Homilies

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time - 9/25/06: The patience of Muslims and the Pope, ambitious passion, great humanity: We are in a very difficult time in world history. Most Muslim people are being radically misunderstood, and so has Pope Benedict the XVI. The book of Wisdom reveals that proofs of gentleness will be demanded, patience will be “tried.” I thought it would be good for us to acknowledge that the vast majority of Muslim people have read the Pope’s remarks which he gave in a university lecture and find them understandable in context, and that most Catholic people, not having read the lecture, find him disappointing. We are victims of the sound bite and need Wisdom which produces and requires patience. At least, we need the facts. Here are Pope Benedict’s words in partial context, you will see the goal was respectful dialogue, not slander.

“I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Münster) of part of the dialogue carried on - perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara - by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both. It was presumably the emperor himself who set down this dialogue, during the siege of Constantinople between 1394 and 1402; and this would explain why his arguments are given in greater detail than those of his Persian interlocutor. The dialogue ranges widely over the structures of faith contained in the Bible and in the Qur'an, and deals especially with the image of God and of man, while necessarily returning repeatedly to the relationship between - as they were called - three "Laws" or "rules of life": the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Qur'an. It is not my intention to discuss this question in the present lecture; here I would like to discuss only one point - itself rather marginal to the dialogue as a whole - which, in the context of the issue of "faith and reason", I found interesting and which can serve as the starting-point for my reflections on this issue." More...

Pope Benedict XVI's Address at U. of Regensburg

24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (9/17/06): God’s gotcha back! The youth in our parish shared with me that they like when the preacher gets all worked up “God’s gotcha back! God’s not letting you go!” They want me to preach like that, but I am thinking that style isn’t mine, and I get so worked up sometimes I am afraid of what will happen. What do you think?

Fact is, according to the prophet Isaiah today – God does have our back. But that includes the suffering that comes our way. You see. God wants ya free! Problem is, everybody else is free too. You put that much freedom in, and someone’s going to sin. They might spit on you. The suffering servant we hear about in Isaiah says, “I did not shield my face from buffets and spitting.” Well what good is that? God’s got ma back, but the spit is coming in from the front! God made each of us a player in His story, and His story must have this freedom in it. We get to choose to participate or not. We can be a player or a strayer! More...

23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (9/10/06): Leap like a stag lately? The prophet Isaiah speaks to a frightened people, perhaps they are scared because they are sick, maybe someone has judged them falsely 2^nd class, maybe they are scared because they are about to lose their job, their marriage, their faith! He says, “Here comes your God… you will leap like a stag.” He speaks to people who are so hurt they no longer speak or hear others. Is that you? Me? Am I an island? Do I no longer speak freely? Regardless, God is coming the prophet says. God is coming. He says, we will “leap like a stag.”

Lazarus at the gate. The reading from the letter of James speaks about showing no preferences to the pretty, the rich. James says God uses the poor as an example of dependence on Him. It reminds me of the Lazarus story in the Gospel where poor Lazarus is at the rich man’s gate – who passes by him every day without helping. In the Kingdom, the rich man is in hell and he asks Lazarus to warn his family. “Don’t let this happen to them!” It seems there is a preference, and it is to the poor. The preference comes from God being pleased with the deep faith and regular relationship the poor have with God. There seems to be a different quality, a more intense desire for and dependence on God in the poor. Those who are well off can be misled by their prosperity or beauty or abilities to think they are better. God says, “Better for you to hang with me and be concerned about what I am concerned about – justice, devotion, equality, humility in service. You want to be a friend of Lazarus at the gate. More...

