Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter
For many people (myself often included), life happens on a very short-term time scale. My days are cluttered with brief Facebook announcements, quick news tidbits and hurried hellos to friends as I rush to the next activity. My thoughts and feelings are equally as short-term: how I feel about my life, my appearance, my job, politics, religion and so on are easily affected by a friend's Facebook post, or a sales clerk's mean words, or any number of other short, day-to-day interactions. I can feel despair if someone doesn't smile at me, wondering all day why they didn't smile, what I did wrong, how I could fix it for next time. My feelings about these short day-to-day interactions can last a long time, paradoxically.
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter
As the cliché says, our lives are quickly changing. In the first reading, we see Paul failing to convince his own people that Jesus was the Messiah, and so he moves on to Plan B, the Gentiles. And in our Gospel, Jesus is once again speaking in cryptic language about his death and resurrection that will happen ‘in a little while.’
Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Good story tellers can have you on the edge of your seat and have you hanging on their every word. They are so good at emphasizing the right words changing their voice so that they draw us into the story. There is one more part to it that St. Paul clearly understands, by making the story connect directly into the lives of his audience.
Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
We live in a time, so we hear almost incessantly, of great divisions. We are divided along party affiliations. We are divided by geographical regions. We are divided by our religious identifications. And it doesn’t help that folks who have stuff to sell—like product brands and news outlets—make the most of such divisions. For them, each division (and with them each identity marker) represents another market niche.
Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter
In today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and his companions, on their travels through Macedonia, encounter a group of women, including Lydia who is described as ‘a worshiper of God’. While they were speaking with the women Scripture tells us, “Lydia listened and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying." By the power of the Holy Spirit, Lydia was granted the ability to understand God's message through Paul. The passage from the Gospel of John demonstrates that, although the disciples have been with Jesus for three years, they fail to comprehend his message. Jesus warns them of the coming hatred of them. He promises to send ‘The Advocate’ to help them but, despite their 'listening', they do not understand what it means for them. Even through our best human efforts we are incapable of the depth of understanding only granted by the Spirit of God. We can only pray constantly for this unique blessing.
Sixth Sunday of Easter
My homily today is very simple, because the readings for today's Mass are very simple. John says, “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love" (1 Jn 4:8).”
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter
There are some things people say we shouldn’t talk about at the dinner table. Religion and politics are commonly found on that list. For many people, I think circumcision might be on that list as well. It is not a conversation piece that normally accompanies, “Please pass the bread”. Interestingly enough, in today’s passage from Acts, Timothy is circumcised so that religion can be dinner table conversation.
Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Evangelist Billy Graham once said, "Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion - it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ." I think he's got it right - I find I'm constantly being converted and I'm never done converting. One of the ways I'm being converted is in how I understand love. I think I'm learning, over a lifetime, what it means to love other people and to be loved by other people and of course, scriptures like the ones we've read today help in that conversion.
Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles
Today in the midst of this Easter season we celebrate the feast of two of the twelve apostles – Philip and James. These apostles experienced Jesus first-hand; they lived alongside him. For us, living so many years after Christ, we might rightly envy their proximity to Jesus. But at the same time, we might also note that being close to Jesus did not always make things as easy for the apostles as we would assume.
Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Spring is now in full bloom and summer is around the bend. Watching the new growth appear has been awesome, but it feels like in the blink of an eye this new growth has become over-abundant, over growth if you will. So much so that it seems time to trim the bushes even earlier than usual. Trimming the many plants helps shape their new growth and ultimately it will call forth new life. We see this also in the flowers like geraniums that we must dead-head in order to have more flowers come forth.
Tuesday of Fifth Week of Easter
One of my favorite moments in the mass is when we are invited to give to one another a sign of peace. In that moment, we all turn our attention from what has been unfolding in front of us to the people gathered around us. People often start by passing the peace to those nearest to them. Couples kiss one another. Folks extend a hand to those in front of them or behind them. People take a few steps along the length of their pews and say to one another, “peace be with you.” Adults here and there bend down to reach the hand of a child. Doing this mass after mass has delightful effects as we come to anticipate seeing the folks we’ve “passed the peace” with many times.
Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter
I often comment, “I wish I knew what God wanted me to do!” There seems to be so many possible options of chores that need to be done, or good works that could be accomplished, or ways that I could enjoy my day. All of these possibilities are good options, but what is the next best thing I should do? Part of the issue with this dilemma is the fact that I sometimes feel completely alone and unsupported in my decision making. In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds us that we are not alone. Jesus and the Father will dwell with us, and the Holy Spirit will teach us everything we need to know to live our lives with purpose and joy.
Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter
I often comment, “I wish I knew what God wanted me to do!” There seems to be so many possible options of chores that need to be done, or good works that could be accomplished, or ways that I could enjoy my day. All of these possibilities are good options, but what is the next best thing I should do? Part of the issue with this dilemma is the fact that I sometimes feel completely alone and unsupported in my decision making. In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds us that we are not alone. Jesus and the Father will dwell with us, and the Holy Spirit will teach us everything we need to know to live our lives with purpose and joy.
Fifth Sunday of Easter
There is a story my second-grade teacher told us in religion class that I strangely still remember. One day, Michelangelo walking through a garden in Florence, saw a block of marble in a corner protruding from the earth. It was half covered by grass and mud. He stopped suddenly as if he had seen someone. He exclaimed: "An angel is imprisoned in that marble; I must set him free." Armed with a chisel, he began to work on that block until the figure of a beautiful angel emerged. The teacher continued, “Each of us is an angel in the making. God is the artist. The chisel is the Word of God. God uses his word to bring out the best in us.” Later when I got older, I verified the truth of Michelangelo’s story. It turns out, that my teacher was correct. The angel is now in the Basilica of St Dominic in Bologna, Italy.
Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter
“The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” This is the closing line of today’s first reading. It is optimistic and uplifting. Thinking back on the days that I’ve been filled with joy, I can recall my wedding, the days my children were born, and a number of other special occasions. My list of joy filled days includes achievements, milestones, and celebrations. My list, however, does not include rejection, persecution, failure, and expulsion from a region I was trying to help. So what provided joy despite the circumstances for the disciples? I want to propose three things that that might allow us to face seeming failures with joy and grace.
Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Recently, I read a book called Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis by Lauren Winner. Winner describes a mid-faith crisis as the realization that the newness, excitement and joy of faith has worn off and that the end goal of spiritual life (that is, life in God) seems quite far off. How do you make it through the middle of faith, when God seems far off, and nothing ever seems to change? Winner describes the slow, sometimes painful process of going through a mid-faith crisis - from her vantage point, it involves a lot of prayer (even when sometimes you're not sure that God is there), a lot of discussions with trusted spiritual friends, and a lot of simply being in the loneliness that a mid-faith crisis sometimes involves.
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter
In both today's first reading and the Gospel I was struck by the presence of feet. Paul speaks of John's pronouncement of Christ's coming, that John would not be worthy to untie the sandals of Christ's feet. And Jesus speaks his words after washing the disciples' feet. In both readings (as is often true in life) the feet seem inconsequential but bear great weight.
Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist
Humility is not an attribute that people in our culture find appealing. And yet, I believe that humility is an essential part of being a disciple of Jesus. Some people think that being humble entails feeling worthless or being self-effacing, but I do not think that this is humility, and behaving this way is not what God desires. In order to be humble in the eyes of God, we must recognize that who we are and everything we have are gifts from Him. We do not deny our goodness or blessings, but give credit to God who showers us with His grace. When we are able to openly accept that we are nothing without Him, then He is able to use us completely to do His works as we help to build His kingdom.
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Close friends I have had who grew up in Protestant traditions will talk now and again about a practice they often encountered in their youth. They would be at church or, more likely, at one of a series of “revival meetings” specially designed to bring those who had not been saved into the church. At the close of the meeting or worship service the preacher would issue an altar call. That is, he would invite all those to come down to the front of the church who, thanks to the revival, had encountered Jesus in a powerful way and were ready to commit themselves as Christians for the first time. The stories I have heard of those conversions are powerful but also unsettling because they often include stories of youngsters going forward not because they felt touched by Jesus but because they were afraid of the hell that the preacher promised if they failed to commit.
Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
In today’s reading from Acts, Peter relates to his community a personal vision from God. This vision convinces him that, despite long established traditions/laws, nothing controls the coming of the Holy Spirit upon a people. Indeed, Peter witnesses, “God gave them (the Gentiles) the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ…”. In St. John's Gospel—the beginning of the Good Shepherd passage—Jesus tells us he is the ‘gate for the sheep’ and that, although some try and enter in other ways—trying to steal or destroy the fold—it is only through Jesus, the one and only Good Shepherd, that one may enter and be saved. There is nothing human beings can do to control this. Still, we find ourselves thinking—most assuredly—that we have all the answers. We think we know better than our neighbor, better than our pastor, or anyone else. Unconsciously, we may even think we know better than Jesus.