Gospel, Homily and Coffee

In our parish there are quite a few good athletes: marathoners, High School volleyball; weightlifters. There are also some great musicians, aside from the obvious. None of them just showed up and started running and lifting, or playing. They all started off with the basics; they learned technique and form, built up strength, built up skills. Then they made teams, won races, they played or sang beautifully. Religious, those Priests, Nuns, Deacons, Brothers, we go through formation. We are not merely educated but formed. We go through years of study, examine our hearts and minds; we share and reflect on God and all that entails. Then we come to a point of commitment. Formation does not end at ordination or at final vows. Religious, if we wish to be of good service, will constantly work on our formation. We do so to remain open to the mystery of God in the life of the church. In a few weeks we and many parishes in our diocese begin another round of Religious Education for children and te

There is the saying, “out of the mouth of babe…” Those who work with kids know kids can say some outrageous and funny things, and also can express matters and ideas that are deep and wise beyond their years. I have heard kids express thoughts on God and their understanding of God that took my breath away; catching me by surprise. A danger for Catholics is our egotism, or chauvinism. We can fall into the trap of literally believing that we have the Truth, therefore there is no Truth outside the church. Which means we can have a tendency to ignore other Christian faiths and even some Non-Christian faiths, and lose out on some wisdom and insight. One of the more brilliant Scripture scholars in the world is N.T. Wright, who happens to be Anglican. I really enjoy on TikTok Dr. Dan McClellan, also a biblical scholar, who also happens to be Mormon. But I know some Catholics, including priests, who would never ever listen or read them or others, because they don’t belong; they are not part o

Parents, you are amazing. Each day you wake up and walk into the chaos of life with those special little somethings. Each day you walk into life and make choices, with little preparation, with those kids that are inherently bipolar: angels in one moment, in another, even Satan would be scared of them. Again, there is little prep; there is no easy app for parenting. I will repeat again, I do not mind noisy kids in mass; noisy adults I do, you all know better, but kids…please bring them and have them here. Parents thank you for bringing them and for having the courage and faith to be parents. Recently a friend asked me about depression. He asked me to describe what it is like. I could only give my experience: it is like a fog. It is being so overwhelmed by everything and feeling everything, and lacking the ability to take a step forward, to make a choice. There is no movement, only stagnation. It takes a lot of energy to be able to make a choice, to take a step. Earlier this week I w