Gospel, Homily and Coffee

In our parish there are quite a few good athletes: marathoners, High School volleyball; weightlifters. There are also some great musicians, aside from the obvious. None of them just showed up and started running and lifting, or playing. They all started off with the basics; they learned technique and form, built up strength, built up skills. Then they made teams, won races, they played or sang beautifully. Religious, those Priests, Nuns, Deacons, Brothers, we go through formation. We are not merely educated but formed. We go through years of study, examine our hearts and minds; we share and reflect on God and all that entails. Then we come to a point of commitment. Formation does not end at ordination or at final vows. Religious, if we wish to be of good service, will constantly work on our formation. We do so to remain open to the mystery of God in the life of the church. In a few weeks we and many parishes in our diocese begin another round of Religious Education for children and te...

There is the saying, “out of the mouth of babe…” Those who work with kids know kids can say some outrageous and funny things, and also can express matters and ideas that are deep and wise beyond their years. I have heard kids express thoughts on God and their understanding of God that took my breath away; catching me by surprise. A danger for Catholics is our egotism, or chauvinism. We can fall into the trap of literally believing that we have the Truth, therefore there is no Truth outside the church. Which means we can have a tendency to ignore other Christian faiths and even some Non-Christian faiths, and lose out on some wisdom and insight. One of the more brilliant Scripture scholars in the world is N.T. Wright, who happens to be Anglican. I really enjoy on TikTok Dr. Dan McClellan, also a biblical scholar, who also happens to be Mormon. But I know some Catholics, including priests, who would never ever listen or read them or others, because they don’t belong; they are not part o...

Parents, you are amazing. Each day you wake up and walk into the chaos of life with those special little somethings. Each day you walk into life and make choices, with little preparation, with those kids that are inherently bipolar: angels in one moment, in another, even Satan would be scared of them. Again, there is little prep; there is no easy app for parenting. I will repeat again, I do not mind noisy kids in mass; noisy adults I do, you all know better, but kids…please bring them and have them here. Parents thank you for bringing them and for having the courage and faith to be parents. Recently a friend asked me about depression. He asked me to describe what it is like. I could only give my experience: it is like a fog. It is being so overwhelmed by everything and feeling everything, and lacking the ability to take a step forward, to make a choice. There is no movement, only stagnation. It takes a lot of energy to be able to make a choice, to take a step. Earlier this week I w...

When we go over Mt. Rose pass, near the top are the almost pristine, granitic rocks that make up the core of the mountains. Beautiful rocks to look at. Kind of like the rock we would use for our countertops. As a geologist looking for gold, those rocks would not be given too much looking at. God would be in the ugly rock, the broken rock, the altered rock, the rock with lots of reds, yellows; the fractured rock filled up with silica. That was where the treasure could be. Even then it would take a lot of effort to get that treasure. What do we all search for? What do we truly desire? Who do we want to be? These are ancient questions we humans have asked of ourselves for eons. For some, the answers may be superficial: search for jobs, status, influence. Some search for deeper meaning; love, relationships, security. Even deeper people seek a sense of self; sense of understanding of the universe. A related question I also get from people…how do I deepen my relationship with God? How ...

Looking into our lives, past and present; were there, are there still those certain persons who mentored us? Are there those persons who affirmed us; who were with us as we royally screwed up and helped us out? Maybe it was our parents or grandparents; a teacher or coach; a priest or sister. No matter what we could have done, they remained with us.  These people are jewels. They need to be cherished. Nothing says love like keeping those who made bad mistakes in our lives; love does not judge but only lifts up. We all have being; we are. Whether we believe we are because Cogito ergo sum; or because we experience therefore we are; or because we can touch and be touched…. We are. (Your philosophy lesson for the week). We as Catholics believe that we are, we have Being because God is; because not only has but IS BEING. We are because God loves us; God sustains us. If we were not loved by God, we would simply stop existing. God loves us no matter what. We know this from Jesus Chris...

We learn as we open ourselves to learning. When we close ourselves off to new ways, different ways, different approaches…we will not learn. Learning brings growth and maturity; not learning causes stagnation. Part of the challenge of teachers is to open the children to learning. It is fun to watch those teachers in the younger classes excite the kids, and those little kids are sponges. They take so much in and grow. It is amazing.  Something can happen though as we age.  We can get jaded, lazy, and/or arrogant; we know it all and there is nothing more. Or the dreaded adolescent phrase, but I still hear in adults, “This is stupid.” When we enter into this mode, it takes something significant to jar us open, to let in a little different wisdom. It requires humility. Nothing humbles us like failure. When all our plans, ideas, machinations just do not succeed. It all falls apart. Sometimes in big ways and sometimes in small fashions. We want to succeed and we don’t. ...

One of my first conversations with my spiritual director when I entered seminary, at 31 years of age, was why now? Why did God take so long to get me here? I had in my mind the “ideal” or the lifer model in which guys went from high school into college seminary then major seminary, to be ordained at 25. My spiritual director, a wise older gentleman, still alive by the way at over 100 years old, told me simply; “I was probably not ready, and it was not my time.” That has stayed with me for these 27 years. Even now I am given these moments in time when I finally understand on a deep level life, and what it means to follow Jesus Christ. Seeds were sown, I was given information, theology, but it took time to grasp what it means. I had to be ready to receive what Jesus offered. It takes life experience to receive truly what God offers through the Holy Spirit, in Jesus Christ. It takes an understanding for us to receive what Jesus offers. Jesus lays out a clear, idealized version of wh...