Posts Tagged '4th SUnday'

Homily – March 30th, 2025 – Fourth Sunday of Lent

Family.  Are there any more complicated relationships in your life than the ones you have with your family?  Either with your spouse, your children, your siblings or your parents.  I know in my case, with regard to relationships with my siblings, they have probably been the most unpredictable, on-again, off-again, difficult to navigate relationships in my entire life.  This is not to assign blame for this to any particular individual, it has just seemed to work out that way over ...

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Reflection – March 30th – 4th Sunday of Lent

The Gospel this 4th Sunday of Lent is the parable of the prodigal son. We have listened to it countless times – the story of the father whose loving reception of his wayward son gave him a new life. It moves us every time we hear it. The message of grace and acceptance, no matter how far one falls, is one we need to hear again and again. The point of the parable could be to try harder to become like the ...

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Homily – December 22nd, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Advent

Besides having the privilege of being in three of the four biggest museums in the world, I’ve also enjoyed the gems I’ve found in many smaller, local museums. Apparently, the most replicated image by far, hanging on the walls of the world’s museums, is the image of the Madonna and child, the mother and baby. I’ve also seen a ton of images of today’s gospel passage, what we traditionally call the Visitation, pregnant Mary visiting pregnant Elizabeth. Myself, I can’t ...

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Homily – April 21st, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Easter

The gospel story we just heard is a contrast between a true shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for his sheep and a hired hand who runs away when danger comes. It’s really not a story about shepherding sheep, which I know nothing about. It’s a story about caring for the people God has put on our life’s journey. Jesus is the good shepherd not because he talks about some abstract, idealized shepherd who lays down his ...

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Reflection – March 10th, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Lent


Testing or Trusting?

As a kid growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, the two things’ boys talked about most on the school yard were “Friday Night at the Fights” (boxing from Madison Square Garden in N.Y.C.) and stuntman Evel Knievel. We didn’t have pay-per-view, the wide range of live stream venues, or the internet to entertain us. Evel Knievel was a motorcycle daredevil who performed death-defying jumps over buses, cars, and even canyons to the thrill of audiences. He would ...

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Homily – January 28th, 2024 – Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wow, the people who were in the assembly that day must have had some interesting conversations when they left the synagogue and headed for home.  This was not your typical sabbath gathering with just the usual prayers and hymns and message from the rabbi.  As I read and thought about today’s gospel, there were a few questions that came to mind and if you will indulge me, I would like to share these questions with you.

When you come to church ...

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Reflection – January 28th, 2024 – Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Teach Us Something New

“Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”   

~Isaiah 43:18-21

Think back for a moment on the teachers you have encountered in your lifetime. Were there teachers you still remember today as “good” teachers?  What do you think made them a good teacher? Were they an authority on an issue or topic? Did you find their ...

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Homily – December 24, 2023, Fourth Sunday of Advent

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 the entire mystery of our ...

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