Gospel, Homily and Coffee

Why was the Son of God born as human? Philosophers, theologians, thinkers looking at our contemporary culture; examining aspects of the violence, the turn towards fringe groups, conspiracies, the rise of pornography, social media et al, addictions, rates of depression, narcissism… find that loneliness/alienation plays an important part, if not a vital cause for so much.  Ironic that in a time when we can talk with people on a video who live on the other side of the world, we can feel so disconnected from others. This disconnect not only is people without people, but people will feel there is nothing in the universe; it is simply cold, material, a nihilism.  And because we do not feel or experience that intimacy, that connection, we try to find it, or make meaning in groups that we seemingly offer it: gangs, white supremacists, nationalists…and at times others will take advantage of this.  Or because we feel like nothing, everyone also is nothing too, and therefore those lives can be

NOW that I have a full church and a captive audience, we are going to have a Catholic Religious Education class…somewhat.  A definition, the best definition that I can think of, although there are a couple of others, A, the Best definition of a Sacrament is…A visible sign of an invisible reality. I will repeat, A visible sign of an Invisible reality…now you repeat it back… Catholics have this wonderful theology, this spirituality of sacraments. When we ponder sacraments more and more, this spirituality gives us an amazing concept about life, the world and us. We can even understand our connection to God at a deeper level. What our definition of Sacraments tells us is that within our reality of senses; taste, smell, feel, touch, hear…there is also a reality underneath it all that sustains it; an invisible but yet very, very potent invisible reality that becomes known through visible signs. Baptism we use water and the words “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son an

King Ahaz was quite the person. He was King of Judah, and during his reign two other kings had come to him from Israel and Damascus, wanting to form an alliance against Assyria. Assyria being the rising power in the region. Ahaz does not know what to do; what are his choices? Isaiah the Prophet comes to him and says to trust in God. God will grant anything for Ahaz. Ahaz feigns piety and humility, but he is in reality not pious nor humble. Still God offers him a path; even though Ahaz defers and deflects. Ahaz needs to trust in God’s plan.  What will happen is that Ahaz will not trust God: in fact, he will go behind these kings’ backs and do something that will protect himself only. He forms an alliance with Assyria who will ultimately defeat and conquer these two kingdoms. Yet, the cost will be that Ahaz becomes subservient to Assyria, and he will even change the worship of God to match Assyria’s, and will also sacrifice to their idols. Imagine Joseph and what he experience

Managed Expectations - a phrase we can hear about an event or situation, when somebody does not want to get disappointed, when somebody does not want to disappoint others. I first came to Nevada in 1988 on a geology trip from Cincinnati. And I was not impressed. I was thinking I would see cacti and a desert landscape as in the John Wayne movies I grew up with. We were going from SLC to Ely, and I saw no cacti, just sagebrush and more sagebrush. Then we went onto southern Utah and the parks there and were blown away. When I returned to work in Nevada in 1989 I had realistic expectations and that is when I began to love the State. In the United States, Priests, if they leave ministry, usually do it within the first 5 to 7 years. And anecdotally, those who tend to leave more often are those who are Roman trained. The thinking is that these young men are told they are the cream of the crop, the best of the best, and they go to Rome and study; yet they receive very little parish expe

“You’ll shoot your eye out!” A classic line, prediction in our culture.  Parents are prophets, are they not? At least in some fashion. You parents can see a situation and assess, and make a prediction: “Don’t do that or you are going to hurt yourself?; He/She is not nice, don’t come crying to me when he/she breaks your heart….” Prophets see a situation, make observations and then call out the probable consequences and can provide a different way to act. Prophets have a degree of wisdom and insight. Now prophets are not just doom and gloom. Prophets, especially religious ones and in our Jewish/Christian tradition, actually want to lead people to security, to joy; ultimately to God. They declare a way to avoid one path, so as to choose another. Think of Parenting again. Those prophetic warnings to kids really comes down to teaching kids about actions, consequences and how to choose. And they can mature into healthy stable adults. As we ourselves continue to mature though, who beco