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (8/27/2006): Decide today. Joshua says something Catholic bookstores have made a lot of money on. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” There are plaques, bookmarks, window and bumper stickers, all with those words inscribed on them. There are so many other gods to serve, the Lord asks us through Joshua to decide today who we will serve. Playstation2? The lottery? Sometimes we serve lawns, cars, properties, our addictions, our status. We can serve self mostly, things that become signs of success, things that comfort us. We can also serve selflessly. We can serve family, neighborhood, the poor, we can serve schools, hospitals, food distribution, thrift stores, community events, voting stations, walks for hunger, get better educated. But what does Joshua mean when he says, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” He means that He will accept the gift of Jesus against his sins and coming death, and make a return out of gratitude. THEN! Everything can be in His Holy Name! I go to visit people in prison, I pray for police and fire officers, I sort clothes at St. Vincent DePaul, I teach CCD or English or adults how to read IN HIS NAME, as a return, in gratitude for Jesus gift to me. What return shall I make to the Lord for all the good He has done for me? DECIDE TODAY. More...

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (8/20/06): The book of Proverbs talks about the house of Wisdom. Ever been in one? It seems there is wine there. It is luscious and you drink it. Hmm, wine in this house too. Why would the Bible have an intoxicating drink on wisdom’s table? It seems wise drinkers have no issues. Neither do wise people when they talk, work, pray or play. Wise people have fewer problems, wise houses fewer feuds. Our reading from the book of proverbs is about the invitation to wisdom not necessarily wine. When there is wisdom, there is no issue with wine. So STOP… Whining. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians whines on about how to behave. “Be careful! Make the most of your day! Avoid evil! Don’t be ignorant! Don’t get drunk! Ugh. These good sentiments sound an awful lot like dull, flat platitudes, like whining, like Charlie Brown’s teacher – whuh whuh, whu whuh. You never see her but you just know her finger is pointing, and Charlie Brown is humiliated. More...

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (8/13/06): . Get off your broom honey. Elijah sits under a broom tree praying for death. It’s a bad day. No matter though, angels show up and encourage him, get off this broom. There are days, there are days. We have enough and want to quit, or let somebody have it! This reading is all about the times we get in despair. Losing hope stinks, it feels like the end, but often it isn’t. That’s why the angel came to Elijah, “get up!” God has plans to love, or forgive, or companion, or console through you, how can you sit under the broom?

There is a tradition from slave days on a wedding day where you jump the broom. There were no clergy for them, no place, or ritual for marriage, so they laid down a broom and jumped over it signaling the change. And that was that. But you have to get off it to jump over it. I have to get the heck up to move in the direction of the love that is calling me. Sadly, I can choose to remain seated. Get off your broom honey. Love is calling, the angels are here. You’re needed. More...

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (7/30/2006): Shalisha to Elisha. Shalisha was a town, you were named by your town – Fr. David of Greenville. Makes it a bummer to come from Lizard Lick NC huh? Steve of Lizard Lick, every time you were announced. Ugh. Well this man from Shalisha heard about Elisha, a prophet who gave food for the spirit. Perhaps you know someone like Elisha, when you are with them you feel the holy, the good, fed. The man from Shalisha handed to Elisha his bag of bread to see what he would do with it. 20 loaves for 100 people. It was completely predictable. Elisha received the blessing and in the name of God shared it. God’s blessing came through the man from Shalisha to Elisha so people would taste and see the goodness of the Lord. And there was enough, Lord, there was enough. Bondage. Paul has been thrown in jail for preaching the new way of being Jewish – Jesus’s way of self sacrifice for love of sister and brother. He is in jail living what he preaches. From this bondage, this jail, he says the most remarkable thing. “Be patient, bear with others, remember that Jesus’ Spirit bonds us together.” Amazing, Paul admits his jailers and he have a bond, and he grows patient. It’s as if he knows the Spirit within him has simply not yet been awakened in them, and he decides to wait it out rather than judge or manhandle them. The one Lord is Lord of all, we are bonded together. A new meaning for the word “bondage.” More...

