Gospel, Homily and Coffee

There is this saying, an adage common in religious circles, but has been applied elsewhere: If you think you know God, then you don’t got it. If you do not know God, then you got it.  It is a paradox clearly, but a true one. Anyone who claims they truly know God, and by virtue of that, the whole of faith, does not understand. We call this “mystery” in Catholic circles. More of God and of our faith, and therefore of our own selves, becomes revealed as we grow in God and faith. Mystery means we seek more and more. I heard another saying several weeks ago. If we wait to be certain to take the journey, we will never take the first steps. Certainty only can be found after we have begun to take those steps.  People can want to have all the facts, all the data, all the assurances that what they are about to do is the correct thing to do. Now, this is not particularly bad, especially for buying a car or home, or some other major purchase. But, certainly in most of life, in fai...

There is a phenomenon in nature called a death spiral. It happens when ants lose their pheromone trail that leads them back home, then end up walking in a circle until they die. Negative Feedback loops; these cycles that we get into in which negativity feeds negativity, feeds more negativity…until there is just a total collapse. A collapse of friendships, family, community, whatever. This can be how depression works: this negative loop keeps playing in our heads and we can’t shut it off.  We fall into our negative feedback loops, our death spirals, because we can become blinded to our reality, or we do not know how to live differently. There is no perceived way out. We get lost. The irony is that we as Christians have been shown the way. The Story, or saga, of King David shows so much of the human condition. Some day I think I will have to have some sort of class on that whole saga. In it, we see David struggling to be a king and a good king; he will fail again and again....

Our group of geologists in Elko had an outing with a group of elementary kids to go fossil hunting. These can be great fun as kids can get excited because they are out of the building and messing around with dirt and rocks. One particular kid stood out though. He would bring a rock, a normal rock, an ordinary rock and insist this was part of a dinosaur. He did this over and over, and over. His imagination and his desire wanted this. So we played along. I think a sign of spiritual and emotional death, or stasis, occurs when we lack imagination, when we fail to see beyond. We merely accept what is given, what is front of us. We stop looking for more. What do we desire? What do we want on a deep fundamental level, not on some trivial level such as chocolate, beer, or the Bengals to win the Super Bowl. I think we all have a desire to grow, to transcend and to find joy in life, whether we can articulate this or not; whether we are conscious of this or not.  When we know what w...

Inclusion, nothing feels as good as being included. Friends ask you to join in on an adventure, or even join in for coffee or if over 21 a beer. Inclusion is being picked to be on a team and not being the last one always. Inclusion means to be welcomed at the door, greeted with a smile and a name. Inclusion means being invited and accompanied, shown how to belong. Inclusion means we are wanted. Deep within our hearts, we all want to be wanted. We Catholic Christians, we believe in purpose. We believe God moves all of creation and everything within it for purpose. Ultimately it means bringing all of creation into one with God. God wants all to be a part of God. God wants us especially as God’s special creation to be within the divine life of the Trinity. We do not earn this, nor win this. This is a pure gift. God gives it freely. Our only part, accept this gift and use this gift. If I remember my economics lessons, a good economy means that goods and money flow well between ...

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...