On Ash Wednesday we celebrated, as we do each year, a rite called the “Imposition of Ashes.” It sounds like throwback language the Church used long ago, yet there is something to this word. An imposition is something imposed on us that seems unfair or something that makes an unwelcomed demand on us. The boss asks you to do more at work without necessarily increasing your salary is an imposition. It’s an unwelcomed demand and doesn’t seem fair. Impositions …
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Almost all the Scripture readings we hear at liturgy, we hear only once every three years. One of the exceptions to this pattern is the Ash Wednesday readings; we get them every year. From it, we hear that Jesus is all for prayer, fasting, and almsgiving and thinks we should be, too. However, he warns against parading these classic Lenten disciplines before others. Perhaps he saw too much of this in the Pharisees of his time and how far …
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In both the first reading and the gospel, we have references to leprosy. That first reading, from the book of Leviticus, speaks about the consequences of being diagnosed with leprosy. The consequence is that lepers had to wear torn clothes, had to let their hair become disheveled, had to live outside the camp, and had to announce in a loud voice when approaching others, “Unclean, unclean!” Those where some of the consequences of living with leprosy, but the deep …
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As always, a little bit of context might help us enter into these Scripture readings. In the Mediterranean world, the world where Jesus walked the earth, the world where all our books of the Bible emerged from—in that world every gift carried the expectation of a gift in return. However, don’t think of it as a tit-for-tat world where you only return a favor to those who have shown you favor, or where you only love those who have …
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A common thread from the three Scripture readings we just heard from, is that they are all “call stories”; someone is being called by God. And, like all Scripture stories, they are not just stories about people during Biblical times, but they are speaking to us here and now. In the first story, God calls Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and preach repentance to them. In the second reading, Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians …
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Sunday Celebration of the Liturgy of the Word
From the first century onward, the Church (the people of God) has always insisted on the importance of gathering on Sunday. Early Church documents attest to Christians gathering on the Day of the Lord to break bread and give thanks in remembrance of Christ. Each Sunday was, and still is, considered “Little Easter” since the Resurrection of Christ is the central event in our faith. Moreover, we believe …
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Homily – January 14, 2024 – 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
I’m going to make a generalization which I think is true. It is that everyone, who has ever come into our lives—even for the shortest amount of time—has made a contribution to who we have become. Even someone who was a bad example, indirectly, set us on a path to become the opposite of what they are. So, there is learning in the negative. There …
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While away in Ottawa last week, and staying with my youngest brother, Todd, he introduced me to a wonderful show called Fake or Fortune. It’s been airing in Britain for about 12 years and has to do with art. (Europeans, in general, have much more of an appreciation for art than we, North Americans, do). I’ve just seen a couple of episodes, but I’m already hooked. The show deals with ordinary people, like ourselves, who have a piece of …
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While baby showers have been around for a long time, gender reveal parties have only existed for less than 20 years. If you don’t already know, a gender reveal party is a party held during pregnancy to reveal the baby’s sex to the expectant parents’ family and friend, and sometimes to the parents themselves. To me, the real excitement is looking into the face of the newborn child…that’s the real reveal. There’s nothing more beautiful and nothing more mesmerizing …
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At every Eucharistic celebration you have ever participated in, you heard the priest say during the Eucharistic Prayer, “The Mystery of faith.” “Mystery” refers to God’s eternally conceived but hidden plan. In other words, God had, and still has, a plan, a purpose in mind for everything and everyone, including you. That plan, that Mystery, is not given in a single moment, but it unfolds over time, a long period of time. We couldn’t handle …
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