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (7/23/06): No shepherd, union shepherd, good shepherd, and a word about the missions. There are days when we feel so divided, so confused, like sheep running haphazardly. We find ourselves caring for the soldiers AND the dead children they just shot. We find ourselves one in patriotism with our President AND longing for leadership. We find ourselves intimately connected with our Church AND crying out “why so few vocations, so many church and school closings?” We are torn, lost in cares and many times poorly informed by biased sources. Jesus was moved by that when He saw it in His people and showed them the way. More...

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (7/16/06): Three moods of God… I’m not going to mince words, I love you more than myself, and take little with you. Mood 1: "I’m not going to mince words." The prophet Amos speaks for God and the message is hard. The people Amos is speaking to have material and attitudinal superiority. But they are hollow, and have become known for selfish injustice. Prophets come in not mincing words. “You have fixed your scales to cheat, you sit in judgment unfairly, you eat excessively while others hunger, you prize the esteem of backward people and you forget the God who delivered you.” Amos then lists the punishments, unbelievable. Pests, famines, leaders die, children, spirits, die. That is where we pick up the 1^st reading today. Amos says, “Hey these are not my words! I am a tree pruner! “You best listen and change.” They kick him out. The message went out, God proclaimed His justice through Amos. I’m not going to mince words. Change your ways says the Lord. Let them fall where they may. More...

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (7/2/06): The book of Wisdom is clear - God did not make death. We know God conquered death in Jesus' Resurrection. Yet we experience death. Perhaps God is telling us we can bring what He has not made, a more dramatic and terrible death. Spiritual death. I’ll try to illustrate what I mean. One of the things Christians do to follow Jesus is go to jail. We visit His people there because nothing is ever lost with God. I met a young man in jail I want to tell you about. After having been used sexually by both his mother and father, after having been given addictive drugs by his father with the words, “have a good time son,” he became an addict. He robbed people to get money for his new habit, a gift from his dad. Then he met Roberta. He eventually broke the addiction with help from her and went straight through a terrific counseling program and was living in a small step down place near the coast where he was a waiter. One day when he was walking with Roberta after a two year mandatory no-see policy ended, a handsome upper class college boy came onto the beach, she broke the news to him that they had been dating he lost it. He beat up the young man so bad it killed him. He was sent here to await death sentencing. That’s when I met him. He had died already. Spiritually. More...

Feast of the Holy Trinity (6/11/06): When the disciples wanted to know how to pray to Jesus’ Father he gave them the words that begin “Our Father.” They also heard Him say, “Give us, Our bread, forgive us, Our trespasses, against us, lead us, deliver us.” Jesus didn’t lead me to pray my Father, lead me, deliver me. Why? The answer to that question is very very important in understanding God and God’s will for US.

God in God’s self is community. We didn’t always understand God that way. God spoke His Word to Abraham, but then the Word later became flesh. God’s Spirit was at work always, but manifest itself as comprehension and a purifying fire after Jesus had ascended to the Father. For Jews and Muslims God is not the Trinity of persons we celebrate today. We Christians understand our God as relationship within God’s self, eliminating any exclusive “me and God” religiosity. But in case we think this a quaint theological notion reserved for seminary professors let’s take a closer look. More..

Feast of the Ascension (5/28/06): Gotta go. Jesus departs. He ascends to the Father. Except this time He takes flesh with Him. There is now flesh with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Fascinating. When He takes His flesh, all flesh is changed forever. Flesh now has a new and eternal home. What the Father has done in raising Jesus from the Dead and then welcoming Him bodily into His everlasting kingdom is as much for us as it is for Jesus. “Why do you look into the heavens? He will come back just as He went.”

Listen to Philippe Benoit, a Catholic theologian writing in 1949. He puts it best of anyone I have read. “This new world where Christ reigns and awaits us, is not far from us; it is not outside our world, but transcends it. It is of another order… and we have access to it through faith and the Sacraments in a contact that is mysterious, but more real and close than any of our contacts with this world can be. And we are convinced that He inaugurated this new world when He was exalted at the side of His Father.” This mystery is beyond anything we know. Flesh sits at the right hand of God. All flesh recovered. Now we gotta go and tell the good news, He will come again. More...

