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...

Pope Benedict 16 wrote that Jesus, as THE ultimate prophet, fully reveals the face of God. Pope Francis calls us as Church to be as Jesus in the world. Jesus reveals God. We are called to reveal God. This has profound implications for us as Catholics on how we believe and what we believe. We need to ask ourselves: what does Jesus reveal of God, what does God look like? God has no particular color, characteristics, no political party. God favors no country above another. God loves. God sees good in all and wishes for that goodness to come through. God calls us to be transformed. God is self giving.  And all of us need to be challenged in our concept of God...Continually. Otherwise we settle into a version of God that fits our own individual mode of thinking; we conform God to our vision of the world, our view of politics. We create an idol and that is what we often will spread. This applies left or right, progressive or conservative.   When we spread our own ide...

Recently Virginia, our Coordinator of Youth and Young Adults ministry was telling me about their house in Texas. The foundations of many houses in that area are within in a particular clay. Therefore the foundation and the area around it needs to be watered, otherwise the foundation cracks. If that happens there is laborious repair work. Yet, what an image: watering clay and cement to keep it good. Not just the lawn. A very appropriate image for our faith lives and our own foundations: a foundation in Jesus Christ.  As disciples we need to look at our foundation, our faith in Jesus Christ, from time to time. We need to care for it.  Usually we don’t figure that out until something comes along to upset us: a Pandemic, political and social upheaval, sickness in ourselves or family, to name a few.   There are people who are confused now. How we believe and what we think we believe are challenged in these times. It can be scary. People’s foundations and what t...

The word “Catholic” comes from a Greek word that means “for all people”; universal for all people.  What do we have to offer that is for all people? Israel had and still has a mission: to make known to all the world who God is. Isaiah will especially speak of this universalism, this mission to make known God to all the nations.  Jesus Christ, a child of Israel and the Son of God, fulfilled this mission. He renewed this mission in Israel and he himself acted upon it.   He wanted to offer to the world, to all people a better way to live, so as to experience the reality of the love of the Father. We see this play out in our Gospel. A Gentile who wanted a life for her own daughter. A mother who knew that Jesus had done the same for others and wanted it for her own family. And Jesus seeing this desire, gives it to her. Christians continued this mission. They went out to the known world, to all peoples to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Clearly It worked. Genti...

Fear; a basic and necessary emotional reaction to a perceived threat. Fear; we sense something that is a danger to ourselves, to our wellbeing, to who and what we consider important to us.  And as we grasp what makes us fearful, so we grasp a better understanding of ourselves. And what we perceive as important; and what keeps us from acting with goodness. There is a distinction in the Spanish language that we lack in English. In Spanish, when people are thirsty, or hungry, or scared, they say “I have hunger, I have thirst, I have fear.” (Tengo hambre, tengo sed, tengo miedo). The implication that this experience will go away once dealt with; it does not define the person.  English, well we tend to lack that sophistication. We would say “I AM hungry, thirsty, or scared” It seems to imply this experience is part of our being.  Jesus says “BE not afraid!” He does not say “never have fear”, but rather, do not let fear control you. Jesus certainly experienced fear. ...