Every time we gather for Eucharist, the first reading we listen to is from the Hebrew Scriptures (what we used to call the “Old Testament”). The older the writing is, the further removed it is from our own experience. So, we need to get into the context of these ancient texts if they are to have something to say to us in our present-day context. Whenever I try to do that, I’m always surprised that their context, way back then, ...
Continue Reading →
A few weeks ago, I ran into a student I had taught in Middle School over 40 years ago. He related how he was so grateful for the conversations we had shared, and that he wanted me to know that he had “taken my advice,” and had gone into a field of study he has now come to love. I was ashamed to realize that I had only vague memories of the student and had no recollection of any words ...
Continue Reading →
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me!” These brave words, shouted at other children hurling insults, are simply not true. Words have power to hurt, as cyber bullying shows; and yet also have power to heal, as shouting back at bullies mitigates the pain. In the new catechism, St. Augustine is quoted as saying that the sacraments receive their power by combining words with material elements (1228). At the time of my First Holy ...
Continue Reading →
Bridging us from the great 50-day season of Easter to Ordinary Time, are a couple of significant feast days in the Church’s liturgical calendar. One of these is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity or Trinity Sunday, which we celebrate today. In the eyes of the Church, “a solemnity is a feast day of the highest rank, celebrating a mystery of faith.” In other words, a solemnity is kind of a big deal.
The Trinity is kind of a big ...
Continue Reading →
Seven years ago, just a few days before we celebrated what we are celebrating today—Pentecost—we were very much like the disciples in today’s gospel. They locked themselves in the Upper Room out of fear. Similarly, we locked ourselves in our houses for the same reason—fear. A young man had killed three Mounties and was still on the loose. Thank goodness events of that magnitude are rare. What was not so rare in Jesus’ time, and still in our time, is ...
Continue Reading →
In the Pentecost narrative, we hear of Jesus’ post-resurrection visit to his 12 BFFs, how they were infused with the Holy Spirit, and the instructions Jesus left them (and us) for sharing the Good News with the world. Jesus would have known his Apostles well enough to gauge their strengths and weaknesses and he would have understood how differently each of them would confront the task set out before them. I suspect the same was true then as now: We ...
Continue Reading →
It is hard to talk about the Feast of the Ascension (that great departure of Jesus in his physical form) without also talking about next Sunday’s Feast of Pentecost (that great return of Jesus in his spiritual form). Let’s just stay with today’s feast, Ascension, because if we do Ascension well, Pentecost almost takes care of itself.
When I think of Ascension, I can’t help but think of words we often hear the priest pray during a funeral mass: “Life is ...
Continue Reading →
This week’s readings are, in short, about the Ascension of our Lord to heaven where he takes his place at the right hand of our Father. As big as the event is, I feel like the most important part is what happens right before Jesus ascends. In all three readings, Jesus leaves his apostles with an especially important task, that of going out and spreading the good word and his love.
We are, and have been entrusted to be, Jesus’s hands, ...
Continue Reading →
We have music, movies, books, and children’s books, puzzles and toys!
How Does it Work?
Every spring, bar none, I spend a good amount of time pulling out lots of seedlings from my garden and flower beds. They sprout up from the thousands of maple seeds that fell last fall from the maple trees on the church property. They are everywhere, and they require so little to get started. They are under the leaf litter. They are found in the smallest cracks. They are against the rectory foundation. And they are growing against the greatest ...
Continue Reading →