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HomiliesNovember 14, 2010I got it when I was less than one. It was soft, and had many colors. I snuggled with it, napped with it, slept with it every night. It was on my shoulder walking with me every day. I missed it when it was in the washer. To the naked eye it was a cotton Indian blanket. But to me it was … my wo-wo [...] October 17, 2010During my 11 plus years here at Sacred Heart, I have received maybe 3 anonymous letters. When people send anonymous letters, of a critical nature, it’s usually because they lack confidence in themselves, or they lack confidence in what they’re writing, or they lack confidence in the one they’re writing too — like maybe they’re afraid if I knew who wrote me such a thing I’d go over and land on them with both feet [...] October 3, 2010When dad gets home at night, kids don’t usually run up to him and say, “Thanks dad, for working all day we have food.” Nor do they say “Thanks, mom, for preparing this meal.” After Sunday Mass, people don’t usually run to the priest and say “Thank you, Father, for offering Mass with us [...] September 26, 2010The prophet Amos comes out swinging in today’s reading. His country is breaking up into groups that don’t care about each other. At their daily feasts the rich, now obscenely rich — don’t drink wine from goblets but guzzle it from bowls. Homes are redecorated with ivory-inlaid furniture. Fortunes are spent on perfumed oils to improve cosmetic appeal and sexual stimulation. While the poor are becoming obscenely desperately poor [...] September 5, 2010My goodness this is a demanding Gospel. “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple [...] August 15, 2010Today is the great feast of the homecoming of Mother Mary to heaven. It’s also, because Mary is the symbol and image of the Church and of each individual Christian, the feast of our own future homecoming to heaven [...] August 8, 2010One of nature’s best jumpers is the African impala. It’s a type of antelope or deer that can leap to a height of 10 feet, and a distance greater than 30 feet. The surprising thing is … these animals can be kept safe in any zoo by a 3 foot high enclosure wall. How is this possible? Impalas never ever jump if they cannot see exactly where their feet will fall. (from Dynamic Preaching, XXVI, 3, p. 33) [...] August 1, 2010Jesus’ parable creates anxiety in me. I mean, isn’t the rich man’s reaction to a financial bonanza pretty much the same as anyone’s? You win the lottery, have a banner year at work, hit a bull’s eye in the market, inherit … if you’re a practicing Catholic, I hope you’d dedicate a sturdy fraction of it to Church and charities … but after that … don’t most people then consider: how can I save this money? Where will it be safe [...] July 18, 2010The Greek gods Zeus and Hermes, wondering about the people in Phrygia, disguised themselves as mortals and asked help and hospitality. Many with large homes and tables gave them no attention; but a dear old couple, Philemon and Baucis, cheerfully welcomed them to their miserable hut, offered water from their single cup, and a little bread. As a reward, the couple’s hut was transformed into a temple, they were promised that they’d never know need again, and that they would die together, and be mingled like two trees [...] June 27, 201019th century poet John Greenleaf Whittier is not a household word today. But he had his moment of glory, for a poem he wrote of a handsome young Judge riding through the woods who made eye contact with beautiful but very poor Maud Muller. “Beneath her torn hat glowed the wealth … of simple beauty and rustic health. Singing, she wrought, and her merry glee … the mock-bird echoed from his tree.” She was a knockout, and he was smitten as she gave him a drink from a spring. He began fantasizing a simple life with her, “away from the doubtful balance of rights and wrongs … and weary lawyers with endless tongues.” But then he thought of “his sisters, proud and cold, and his mother, vain of her rank and gold.” And he went on, to “marry a wife of richest dower, who lived for fashion, as he for power” And it was loveless. And Maud, she got got stuck with a weary wheel to a spinet turned, while the tallow candle an astral burned [...] |
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