience rigor, or hardness, and they are frozen in the defensive position.

The Prodigal Father shows us how fluid and functional is the heart of one who forgives, over and over again. Unforgiveness, or rigor of the Christian heart, may be the most significant and impactful condition afflicting the Christian community in the world.

How proficient are you in forgiving? That would probably be a great scale by which to measure your discipleship? Harden not your hearts!

March 3 Homily Prep

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30, 8:00am and 9:30am

Wearing Your Heart (Faith) on your Sleeve

This week's parable of the unfruitful figtree, our Lenten psalm "harden not your hearts", our parish Lenten ministries of Souls on Fire/faith sharing and Parish Day of Service/Faith at Work all go together to prompt me to ask how do we reveal the faith that dwells in our hearts?

I believe the farewell speech of Pope Benedict gives us some insight into what is faith and how does it work:

Dear friends! God guides His Church, always sustaining her even and especially in difficult times. Let us never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the path of the Church and of the world. In our hearts, in the heart of each one of you, may there always be the joyous certainty that the Lord is beside us, that He does not abandon us, that He is near and embraces us with His love. Thank you.”

Do you possess this vision of faith?

Feb 24 Homily Prep

-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 8:00am and 12:30pm

Enemies of the Cross of Christ!

Your witness and mine is the manner of our appearance in the world. Would that my life would radiate the cross of Christ! Instead, I fear that it may appear as an enemy of the cross. Hmmm.
His face became dazzling.....he appeared with Moses and Elijah.

Feb 10th Prep - what is your fishing boat?

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 11:00am and 6:00pm

The Need to Give!

This Sunday during the homily time we will have the annual Catholic charities appeal

February 3 Homily Prep

-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00 Sat, 8am and 12:30pm on Sunday

What Causes the Change?

What is it that turns the love we feel from and for someone into infuriating anger, or annoyance at least? Same person, same truth, one minute we're loving it and the next ....well we want to discard them from our midst?

In the case of Jesus and his "countrymen" in Nazareth it seems to be hard-heartedness. Jesus can hardly be accused of loving the the folks in one minute and then sinning against them in the next. No, he was telling them the truth in the first moment (which they found mystifying) and then telling them the truth in the next and they want to kill him. Hmmm.

I guess it's all about conversion, or the lack thereof. All of us are converted to a certain level of comfort with reality and the truth. When reality starts speaking a truth to us above or beyond our level of conversion - it no longer feels sweet, it hurts.

I saw this on the beach on my vacation. A father and child were interacting joyfully at the water's edge until the child attempted to walk farther away from the father than the father was comfortable. The father called out to the child to save or secure him and the child responded in tears and rage. Same two people, same loving activity, a smart expression of love and concern from the father,a perceived limit upon freedom, and the whole thing turns into an emotional meltdown. Loving turns into hurting very quickly.

This is the experience of the Garden of Eden written small. How do you see it operating in your daily life, spiritual life, family life, church and world?

January 13 Homily Prep

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30 Sat, 11am and 6pm Sunday

Take my hand

My mom and I went to see the movie Les Miserables a couple of weeks ago. It was a great film presentation of the often told story made famous by Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. My favorite song that is reprised several times is the death scene in which the actors sing "take my hand...."

This gesture of taking one's hand is a familiar human concept that is referenced in the first reading from the prophet Isaiah on this feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Here the expression or a gesture is described of having "grasped you by the hand". It speaks of the mystery of this Christmas season which we call Incarnation.

When we take someone by the hand, request their hand in marriage, offer our handshake in commitment, or hold hands as we are walking down the street - in all these ways we are committed to one another, we enter communion with the other.

In the incarnation of God, Emmanuel, the birth of Jesus we are grasped by the hand of God. God has thrown his lot in with our human condition. God has picked us up, taken us by the hand. As adults we often times accompany children in public and as we approach the intersection of a busy street to cross we naturally reach for each other's hands for security, for protection, for solidarity confronting something intimidating.

This is a concept of faith. When we conceive of our God taking us by the hand in life we know that we are not alone, we have no need to be afraid, we can walk securely in the face of intimidation, danger, strife. God has grasped us by the hand in the incarnation, Emmanuel, God with us. He is our redeemer, our vindicator, our protector, our guide, our friend, our father. Sweet.

Homily prep for Epiphany - January 6

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30 on Saturday and 9:30 and 12:30 on Sunday

Star Quality!

We use the word "star" to indicate somebody in our culture who is very bright and attractive. So we have rock stars, Olympic stars, movie stars, rising stars in politics, etc. Like the star of Bethlehem, these cultural stars are bright and attractive-they draw our attention and we are drawn to them with affection and affirmation.

Unlike the star of Bethlehem, the cultural stars are drawing us and pointing our attention and affection to themselves. The light and attraction of the Star of Bethlehem was appreciated, not for its own sake, but for that to which it was pointing. The star of Bethlehem was drawing the Magi to something greater than its own brightness -to God himself, The light of the world.

The first reading today speaks of the city of Jerusalem as beholding the light and becoming transformed by the light into the light itself: you shall become radiant at what you see. The birth of Jesus Christ as a little child is the revelation of the light of God's love. In faith we become radiant at what we see.

By faith and baptism we are enlightened by Christ and we become the very light of Christ, as St. Paul tells us we are "light in the Lord". But, like the star of Bethlehem, we are called to shed our light in the world and by attraction draw others, not to ourselves, but to Jesus Christ-the true light of the world.

So, we are to become stars: bright lights in the Lord drawing others from afar to closeness with Christ our Savior. Is there any radiance of the light of Christ in our lives as individuals and as a community? Can we, in this year of faith, grow the light of Christ enkindled in our hearts by baptism? Can our faith community become a draw for the nations to come close to Jesus Christ?

Simple, Hardly Easy

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 8:00 and 11:00am

God is doing nothing new!

While God is always new and ever new, the Christmas mystery and the revelation of God in the human person of Jesus at Bethlehem is nothing new, it is not a new message. In fact, it is so purely and simply the same message that we have heard from God from the beginning.

In the beginning, God made them male and female in his own image and likeness and he charged them to love, to become one flesh, and to be fruitful, multiply - as in be co-creators with God. To be human: mother, father, child.

The Christmas mystery revealed today especially in the Holy Family - husband, wife, child-is the same message: our God enters our human existence and reality not as a powerful angel from on high nor as an otherworldly creature but as a helpless child of innocent and committed parents. The message is the same as that first creation: that I am love, I have created you as humans in love, I have placed my mode of loving into your very bones/humanity, and I am calling you to simply love as human beings do.

As Fr. Chuck said on Christmas eve, "God has chosen to not only create us in his image of love, call us to his work of loving, but shown us how to live in love in Jesus."

It's simple, but it ain't easy! We certainly have complicated our basic task. Mother father and child. Husband, wife, family. How far have we gotten from our Nature and our mission? How might we reconnect through the gospel with both? In simply being and loving as we were called, created, and redeemed, to do... We could find peace.

Simple! Hardly easy!