Gospel, Homily and Coffee

The Gospel of last week and this week are one story that shows us much of faith and life. Last week Jesus revealed his mission; a mission of salvation, a mission in which humanity grows in faith and grows as humanity. This week, within moments of the revelation, the people reject this message. The people of Jesus reject him. What happened? Many years ago I was on a trip with two friends. We climbed the east face of Mt. Whitney. This was a technical climb; ropes and gear. Halfway through the climb a lateral move was required. This means the move is along a face, not up or down. I hated lateral moves because they are awkward and require moves that place one in danger of falling. This particular move had quite the fall, what seemed 100000’s of feet. I was tied off to the other guys, I was in the middle. I froze. I was so scared. My friends were great and patient, urging me on. I knew logically if I fell it would be okay, as I was on rope. Yet that potential fall so scared me...

I was in the High School band. Once we did a half time routine that went so bad our Music Teacher walked away. He was so angry and embarrassed. It was that bad. So on the Monday after we came back to school, we were a bit scared for band class. Now the ironic part was that we were normally quite good, but I think we got cocky and therefore sloppy. So Mr. Conway, known for his temper, calmly and coolly came in and told us that we will be practicing, but we are going to re-start with the basics. Marching band for the next weeks as all about the basics. We were humbled and we got ourselves set straight. A common theme when people think they or we are messed up or confused or lost: go back to our roots. Not to re-start necessarily, but to remember “Why” we do what we do. We see this in businesses. We see attempts of this in our politics. We see this in church and religion too. The goal is not to return to a past, but to remember why, so as to go forward with renewed vigor. In o...

How many of us are expecting a homily on marriage today?? What if this Gospel really has nothing to do with marriage, at least overtly?  When a niece of mine was getting married, she and her groom chose this passage at their ceremony. It was a Protestant minister who officiated. He took the opportunity to remark that although Jesus changed the water to wine this was not permission to drink, and that we ought to not drink. I leaned over to my sister and whispered “this is why we are Catholic”. We Catholics Christians, we believe in a God whose only will, only desire is that we humans live up to our potential. God’s plan is that we become truly the Children of God that we are, in which we are created. Remember those words from the first reading!  This means that we Catholics inherently are to be a positive people; a hopeful people, a loving people: not only in word but also in deed. It means that we live out this goodness that God sees in us; so that all people can experi...

Emmanuel, which is Hebrew for “God is with us”. We give that name to Jesus, especially at Christmas Time. The name Jesus, a derivation of Joshua, means “God saves”. God with us is the God that saves us then could be a summation.   What do we expect in this? What do we search for of this? Geologists, in searching for gold mineralization in Nevada, do not look for gold itself. It can’t be seen, it is too small with the naked eye. They look for other signs. They look for rocks that have been broken up and altered; they look for other minerals and elements to point them in the right direction. Pristine rock, though maybe pretty to look at, will not attract the geologist searching for gold. They want the broken up, altered rock. In Vocations work, although I am serious about it, I also have a running joke. For future priests, I look for the men who have had their hearts broken at least once. I look for men who have struggled to pay their bills and live on their own. I wa...

One of my most feared or even despised emails, comments, or conversation starters begins along these lines: “Father, you know what you SHOULD do?”  Sigh. Yes, I know what I should do, and it usually involves either a fly-fishing rod, my skis or a warm beach with blue water.  People have opinions which is great. People also have agendas of which they wish everyone to hear and obey; not so great. A priest said it is like people who think they know how to pilot the plane because they have been riding as passengers for decades. What do people expect from Christ, of our Catholic-Christian Faith?  Or better, what do we search for in our faith? Not MY faith, but OUR faith. We face a challenge here in this country with our faith and the practice of our religion. Abusers use it to validate their mis-use of power; to justify their racist, sexist, nationalistic attitudes, and/or to hoard wealth. People seek to maintain the status quo because they remain comfortable in it. What ...

Often I hear people speak of what they perceive as threats to the faith, to the church, to God.  OHHH, it's secularism. OHHHH it’s those other religions. OHHHH it is the immorality of our world these days. OHHHH it is the Republicans, it's the Democrats, it’s this group or that group, it’s this idea and that idea. Crazy. Btw, often what people mean when they say this, is that the threat is to their own individual idea of faith, church and God.  And that is the “threat” if you will to faith… it is our own lack of depth, lack of understanding, our own lack of wisdom. I hope this does not come across as too arrogant or prideful, but being Christian, being Catholic, our tradition and faith is amazing.  The depth that we have in our understanding of Jesus, and what he teaches and what he signifies is so full. There is so much to explore, navigate through and uncover; so much to show us the meaning of this world, our lives, all of reality. Where does this need to begin? Th...

My maternal grandfather was a storyteller. As a child, on Summer days on our porch he would make up stories that I loved. I also loved hearing about his family which he was a bit more reticent to share. One story was of a youngers' sisters wedding that lasted 3 days! This was amazing given how poor my great-grandparents were, as simple coal mining immigrants. Then sadly, after about 10 years of marriage and around six kids, her husband died. So here she was at 28 years old, widowed with kids. She herself would die tragically a few years later leaving those kids orphaned.  Or the other story of how a man on the town came to my great-grandfather and declared that he wanted to marry a Bailey girl. So my great grandfather apparently told the oldest unwed she was it. That daughter said “no", because this man was too short; but her sister Mary agreed; and my Aunt Mary and Uncle George were married almost 60 years with 8 children. If they were 5' 3, that would have been ama...