Gospel, Homily and Coffee

Disciples of Jesus Christ, those of us who claim him as our Lord and Savior, accept the revelation of God that he gives. Jesus reveals God through his teachings, through his miracles, through all his deeds, most especially his Paschal Mystery, the suffering, death and Resurrection. Do we truly grasp whom he has revealed? Jesus reveals to us God, a personal being; A Father, not cold nor distant; not vengeful. God, Father, who sees the goodness in all of creation, in us; God who wills, wishes, desires that goodness be lived, because to live out our goodness is to live eternally; as the Father lives out his own Goodness and lives eternally. It was not as if the people of Israel did not know this. They did. Jesus reveals it to its fullness, the incredible extent of this goodness. God the Father, gives of Godself, and gives of self first; for us. We have this wonderfully familiar, but also revolutionary Gospel passage from John. Jesus teaches Nicodemus, a Jewish teacher about himself...

Decades ago, astronomers viewing galaxies noticed something odd. The galaxies were not spinning at the rate according to the calculations. The stars on the outside were going around the center too fast. They could not figure out why. Through the decades others examined this phenomena, and with other calculations made, determined that there is a other type of matter that is present in our universe. It does not interact with our type of matter, nor light; but it has mass and exerts a gravitational pull; which is why galaxies spin faster than they ought to. This is dark matter. And this dark matter actually is more present than our own time of matter. It has changed the understanding of our universe. Fascinating. There is a philosophy that says consciousness exists at the deepest levels of reality. Consciousness forms or causes the form of matter. It does not necessarily mean a rock is conscious, but that there is something there. Our Universe may be more alive than we realize. ...

An annual ritual, a rite of passage, will start to take place soon. The annual ritual of kids leaving home. High School Graduations will take place and then these newly minted “Adults” will move on to college or to jobs, out of the house and into the world (a lot of them anyway). Parents have spent some 18 years preparing their kids, or trying to, for this next phase of life. Trying to teach them adulting skills; like taking responsibility for banking and money, cleaning and ironing clothes (always separate whites from colors), how to boil water so that at least the instant ramen will be cooked enough. The hope is that somehow this has all sunk in, in some way, shape or form. So that as they go out the front door and begin to leave, parents, you can quickly shut the door and lock it so that they can’t get back in. And our young adults will not starve nor freeze, and sleep on clean sheets. As Parents, Teachers, extended family, we hope that lessons we have instilled are in there so...

Recently I was at a party in which a couple of kids were celebrating their first communions. Among their gifts were Bibles. One bible had a lot of pictures which they liked. I flashed back to a bible I received as a young boy; it told the stories with pictures, which was cool. It helped me to visualize what was going on. Nothing like an image of David holding up Goliath’s severed head to excite a boy about being Christian.  Kids think very literally. Visuals help them as well. They can make connections if they can see it, or feel it, or experience it. A sign of maturity is when kids start to think abstractly. When they can begin to make connections and grasp a larger understanding; to begin to intuit and not be so literal. I read a recent article about how young persons leave the church, in part, because we as church fail to engage their imaginations. We as a church have a long history of using our aesthetics to spark the imaginations of people, so that they can begin to ...

What is the goal of marriage? Kind of an odd question, but still relevant to married couples, to all people, and to this gospel.  The goal of marriage is, well it is the goal to everything.  The goal of marriage, to priesthood and religious life, to life for everyone, is holiness. In Church language, we call this the Universal call to Holiness. Every human person has this call, this capacity to be holy. It is the human Vocation to be holy.   Now, holiness is not being a super pious, do gooder, necessarily. Holiness means to be and live the person God created us to be. God created us as good, and holiness means expressing that goodness, within the context of our own lives. Let’s do some simple school physics. Think of some kind of wind-up toy. We crank it up and a spring inside gets tighter and tighter. This tightness in the spring is its potential energy. It stays potential as long as the spring is locked. When the spring gets unlocked, or triggered open, tha...

The Dark Night: Stanzas of the Soul One dark night, fired with love’s urgent longings — ah, the sheer grace! — I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled. In darkness, and secure, by the secret ladder, disguised, — ah, the sheer grace! — in darkness and concealment, my house being now all stilled. On that glad night, in secret, for no one saw me, nor did I look at anything, with no other light or guide than the one that burned in my heart. This guided me more surely than the light of noon to where he was awaiting me — him I knew so well — there in a place where no one appeared. O guiding night! O night more lovely than the dawn! O night that has united the Lover with his beloved, transforming the beloved in her Lover. Upon my flowering breast which I kept wholly for him alone, there he lay sleeping, and I caressing him there in a breeze from the fanning cedars. When the breeze blew from the turret, as I parted his hair, it wounded my neck with its gentle hand, suspending all my ...

How do the Disciples go from hiding in fear to Disciples devoted to a communal life, breaking bread together and praying; living with and doing great wonders and signs that amazed everyone? Love conquers all fear. The resurrection signifies, makes real, God’s infinite love for us, for all. Those disciples, despite hearing from Mary Magdalene that the Lord had risen, still were scared. They knew the Jewish leaders used the Romans to kill their leader, their friend; and feared they were next. Leaders had to get rid of this threat to their way of life, their way of understanding God, their way of power; this threat to the social order. So their fear kept them locked away. They would not go out and do great things. And I wonder too, if they also were not a little fearful of Jesus? He is Risen, but they had fled him and Peter had denied him. He is Risen..but was he risen to accuse them? To Punish them? To take his Vengeance for their actions? They don’t know. I bet all of us, if we pa...