Gospel, Homily and Coffee

Fr. Mike Mahone shared this story among the priests, from a time when he was a sacristan in seminary in the late 70’s, 1970s. Prior to Vatican II when a Bishop and/or higher ups entered a sacristy it was common for the sacristan to vest them; to place the various pieces of vestments on them and adjust them. After Vatican II, this fell away as it was recognized this was a holdover from Royalty and Renaissance Court etiquette, and just plain silly. But, some Bishops were not always ready to let go. So Fr. Mike tells of one time in his seminary a certain Archbishop comes into the Sacristy. His vestments are laid out there for him, and then seminarian Mike is there. This Archbishop simply stands, extends his arms and waits. Mike, unsure what is going on, does nothing. The Archbishop clears his throat and says “Well?????” Expecting to be vested. When we think of God, does humility come to mind? Probably not the first image we form. We can think of our art work, God on a Throne, M...

Everyone needs a chef for a friend, in my humble opinion. I am not talking about someone who can cook, but a trained professional chef. Warning though, It will ruin you in one sense. A chef friend will cook and raise the level of your palate. Food that you have once thought good, will be boring. I have such a friend and he creates such an array of flavors at all levels…and it has helped me to up my cooking game. Steaks, now seared in cast iron skillet, then basted with butter, garlic, thyme or pasta sauces with paprikas, chili peppers, capers… But now, as I warned, at some of my favorite restaurants, their food has become a bit bland. Parishes form disciples, that is our role. Parish ministry builds up disciples of Jesus Christ, who leads us closer and closer to the Father, and the closer we come to the Father, the greater wisdom we open ourselves to life, creation and God; in other words, Salvation. The presumption is that we are all here because we claim discipleship, or are ...

Being around people in recovery can really bring a new awareness about life. Those in recovery from substance addiction, drugs, alcohol etc often need to leave behind people so as to find the healing. They need to leave behind those who enable or trigger their addictions. It can be painful in the short term, but the long term benefits of being sober and healthy make up for it.  People recovering from bad relationships or learning how to change their own behavior will also often need to break ties with people that hold them back as well. Toxic people do not lend to healing. It is a dying to self to find new life. And these distancing of relationships do not always go well; others may not understand and there can be some acrimony, anger, resentment and of course, grief. Creation has not been completed yet. Creation still needs its spiritual fulfillment, its transformation into the Kingdom of Heaven. God remains at work. The Father sent the Son, the Son came for the Father to ...

An aspect of Geology that I learned to appreciate was time. I have held rocks over 1 billion years old; fossils hundreds of millions years old. Time happens over such broad and grand scales. A Principle in Geology is called the Principle of Uniformity. It means that the same geologic processes of the present were also active in the past, so to understand the past we look to our now. Time in our modern work has shrunk. Those of us who are a little ancient remember know how long it took to start the internet only just 25 years ago; forever. Now, if we don’t get connected ASAP, there is that call to IT! When we text, if we don’t see those three dots in the reply right away…. We have become accustomed to rapidity; to having our desires and needs met NOW. This is all Chronos time, the clock time. There is another form of time, Kyros; God’s time.  God’s time remains unpredictable. God works at times very quickly, and sometimes it seems so slowly. The skill for Kyros is patienc...