5th Sunday of Easter (5/14/2006): Osama and Warren Jeffs. Osama Bin Laden is a terrorist who kills people to get his way. Warren Jeffs is a cult leader who permanently hurts children and hypnotizes adults to break the law. If you see either of them coming, run to save your life.

When Saul came to Jerusalem he was seen in the exact same way. He was a murderer of Christians, attempting to eliminate people of the “The Way.” Yet Barnabas had news, Saul had changed. He had been touched by Jesus. Believing him, believing he changed, wasn't easy and didn't come quickly.

The power of God is like that. When God decides it’s time our whole life can rhyme. Believe me? If this has happened to you raise your hand. People can change and stay that way as they remain close to Jesus. Paul spoke boldly to people about Jesus and went from being the number one killer to the number one recruiter. God it seems, has a sense of humor. Osama Bin Laden can become a champion for justice. Problem with Osama and Warren Jeffs is they think they already are champions for justice, so did Saul. But God hires and the old is fired. More...

3rd Sunday of Easter (4/30/06): “I didn’t know Him!” The Acts of the Apostles shows us Peter speaking with the Jews who never understood Jesus to be the messiah. Jesus had already risen from the dead, and ascended back to the Father and now was working in the apostles. Peter says, “You acted out of ignorance as many people did.” You didn’t know Him. Then Peter tells the story of how it was announced through the years by prophets that the messiah would suffer first, then be raised. If they believed now, they were to repent from their sins, that is, examine their lives, become sorry for whatever was not of God, and be baptized into “The Way,” namely, to begin now to live as Jesus lived.

If they didn’t know Him then, through Peter they come to know Him now. They are to live their lives as a return to God for His mercy. Self sacrifice, healing, truth telling, sharing the good news that God has reconciled all people to Himself through Jesus’ offering, once for all. Now they know Him, will they follow? More...

Easter Vigil (04/15/06): May our triumphant Lord, risen from the dead, give us reason for joy. A slamming double defeat, a new confidence, and the rolling stones. St. John Chrysostom in 407 A.D. put the one-two punch of Easter best:

If any person is devout and loves God let him come to this radiant and triumphant feast. If any person is a wise follower, let him enter into the joy of his Lord, rejoicing… For he who was without sin and was held prisoner by death has annihilated it. By descending into death, he made death captive. He angered it when it tasted of his flesh. Sin and death are powerless over him.

Witness the faithful one, and a Father who accepts faithfulness as the new status for everyone. The Father reveals that sin is not as powerful as His love. BAM! The first punch. Jesus breaks the bondage, sin’s hold on us. Then the Father raises Jesus from the dead making death no longer an end or a winner. BAM! God wins, and we win. Sin and death get the one-two punch. It is a slamming double defeat. More...

Holy Thursday (4/13/06): Tonight experience water, hands, feet, bread, wine. Jesus asks, “May I touch you? Water poured on tender feet, hands rub and bathe, feet are kissed. Tonight Jesus becomes food, drink, nourishment, if we will allow it. Touch. You deserve to be treated that way. Inside, we starve for it. We want our parent, our spouse, our child, our sister, our brother, a friend a neighbor to touch us. The one who touches thinks only of the other, not of Himself. But things can stand in the way. I can falsely believe the other is better than me, how dare I come? I can falsely believe that I am fine - why should I come? I can falsely believe that it may be better to take care of myself than to risk a bad experience with you. Yet the example and call goes out – I am to humble myself like the man with the apron on, to give and receive love, to touch and be touched. What are we waiting for? More...

