Gospel, Homily and Coffee

Jesus as the Good Shepherd, probably one of the most common images we have as Catholics/christians. In fact, one of the oldest images ever of Jesus was from a tomb in Rome with him as the Good shepherd. I have seen many different ones.  My grandmother had one that was very pastoral and Jesus carrying this cute little lamb.  It was very nice and sweet. It seems that most of the images are this way; clean, well kept Jesus standing over the flock. This also worldwide day prayer for vocations. So we pray in a special way for vocations to the priesthood. But this image of the Good Shepherd is not just about priests, it is about us as church. It is about all of us and how we share the salvation of Jesus Christ. I believe at that heart of this image that Jesus give is connection. Think of the words we just heard from Jesus.  He talks about his commitment to his own flock and to those not part of his flock. He talks of relationship and laying do...

The Diocese of Reno uses a program called Virtus for Protecting God’s Children.  Karen Barreras made this comment a few years ago that made me laugh: “we have a cadillac program, but we use it like a corolla.” Meaning there was lot that this program could do for us, but we never used it to its fullest capacity.  We have since remedied that situation. We humans, we are the cadillac of creation! We are capable of so much; we are capable of so much goodness. Too few of us realize this, and we live like Chevettes; never realizing our potential. The mystery of our Salvation in Jesus Christ, the mystery of his Resurrection, which we celebrate in a special way in the Easter season, is that Jesus’ humanity, his entire person; body and soul; was used for its fullest potential; a cadillac and beyond! Our Salvation in Christ is that he induces in us, he empower us, to realize our full potential; to be fully human. Our Salvation is the freedom and the capacit...

Do we know the phrase, “playback loop” or “feedback loop” It refers to a continued repetition, in which sound, or information, whatever gets played over and over and over.   It’s that song that stuck in your head that you can’t it out. (never going to give you up, never going to let you down...) It’s that memory that comes back over and over. It’s that regret of a choice that keeps on coming back…”I wish I hadn’t done that.  I wish I hadn’t done that.” Ultimately these loops are not good.   They keep us in the past.  They keep us focused on the mistake, the sin. They keep us standing still, and for some they paralyze us emotionally and spiritually. The Resurrection ends the playback loop of our lives, and will move us forward to wholeness; when we give into the mystery of the resurrection. Shalom, in Hebrew, means peace, but not peace as in the lack of violence, or having mere contentment;  Shalom means to have peace through wholeness. ...