As I think about Pentecost, the words of a Jewish song, that is more than a thousand years old and still sung at Passover celebrations today, keep going through my mind. The chorus of the song is Dayenu which means “It would have been enough.” The song recounts the many blessings God gave the Jewish people and states after each one is named, that even if no other blessings had followed, that would have been enough. Had God only led ...
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I don’t expect you to remember it, but last Sunday’s gospel was the gospel writer John’s version of the Last Supper. However, in John’s gospel there is no Last Supper per se but, instead there is the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet and giving them a long farewell speech. In that long speech, he says something that sounds like double talk. He says, “I am going away, and I am coming to you” all in the one sentence. It sounds like Jesus ...
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Ascension should be one of the most important days in our catholic faith. It should be celebrated like Christmas because Christmas is the day when Jesus is born in our likeness, a human being. He was born and lived like us, and his journey was to teach about his Father, our creator. He was born to teach us on how to live with each other and love one another. He taught about the 10 laws of life, which are the ...
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My relationship with the Church has been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride these past few years. My sense of hope has been at war with the disappointment and anger I have felt over some of the institutional church’s response to modern issues. While it has called its own members to a renewed sense of sinfulness and mercy, it seemed to have shown little mercy on issues of divorce, gender identity and equality, while avoiding responsibility in dealing with ...
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I suppose it is safe to say, or cliché to say, that the message of Jesus, the message of the prophets before him, and the message of the entire Bible, comes down to love. If it had to come down to one thing, love would be it. St. Paul tells us that when everything else falls apart, fades, and is no more, only three things will remain: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love. Jesus himself says that we ...
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I struggled with the readings from today’s liturgy, so I checked out Antioch in my Atlas of the Bible. As told in Acts (11-15) and the Epistle to the Galatians, Antioch was the earliest great centre of Gentile Christianity and was, in fact, the first place where the name “Christian” was used. It was here that Paul clarified his position that non-Jews need not convert to Judaism before becoming Christian. Men do not need to follow the ritual of Abraham, ...
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You’ve all heard the expression that good things often come in small packages. Well, this gospel passage is short, but it packs a punch. The first line of today’s gospel has Jesus saying, “My sheep know my voice.” You would think the next line should be, “They know me and they follow me.” But, it doesn’t say that. Instead, it says, “I know them, and they follow me.” Gospel writer John is saying that even if we don’t know the Shepherd very well—which is the ...
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On Mother’s Day, 2003, I attended mass at the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer, a church, but not a parish, strategically located amid casinos and hotels on The Strip in Las Vegas. 19 years later, I can still remember the homily from the presiding priest, who shared the story of the very first Liturgy he had ever presided on Mother’s Day in his home parish, parents and siblings proudly sitting in the front pew. “Now,” he said, “I knew ...
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All three Scripture readings deal with something Catholics in particular, and Christians in general, have struggled with—this whole idea of worthiness versus unworthiness. And much of it has implications for the way of come to Lord’s Table. If you’re like me, you feel good about working hard and saying to yourself, “I deserve this thing, because I’ve worked hard for it.” The flip side of the coin is, “I don’t deserve this thing, because I don’t feel I’ve done enough to earn it.” ...
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In her book of essays, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now, author and poet Maya Angelou wrote, “I’m always amazed when people walk up to me and say, ‘I’m a Christian.’ I think, ‘Already? You already got it?’ I’m working at it…”
Possibly the most important conversion experience I have encountered personally involved coming to the realization that becoming Christian is a life-long process and while I may experience times of growth, I will never fully “have it.” I might ...
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