Palm Sunday (4/9/06): May the Lord’s passion change our hearts to love. Imagine walking into the Vatican and receiving the death penalty, walking into our religion’s headquarters to be condemned by the Pope. Imagine being divine - suffering at the hands of what you created. Imagine being willing! Imagine deciding to be that faithful. Today our feast is fittingly called the Passion. Wouldn’t you have to have passion to walk His walk? To remain that faithful? We wave palms, the princely tree which adorns palaces, placed on the sarcophagi of rulers. We wave the palm of triumph. Yet where is the triumph? Our king goes by us to His death. There are in the same moment exclamations of exhilaration - for His strength and faithfulness, we hear "Hosanna! All Glory Laud and Honor!" And exclamations of horror as He is announced and then denounced, "Crucify Him! We want Barabbas! He must die!" How can we hold these two exclamations together? More...

Fifth Sunday of Lent (4/2/06): Dead. Imagine the person who has forgotten the words of the Prophet Ezekiel! Dead! God speaks through the prophet and says, “O my people, I will place my Spirit within you and you will live.” If we don’t hear that, you and I can walk around like the living dead. But sometimes we fly on “how things are going at home or school or work” and forget something that also exists, and is also measurable: the Spirit of God within us.

We might be out of practice trying to feel it, living from it. But we can start right now living from strength. In this moment you and I can feel the warmth of the room, see the colors, the people, the shapes of their faces – all gathered here for you by God, AND yes, we can feel His own spirit within us. Here’s how: More...

Third Sunday of Lent (3/19/06): The commandments are written in the negative. Thou shalt not kill, not commit adultery, don’t work all the time, don’t covet. For us to obey the commandments it may be helpful to have a do-list instead of a don’t do list, so I came up with one. There is one God so things are easier. God makes a better Lord, follow instead of leading. Use the name of God for thanksgiving and requests. Rest, you deserve it. Remember how many diapers and tears mom and dad wiped up and make a return. Bring life to everything you do, everyone you meet. Have one particular place where you show faithfulness in a radical way as a sign of God being faithful to you. Love the one you’re with. Speak about the good in other people almost exclusively. Be happy with what you have. Now thou shall know what to do. More...

2nd Sunday of Lent (3/12/06): Firewood, the ultimate defense attorney, the Clorox experience. Imagine carrying on your back the wood that will be used to set you on fire. Imagine a dad or mom that centered on God’s will. Imagine the altar, with the firewood neatly arranged. Look for the lamb of sacrifice. See the knife. . . Do you and I carry the firewood of our own sacrifice? By that I mean do you and I say and do things that make our lives an offering to God? I think of the parent who has many children, a woman who regrets an abortion and decides to dedicate her life to child care, a person who thinks they are in a meaningless job but chooses to make it meaningful by good cheer and generosity, knowing it provides for a living. I think of those enduring chronic pain, job loss, or the death of a loved one with grace. You can be sure that when the knife of strife is lifted into the air that God will protect us like He did Isaac. Nothing is ever lost with God. Nothing. You bring the firewood. God does the rest. More...

Ash Wednesday (3/1/06): Have you ever noticed that when a person becomes attracted to another person they change? I remember when a buddy of mine became interested in a woman and changed the clothes he wore. He wore the same clothes for 5 years or more. Then, BA M ! he meets Tammy and suddenly enjoys clothes shopping with her. We called her bammy tammy! But it’s like that isn’t it. Love makes you do strange things, like get up on a cross in front of everybody. And when you feel loved, get that feeling someone is digging you, you’ll do just about anything. Here, eat these mud pies, SURE! I love mud pies. To me, that is what Lent is all about. More...

