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Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 24, 2011 The homilist was away on July 17. Solomon's prayer for wisdom in governing could not have come at a more apt time, given the pathetic posturing going on in Washington. We pray that lawmakers will recognize the common good of our country and the world as the treasure buried in the field, the pearl of great price.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 10, 2011God provides that human freedom is always in play, so that we may accept or reject his invitation to enter into his life. It is easy for us to resist the invitations coming from our God. Let's consider how we can grow and flourish through an acceptance of the invitations.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 3, 2011What does it mean to be "in the flesh"? How can I not be "in the flesh"? We find some answers as we consider how our God wishes to establish peace within us.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Body and Blood of Christ, June 26, 2011The idea of eating and drinking someone's flesh and blood is utterly offensive. But the anxieties of those who feel they must sacrifice something to God are likewise quite raw. In the Eucharist we encounter a God who pays attention to our bewilderment.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Holy Trinity, June 19, 2011"God so loved the world ..." We understand that God, within himself, is relationship, is dynamism. It is in keeping with who God is that he immerses himself in human existence.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Pentecost, June 12, 2011Catholics, obviously, are quite focused on the mystery of "the Church." On the "birthday of the Church," the homilist rambles on for 15 minutes! Presumably we are captivated by our own experience of this mystery!Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Ascension of the Lord, June 5, 2011After the Springfield Young Adult Mass on the evening of June 5, a congregant confirmed for me (on the basis of her Holy Land pilgrimage earlier this year) that there are tour guides who point out a "pushing-off" place on the Mount of Olives.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 29, 2011We consider today's words from the First Letter of Peter about how to witness to our faith -- not by proselytizing, but by being in touch with our own experience and the ways in which God has changed us.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 22, 2011A bit of housekeeping, having to do with the just-published diocesan pastoral plan. "No one comes to the Father except through me" -- what does this imply for non-Christians?Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fourth Sunday of Easter, May 15, 2011The homilist was away from the parish on May 8; therefore, no homily. The sentiments expressed herein were influenced by the strange weather being experienced at that time: cool and rainy and seemingly unending.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Second Sunday of Easter, May 1, 2011Thomas speaks for all of us who rely upon the testimony of a few witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus. Keeping in mind the validity of our own religious experience (as alluded to at Easter), we understand that we are part of the immense majority of believers who rely on the privileged witness of a few close associates of Jesus.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011The resurrection accounts in the Gospels differ from the passion narratives; the former emphasize the personal experience of individuals. We can come to understand that our own personal experience of the mysteries of life opens us to encounter with the Resurrected One.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, April 17, 2011"His blood be upon us and upon our children." Can this line from the Passion of St. Matthew be understood as a blessing rather than as a curse?Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fifth Sunday of Lent, April 10, 2011God has revealed to us that he intends his people to live forever and glorify him. Jesus, proclaiming this truth in the raising of Lazarus, moves deliberately toward the death which secures human salvation.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fourth Sunday of Lent, April 3, 2011The themes of "the man born blind" are rather obvious. I took this opportunity to advance our sight into the future, and especially to consider the needs of our worshiping communities to have a presider at Eucharist.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Third Sunday of Lent, March 27, 2011Imagine lugging all the water you need for your household purposes. Then consider the woman's longing for a spring to which she did not have to travel. With all who are preparing for baptism, we meditate on water and we recognize that Jesus establishes a fountain of life within us.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Second Sunday of Lent, March 20, 2011Life as a journey with a variety of experiences, and our need to make sense of these varied elements in light of our truest identity.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | First Sunday of Lent, March 13, 2011The temptations Jesus experienced were real and appealing. He wasn't play-acting; he entered fully into the human experience and the tensions we know all too well.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 27, 2011Alfred E. Neuman as an example of Christian living? Yes, at least insofar as freedom from worry is concerned. "Seeking first the Kingdom of God" does, however, require some explicit concentration.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 20, 2011Our Christian faith does not call us to be doormats. Every one of the challenges Jesus describes is an opportunity to stress the reciprocity implied in every social situation.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 13, 2011The church was cold, so we moved to the parish hall -- hence my nostalgia for my childhood worship environments. Today's Gospel gives a good opportunity to consider our feeling life, and how to be at peace in the presence of God as feeling people.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 6, 2011Salt and light are familiar substances. As we consider how Jesus is applying these images to ourselves, we may ponder their servant quality. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 30, 2011What are the qualities of the individuals who make up Christian communion? They are people who are hungry, and who have learned what is worth being hungry for.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 23, 2011Today's readings suggest an emphasis on the concept of communion: the goal of all members of the Body of Christ; something achieved with difficulty; something far from complete.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 16, 2011 (again!)My message changed a little bit because at this Mass I was particularly moved by the setting of Psalm 40, "Here I Am, Lord," by Rory Cooney.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 16, 2011Themes of Christmas are restated upon the inaugural of the ministry of Jesus.