Posts Tagged 'Jesus'

Homily for Holy Thursday, April 2, 2026

That first reading from the Book of Exodus speaks about the central feast of our Jewish brothers and sisters down to this very day—the great feast of Passover. What I didn’t realize, until recently, is that the entire passage is a monologue spoke by God. It’s God speaking instructions about how to prepare the Passover meal and what to do with the lamb’s blood afterward. It ends with a command to do this ritual, that is, observe Passover as a ...

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Homily for Sunday, March 22, 2026

I’m beginning to appreciate the importance of the gospel stories we’ve had over the last three Sundays. Like I mentioned last weekend, in the Early Church, a person could not be baptized unless they were familiar with the story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well (two Sundays ago), the story of the Man Born Blind (last Sunday), and today’s story of the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead. With each story we get a little bit closer to the ...

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Prophet: The Much-Needed Archetype (part 3)

In the unsettling times we live in, I recognize the absolute need for prophetic voices to help me (us) see that creation is still good, that God is still in charge, and that God’s life-giving plan will ultimately be victorious. These prophets, however, don’t just fall from the sky like treats from a vending machine. Prophets are born out of painful calls of the suffering earth, its people, and from the persistent nudging from God. While I’ve known of prophets ...

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Homily for Sunday, March 8, 2026

I mentioned in last weekend’s homily how I believed that while Jesus was transfigured, on Mount Tabor, it was the apostles who were ultimately transformed. Transformation isn’t cosmetic;  it makes a deep claim on you and changes you forever. There is a definite “before” and a definite “after.” You were one person before the experience, and you were clearly another person after. The Samaritan woman at the well is a classic story of transformation. Before, she was a woman who ...

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Homily for Sunday, February 22, 2026

I have no real problem calling this gospel passage of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert by what Christians have called it for a very long time–“the temptations of Christ.” The devil, whatever you image that to be, is portrayed as the culprit, the one who enticed Jesus into sin then and the one who entices us into sin now. It’s much like the snake in the Genesis story we just heard. The snake is the antagonist who lured Adam ...

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Homily for Sunday, February 15, 2026

One day a very successful lawyer headed out the door for work. In his path was his three-year-old son playing with blocks. The man patted the boy on the head, stepped over him, open the door, and went outside to get to his car. Halfway down the walk a guilt bomb exploded within him. “What am I doing?” he thought to himself. “I’m ignoring my son. I never play with him. He’ll be old before I know it.” In the ...

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Homily for Sunday, February 8, 2026

For most of my life, when it comes to the spiritual life, I always thought it started within me and then it becomes manifested in the outer world. In other words, firstly I get in touch with the light within me, and by letting it shine, it encourages others around me to their light shine. I saw it as a dominoes effect. Each of us initially getting in touch with a light that Jesus obviously sees in us– otherwise he ...

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Reflection for February 1st, 2026

Well, that’s Good News.  No matter what label anyone puts on you, Jesus calls you blessed.

This Gospel passage always reminds me of something the late Fr. Herb Grattan said in a homily he delivered in the late 1970’s at Immaculate Heart of Mary church.  He said that when you are 20 years old you are worried about what everyone thinks about you.  When you are 40 years old, you don’t care what anyone thinks about you.  And when you are ...

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Homily for Sunday, January 25, 2026

One possible theme that courses through all three readings is this idea that someone, or some group of people, is being called by God. And of course, since God’s Word is a living word, and we are listening to that living word, this call must apply to us just as much as it applied to people in Biblical times. It’s God who initiates it, but it’s up to us whether we respond or not to God’s invitation, God’s call. Don’t ...

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Homily for Sunday, January 18, 2026

Although not obvious, there is a common thread in all three Scripture stories we have today. They are all stories of someone being called by God which should get us thinking about our own call. Along with being called is often our relentless low opinion of ourselves countered by God’s high estimation of us. If we let God’s opinion win out, we become—like every Saint in the history of the Church—useable and pliable in hands of God. Being willing to ...

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