8th Sunday of Ordinary Time (2/26/06): St. Valentines Day, Racketeering, and there is meat on the walls. St. Valentines Day: Just like on St. Valentines day, when women and men woo each other with special time, treats and tokens, so the prophet Hosea describes God’s pursuing you and me. “I will lead her away and speak to her heart.” “I will make you my spouse.”I remember getting those little paper Valentines: One said “Be mine.” Another, a tiny sugar candy heart on which was stamped “You’re yummy.” At 9 years old I thought, “Yummy? Gross.” Then came high school, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if it weren’t for girls your lips would rust.” I did my share of wooing too. And then I noticed something not so gross, not scary. God was asking things of me. I became intrigued, and still am to this day. The things God asks of me and the things God asks of you seem to get easier as we love God more over time. He has won my heart and yours. It is St. Valentine’s day each day. Love for love. More...

7th Sunday of Ordinary Time (2/19/06): A friar story. The Waffle House. Up on the roof. A friar story: Two friars are walking along a road. They come to a place in the road where you need to get across a shallow stream. This day the stream is higher than the rocks you usually use to cross it, slightly dangerous. A woman is standing on the road at the banks of the stream trying to figure what to do. One of the friars approaches her, “I’ll carry you across if you like?” She agrees thankfully. The other friar excuses him from the exchange and reprimands him. “You cannot carry a woman across the river, everyone will see and wonder about you - and it may be a source of temptation from your vowed life.” He replies, “I’ll be fine.” After carrying the woman safely across the stream to the road on the other side he sets her down and she continues on her way gratefully. The friar who had chastised him continues, “You never should have done that. You bring scandal on all of us when you do that. I can’t believe you did that.” After 15 minutes of being admonished, the friar who carried the woman to safety said, “Brother, I put her down over a mile ago, why do you continue to carry her?” More...

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (2/5/06): Bad days, going from freed to slave, everyone is looking for you. Bad days. It’s hard to hear. Violence done to you, someone you love, your fellow citizens. Job loss, mobility loss, someone special moves away, can’t maintain the right weight, disposition under stress, can’t seem to shake the chronic pain. Maybe you’re younger. Can’t make the grades, he or she isn’t interested in you, the clothes aren’t right. I’ll never make the team, the play, the right decision in my parents eyes. It’s a bad day for the people on the Egyptian ferry and their families – over 1000 dead. It’s a bad day for people in our neighborhood who will see a man come to their house to offer them “big bucks," as if they could buy a house anywhere else for that money. The West End needs your house. It is a bad day for Job. Yet he praises God through it. More...

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (1/29/06): Ambassadors. Anxiety. Authority. Ambassadors: Moses leads us to walk carefully in respect to God’s word and people. He says some will represent God and some will not. We see two sides to the issue. We are asked to speak and listen to the words of God. That is why we make the crosses on our foreheads, lips and heart at the reading of the Gospel; On our heads to remember, on our lips to speak and on our hearts to love God’s word. But we are ambassadors of another, not of ourselves, right? More..

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (1/15/06): In preparation for this homily, I studied the Book of Samuel, the 40^th Psalm, the 1^st letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, the Gospel of John, the last sermon and last speech, the I Have a Dream speech, and the servant speech of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And sitting next to Dr. Bernice King, his daughter, Friday evening at the Embassy Suites Hotel, I had my heart wrung out and then filled with desire. Even this is not enough preparation for what I hope you take with you today. More...

Epiphany (1/08/06): Darkness. Light. Hope. Darkness: We have heard the scripture: “The people in darkness have seen a great light.” We have experienced the darkness, whether it be parenting, being a son or daughter, being a spouse, a neighbor, at work. For many of us, the tragedy of hundreds of thousands of dead, many of them children, heightens our sense of darkness as we witness earthquake and tsunami. After the obvious lessons each generation learns about the value of human life, we still use war as a solution. We are away from home, struggling to live in a way that pleases Jesus, but we fail. We know the darkness. More...

Solemnity of Mary (1/01/06): The feast of the solemnity of Mary invites us to reflect on some really important things. The humility of God as witnessed by the shepherds, and our adoption by God as daughters and sons. Listen in now, as we hear what it might have been like, in the voices of shepherds, after the angel announced to them that their Messiah had been born in the city of Bethlehem. More...