Gospel, Homily and Coffee

I remember decades ago going out during the middle of the night to observe a meteor shower that was supposed to be especially strong. I went outside looked up, and all I saw was clouds. I was very disappointed. Until my eyes adjusted to the dark and realized the so called clouds were stars. LOTS of stars. I was seeing the Milky Way for the first time. I realized I was seeing stars just like our sun and I began to grasp just how huge the universe may be. And how small I was in it. How we experience and see in situations can change us. Maybe one of the greater aspects of living in Nevada is the ability to see far. Unless we have lived in large cities, or the midwest or east, or even next door in California, where the ability to see the horizon is limited by buildings, trees, hills, we can lose the appreciation for that ability to see miles and miles. To see the mountain ranges extend; to see Thunderstorms that are developing over Lee Vining, even though we live in Reno. Spring is com...

<<note, the gospel and readings are from Year A, used for the Scrutinies>> In the 1980, a groundbreaking film was released.  A dramatic story of a man searching in life, via an electric bull.  A song from that movie by Johnny Lee made the charts… “Looking for love in all the wrong places” Where do we look for love? A story of our lives.  Our movies, our tv, our literature filled with people looking to be loved. We look for love via social media, in our brew pubs, coffee houses, in many places. And we can find love, sometime. Or a form of love anyway. Teens just starting out on that journey, sorry, but it can be quite painful. There will be a crush on someone, hard, and then when it does not work out...ouch!  This applies for males as well as females. Broken hearts are part of the journey. Yet we know this process can continue into the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s…. What is love? The English language fails when it comes to this w...

How can we get to where we are going, if we do not know our destination? I am presuming that there are people like me who like nice, tidy, cleaning endings. Nothing long and drawn out...just get it done. I want a project well defined, and I want it completed...otherwise my attention span is gone and I forget about it. Same thing with goodbyes too...just say goodby; these long drawn out experience...uggh. Think about our election cycle! We don’t even have to vote for another year and a half, but already….so LONG and DRAWN out. Our society seems to like immediate gratification and the easy path. If we could get 6 pack abs and buns of steel with one gym workout, or even better, one pill...that would be awesome! Think of the old cartoon the Jetsons...the many pills that took care of the immediate needs. And how many of us could go back to the old dial up internet?...all that noise, so slow…. I get upset if a page doesn’t load within half second. NOW NOW NOW Once a man approached me ...

Following the Path of Christ brings life! There is a podcast in which these two women live to the letter a self help book for two weeks, and then they evaluate it. It can be quite funny and quite serious at the same time. They evaluate it to see if the process did help them in some way become a better person; if it helps them improve in some aspect of their individual lives. Now there is nothing particularly wrong with Self Help books and techniques. I think a lot of people can get some insight into their lives and find some ways to grow as a person; maybe even find techniques to make life a bit better. There is a danger though of becoming too focussed on the “me”. Our western society/philosophy is very “I” or “Me” centered. It is our philosophy that individual rights are more important than anything else. This defines our politics, it defines our economics, it defines many of our life styles. “My right to….” complete the sentence. This is behind abortion, euthanasia, gun ...

How will we be church? How will we express the Love the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit? Last weekend it was my privilege to spend time with 30 couples preparing for the Sacrament of Matrimony. 30 couples who will make a commitment to each other, as wife and husband; a commitment to stay together which forms them as a family. They will share their joys with one another and their sorrows. They will grow together by that sharing and learning from each other. Partners in the very truest sense of the word. Mentors are also our partners. They are those people who walk with us in life, probably not for the whole journey, but for a part of it, when we need it. Mentors teach us through example. They walk by showing us how they have overcome and dealt with challenge; and they share that with us. I think of a two in my life especially, who helped me see differently. They pushed me to grow, even when I resisted because it was scary to change. They never got yelled at me, never cr...