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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Who is God For You?
Well, we are halfway through the Easter season. This is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, and four Sundays from now we will celebrate Pentecost. One of the characteristics of this season is the celebration of initiation sacraments. In our parish grouping we had an adult baptism at the Easter Vigil, and we have first communion and confirmation celebrations coming up in the next few Sundays. There is much preparation that occurs prior to the celebration of ...
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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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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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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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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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