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Back in 14^th century Persia (Iran today), there was a famous poet named Hafiz. Not only was he a poet, but he was also a very well-respected man because of his wisdom. Although he lived 700 years ago, his poetry has once again become popular. This is my favorite Hafiz poem, and it reminds me of John the Baptist who is perishing in prison. It reminds me even more of Jesus, the liberator of everything that imprisons us.  It goes like this. “The ...

There are a number of spiritual masters who see that there is clearly a spirituality for the first half of our lives and a spirituality for the second half of our lives. But it’s not necessarily chronological. In other words, just because you hit the midway point in your life (and we never know when that will be), doesn’t mean you automatically transition into a second half of life spirituality. I’ve met some young people who, because of suffering or ...

Here we are in Advent once again.  One of the characteristics of this season is that it invites us to look forward, to imagine a new world, and then to offer ourselves to God as co-creators of that new world.  Advent also gets us looking forward to the Parousia, the return of Jesus signaling the end of time. Jesus told his followers—and by extension, us—that the return of the Son of Man will happen, but the timeline is only known by the ...

As I mentioned over the last two weekends, as the liturgical year draws to an end the readings, themselves, were getting darker and heavier. They were pointing us to the end times. After much talk about the end times, Jesus faces, in today’s gospel, the end time of his human life as he hangs on the cross to die. We are told that during the three hours Jesus hung on the Cross, darkness covered all the land. Before the crucifixion, when Jesus ...

In the homily last weekend, I mentioned that as the liturgical year draws to an end, the readings seem to get darker and heavier.  That’s certainly the case with today’s readings. Malachi, in that first reading, is speaking about evil doers being burned up while Jesus is mentioning earthquakes, famines, plagues, arrests, persecutions and family members betraying you.  Yet in the middle of all this darkness, Jesus says this will be your opportunity to testify.  Testify to what?  To light — a light that ...