Gospel, Homily and Coffee

Idolatry, it means to make something an absolute, when it is not.  Over the years I have heard stories from people and from other sources about families broken up. Broken up because one person follows a certain political figure, and another does not.  Broken up because one person believes in one way, and others do not.  Broken up because a child will come out as gay. Broken up because someone wants to marry someone different.   Broken up because of addictions.  Broken up for a whole myriad of reasons; some serious, others not.  Broken up, because people idolize their individual view of how a family is to be. People Idolize egos. King Herod killed his siblings, his children, his wife; all because of power.  What a family!  I so love St. Joseph more and more. Here is a man who adapts. Here is a person who flexes. Here is a person who sees beyond himself to the needs of his family and love.  He allows God to change his understanding of family and he accepts Mary and the unb

I have a confession. Let’s just keep this between you and me. I love living in Northern Nevada. Some of you know I was born and raised in Ohio, and the majority of my family still lives there. I moved here in my early 20’s to work as a geologist in the gold mines of Elko. The incredible and sometimes raw beauty of this part of creation astounded me. Even to this day. And I know it is just not me. How many recent photos of incredible sunrises have I seen on social media of late. Look at creation around us. Listening to the Whooping cranes fly over head in the late fall on their migration. The amazing transformation in the spring to the green of our desert. The views of Tahoe, the Truckee River.  The sights of the stars away from our city! Creation is good. We believe as Catholics that all of creation reflects God. Creation is NOT God, but reflects God. Therefore all creation is designed to reflect the beauty of the Divine. From the Big Bang Billions of years ago, th

To be Human is to dream and have dreams.    God created us. God too has dreams for all of creation, therefore, we created in God’s own image, we   dream.   We dream. We plan. We imagine. We hope. We dream of our loves in life. We hope for the perfect job.  We make plans for our vacations.  We hope for our children and their future.  We desire a wonderful life. What happens when our plans, our dreams, our hopes go awry?  What happens when we become disappointed or devastated. One young married couple hoped for a baby. So they tried. It happened. They were soooo excited and they rushed to tell everyone. Everyone rejoiced with them.   Then they miscarried and they were equally devastated. It got worse. They found out they could not conceive in the future.  The husband and wife made the decision to adopt. They went through all the hoops, all the forms, all the evaluations, spent a lot of money to get into the process. They were connected with a pregnant young g

There is that saying: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”   How do we hear this? I think there are two ways. First, it can be interpreted as when situations become difficult we run away, we get going away.  Another interpretation is that we get going to work on it. We engage the situation and grow. In the book “Prizzi’s Honor” the main character Charlie Partanna had a woman issue. He placed women on such high pedestals and fall in love with the woman, or that ideal of woman he had formed in his head. Inevitably women failed to live up to his ideals and he immediately fell out of love. That failure could be as simple as a little burp at a meal.   People believe they have the perfect romance, then something happens contrary to their ideal and there is disarray. People believe they are the smartest person, then that is demonstrated not true: devastation. People believe that this country is the greatest, and when shown the racism, the corruption, anyt

Two people were walking over a bridge one day. One noticed some ducks in the river and remarked to the other: “Wow, they are really moving fast!” “Because they are swimming downstream with the current.” said the other. As a priest, people will me ask for direction; in what way do they need to go, what do they need to do; “Should I do this?” “Should I do that?” “Go here or go there?” “Does God want me to do this or that?” “Will God get angry to i choose this and not that?” We will have our doubts, our uncertainty...it’s part of our human condition, many also want total clarity, but we don’t get that either. We want someone to tell us we are okay, we want someone to tell us the answer. We want certainty.  We get frustrated when we do not get that.  Our Anxiety levels grow. “A disciple once complained, ‘You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us’”. Said the master, ‘How would you like it if someone offered you fruit and chewed it before giving it to you