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Baptism of the Lord, January 9, 2011Baptism is an immersion into all human concerns. The baptism of Jesus is the promise to us (if his birth does not already signify this!) that, for the sake of our salvation, he does not shy away from any of the griefs of humankind.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Epiphany of the Lord (third time), January 2, 2011This was the Young Adult Mass in Springfield. In this homily I mention my niece Erin, who is currently doing volunteer work in Guatemala.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Epiphany of the Lord (again), January 2, 2011"That thing in our brain" -- Why is it that we make such a sharp distinction between "my people" and "not my people"? Recorded at New Berlin.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Epiphany of the Lord, January 2, 2011Christmas on Saturday followed by Sunday Masses proved too crazy even to do any recording. Today I present three homilies from one day. This first one may suffer from some audio competition. Recorded at Franklin.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 19, 2010We have three very important but quite difficult Scriptures here. The homily includes comments on the major difficulties to be found when reflecting on each of the readings.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Third Sunday of Advent, December 12, 2010It is not only the farmer awaiting the yield of the soil who learns patience. Everyone staring at a computer screen also comes to appreciate the virtue of patience. Patience liberates us to look at our life and its blessings in its fullness.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Second Sunday of Advent, December 5, 2010Amazing images of peace assure us that peace can conquer even our own hearts. The call to repentance is an invitation to an astonishing peace.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | First Sunday of Advent, November 28, 2010What is our concept of time? Do we simply find a succession of events without relation or meaning? The coming of the Kingdom of God breaks through the tedium and leads us to a moment of conversion, when things unthought of become possible.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Christ the King (34th and Last Sunday in Ordinary Time), November 21, 2010How does Christ the King govern? Consider how humbly he tends to his realm: from the throne of the cross.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 14, 2010On the fourteenth anniversary of the death of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, we consider how his example accords with the scriptural call to be confident in the face of the "ultimates" of life.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 7, 2010Resurrection is real. If there were no resurrection, God would not be God. As Jesus assures us, God is not a God of the dead but of the living.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 31, 2010
There was no homily for October 24 as I was in Guatemala.
A man climbing a tree: an absurd image? Maybe. But maybe also it could be a helpful image as we consider the fundamental experience of the Christian life -- conversion -- and our need to open ourselves to new points of view (even up a tree!).
Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 17, 2010Never mind mowing down Amalek with the edge of the sword. The preceding image, of Moses' arms being supported by members of the community, is a beautiful reminder of the ways in which our prayers are enhanced when we are praying together.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 10, 2010It seems to be a very slow process. How do we expand our concept of God? How do we move beyond the "local gods" that Naaman imagined? How do we get beyond our constant denial that God is the God of all peoples? Good questions.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 3, 2010We often find our existence to be dreary. We are encouraged by the prophet's words: "The vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not be late."Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 26, 2010
Each of us wants to be assured that we are properly integrated into the society we believe we are a part of. Such integration, of course, requires that many people know us by name and are willing to have some acquaintance with us. We prefer not to be addressed as "hey you." To be known and called by name means that we have attained a certain level of respect and acceptance within our social circle.
On the other hand, one mu ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 19, 2010
Jesus speaks about a wily business manager who uses initiative to prepare for a decent future, now that his boss is firing him. Apparently what this man is doing -- for which his boss compliments him for resourcefulness -- is lowering the interest rates which he had originally proposed to his boss's debtors, so that these people might look upon him favorably when he is searching for a new situation.
Do believers show as much initiative ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 12, 2010
It is curious that the word "prodigal" is used in the English language almost exclusively in reference to this parable of Jesus, popularly known as "The Prodigal Son." Many of us have learned the parable without learning the meaning of the word "prodigal."
Many of us identify with the "prodigal son" (the word "prodigal" means "wasteful" or "spendthrift"), and yet he is the least interesting figure in the parable. We can imagine w ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 5, 2010Hate your family? No -- Jesus is talking about subordinating cherished aspects of our life to the goal of the Kingdom of God. We do have to deliberate carefully about this, as in the examples of the builder and the king.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 29, 2010"It's good to be humble." There's no subtlety in these readings; they hit you over the head as if with a 2x4. So what is the complete meaning of humility? It has to do with our connection with people we would prefer to overlook.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 22, 2010It's not enough to be acquainted with our God; we must enter into the challenge of relationship with the author of our being. The challenge will feel like discipline, so we must be careful to recognize that discipline is for the sake of growth, not shame.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 22, 2010It's not enough to be acquainted with our God; we must enter into the challenge of relationship with the author of our being. The challenge will feel like discipline, so we must be careful to recognize that discipline is for the sake of growth, not shame.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sunday, August 15, 2010It amazes us to think that the strange imagery of Revelation and other apocalyptic literature was part of the purpose of encouraging people! But in fact, this writing is for the sake of comforting people under persecution. They are invited to recognize the cosmic significance of their own sufferings. The woman was given a place of refuge in the desert; this is a fitting image of Mary's assumption into heaven. Recorded at Sacred Heart, Franklin.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | |