Gospel, Homily and Coffee

During the Engaged Encounter weekends one of the themes is family traditions. The couples reflect upon what family traditions they have and what are they bringing to the marriage. The goal, reflect now, so that future conflicts can be avoided. Growing up, our family almost always ate dinner around 5:30pm. To this very day, that is my preferred time to eat. So when I need to eat later (like tonight)...I can get just a bit stressed. Of course, that is a benign tradition. Some traditions and customs, maybe need some more reflection. A favorite penance I like to give...btw, penance is not about punishment for sins, it is a tool to either make amends or move forward...anyway, a penance I like to give, especially to young persons...I tell them to reflect on what kind of person they want to be as they become adults. Not what occupation..but the quality of the person they want to be. Do they wish to be trustworthy, well liked, at peace, respected… Then I tell them that to...

There are people who when they learn something new, they are all in. They learn skiing, then they are buying the latest equipment, taking lessons, pushing themselves to ski black diamonds, double black diamonds, and more...travelling Or fishing, they get the best rods and fly lines, travel to New Zealand or other parts of the world…. Cooking, get all the best cookbooks, the best pots and pans, redo the kitchen and produce very tasty dinners. Their zeal takes off. Setbacks become opportunities to grow. Those setbacks, those moments when life is turned upside down, they do happen. We look at what seems to be the craziness of our country these days. The apparent craziness of our world and our church. People fighting over what looks to be silly things, and yet, our world groans with bigger issues: people are starving and being killed; the rainforest in Brazil burns away; our young persons hurt themselves. We have families who are mourning the loss of parents and children. Way...

The story of the Irish immigration is filled with sorrow and faith. A people, held in poverty and servitude by the English and subjected to a form of de-population especially during the potato famine. Hoping for a better life for themselves and their future generations, many fled to come to the USA. Here they faced anti-Catholic bigotry and prejudice, NINA… Yet the impact of our Church and society remains to this day. The Italians can repeat a similar story...does anyone know what “WOP” means? My own great grandparents, fleeing the then Austro-Hungarian Empire in which their own language was forbidden, their rights revoked, came to this country They too hoped for a better life; and encountered anti-Catholic bigotry, the KKK. They persevered, they hoped for a better world and worked hard to provide for it. So many people dream of a better world. So many people hope for security for them and their children. It is ingrained within us as human persons. It is ingrained because we long f...

In a brilliant podcast/interview on “OnBeing” with Abraham Verghese and Denise Pope both out of Stanford, the meaning of success was reflected upon and its impact on people. Ms. Pope works with young adults at Stanford and observed that this generation of students are overly stressed out, materialistic and poorly educated. Basically, “success” had become measured by these young adults through good grades and jobs with a big paychecks. Bad grades or when the dream job was not achieved, were considered failures, and importantly, the students did not know who to deal with it. Therefore the pressure they placed on themselves to be seen as successful was tremendous. Ask a priest “How successful was your confirmation/RCIA/or parish in general?” I bet the answer will be how many kids went through the program, how many were initiated at the Easter Vigil, the collection amount on Sundays. Denise Pope also talked about the students who were better adjusted. They were the ones who gene...

Grants requests are a necessary in the nonprofit world, but they can be onerous. Basically, it is like a loan application.  Someone has money, usually a foundation, and to receive some, you have to prove your value, prove your need, prove the value of the project.  It takes a lot of wordsmithing, re-writing, and a strong dose of humility. And there is no guarantee that any money will be given. Of course Foundations do this because they have limited funds and want to ensure it is effective. How about this...ever do one of those chain letters or emails?  You receive it, and you have to pass it along to a certain number of people, and if you do, your wish will be granted. Of course there are the famous emails from Nigerian princes and princesses...just send them $100 to cover expenses and your bank account info and $1,000,000 will be wired to your account.  Some people can treat God the same way:  as a Foundation, as a Loan Officer; even as a scam ...

Let’s get this out there right now...Type A personalities and even reformed type A’s do not like this gospel.  Hard workers come off as the bad ones, and the seeming slackers get off easy. Humpf! We are the ones who do it all, right? Life can seem overwhelming at times. There does seem to be a lot that needs accomplished, completed. Paperwork, housework, maintenance all demand a lot of time. And then throw on this, our mission as Catholics to help God transform this world!   Our mission to work for God to make this world a place of justice, compassion, mercy; a world in which love flourishes and all people, ALL people are treated with their inherent dignity. And we look at the chaos that seems so prevalent.  The break down in our political systems, the rise of nationalism and populism with the rise of hatred and racism. We see children being abused and neglected, even in the so called most rich and powerful country in the world. There is such ...