Gospel, Homily and Coffee

Einstein’s famous formula, E=mc2, describes how matter converts to energy and vice versa. The universe, over 13 billion years ago, was pure energy all within a single point. This energy expanded, cooled, and converted to matter, which eventually became us.  Plants convert the photons of light into food.  We convert fossil fuels into our energy, of course, now with detrimental effects.  We convert mechanical energy into sound waves and make music.  Carbon, black and sheet like, can be converted to brilliant hard diamonds. A few simple cells in a womb convert into a human child. A way to think about conversion is not about changing something from one thing into another, but about bringing forth the inherent properties. What if People don’t need to change?  What if we considered that people do not need to change?  Rather, consider if we believed that people need their inherent goodness to be brought forth. I remember once, many years ago in a galaxy far far ...

Do parents still tell children fairy tales and folktales? You know like Goldilocks and the three bears, Hansel & Gretel, Three Little Pigs? Or how about that tale from Hans Christian Anderson, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” That one, synopsis, a vain emperor who spent a lot of money on clothes meets two con men who tell him they can weave a special cloth so sheer, so brilliant that only the most intelligent and sophisticated can see it. The Emperor tells them to make him clothes out of this. They “Get to work”, and court officials come by to observe, yet seeing nothing but in their own vanity and own fear, say nothing.  At last the new clothes are ready, the con men vest the Emperor in these new clothes, and he parades in front of the people, who too are unwilling to state reality. It takes a young boy to speak the truth: the Emperor is naked. Reality, the way we see it, is directly influenced by our minds. If we expect to see something, then we will. Our philosophy, consc...

Anger is an emotional reaction to an unfulfilled expectation.  Anger is a reaction to when things do not go the way that we expect. Anger is an emotion when things do not go the way that we want. Anger is an emotional reaction, but it is not a sin. The sin is when we choose to hold onto the anger and let it poison us. When we have anger we have to work on letting it go, otherwise known as forgiveness. One important step in all of this is to understand our expectations. What are our expectations? It is important to know these in ourselves. Our expectations influence the way that we act, consciously and unconsciously. Our expectations influence the way we see our world. When we expect people to fail us then that generally is what will happen. When we expect people to succeed then that is what will happen. What are our expectations? This Parable that Jesus presents to us offers us a way to examine our lives, our expectations, our anger and how we choose to act. He offers us a w...