Foot-washer

 An incomplete homily for the  Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020 (September 13). This would have been my first homily, but I abandoned it for being too dark for my inaugural.  The story about my friend and the skull is a bit... much.  Maybe I will find the right audience or work it in some place else.  https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091320.cfm In the first reading, we hear Joshua Ben Sirach say, “remember death and decay, and cease from sin!”  This is a repeated line in this unfamiliar Wisdom Book of the Hebrew Scriptures.  Elsewhere Sirach writes, “In whatever you do, remember your last days and you will never sin” (7:36).  Saint Benedict, the famous monk, was probably inspired by this line in his Rule.  He poignantly wrote, “Keep death daily before your eyes” (4:47). I know a man who lived as a monk in Rome for several years.   One day several of his monastic brothers were digging in the monastery’s garden when they ...

Homily for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 12 & 13, 2020)   How often must I forgive? --I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.       During the pandemic this year, I’ve been quarantined at home with my family, like many of you.  I am married and the father of four young children all four years old or younger.  In one of our rare bits of free time, my wife and I watched the musical  Hamilton,  which was released on TV around the 4 th  of July.      I see this musical as very timely for our current moment in history and for our Gospel reading in which Christ calls us to limitless forgiveness and mercy for our brothers and sisters. Let me describe a climactic scene to you from the musical.   Two men stand ten paces across from each other, each pointing a dueling pistol at the other.  They are in a the midst of a wooded ledge overlooking the Hudson River. It is dawn ...

 

 On April 15 on this year (2019), the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris burst into flames.  As the fire was blazing on the roof of this remarkable church, imperiling the entire structure and the life anyone who entered, the chaplain of the Paris fire brigade, Father Jean-Marc Fournier, rushed in.  I want to share with you in his own words what he did and why: As soon as I arrived, there were two things that it struck me as absolutely essential to recover: firstly, the invaluable treasure that is the Crown of Thorns, then, of course, Jesus, present in the Blessed Sacrament.   Everyone understands that the Crown of Thorns is this precious, extraordinary relic, but the Blessed Sacrament is our Lord made flesh... you'll understand it's difficult to see someone you love perish in flames. He describes standing alone in the cathedral "surrounded by flames, fire and smoldering objects falling from the ceiling" as he rescued this relic and the consecrated Eucharist. [1] ...

  Given to the Syro-Malabar community of Louisville, Apr 7, 2019 (4th Week of Lent) at Holy Family Catholic Church for their Easter preparation retreat.   Thank you for the introduction friars, and the invitation to speak today.  I have known these Franciscan friars for at least six years and have greatly enjoyed their friendship and ministry here to you, to Bellarmine, and young adults.  They like to invite me speak, sometimes with not much warning. . One of my favorite Fr. John stories: I was travelling as a chaperone with him to Kerala for Christmas in 2013 along with a group of Bellarmine students.  We stayed at their gorgeous friary in Karukutty.  Kate and I went to morning mass with the novices there at 7am one of our first mornings there.  I was feeling a bit jetlagged from the long travel.  I listened to Fr. John read the Gospel, afterwards he said, “it is not our custom to give homilies at morning mass, so I would like to invite Ned to co...

  Catholic Schools Week Reflection,  February 6, 2019   During Catholic Schools Week last week, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed – Facebook, if you aren’t familiar with it, is like SnapChat but for old people—anyway, I was scrolling, and I saw two posts appropriate for today.   The first was from one of our Catholic grade schools in Louisville.   It had two girls in their uniforms holding a sign that read, “So Glad to Be in Plaid.”   The second was a very appropriate meme for our snowy week.   It read, “Some of y’all never endured an entire winter in a plaid Catholic school skirt and it shows.”   Today, many of you are wearing sweat shirts from your grade schools.   If you went to a Catholic grade school, maybe you are remembering the plaid jumpers and skirts that you wore for many years before coming to Mercy Academy.   Your grade school plaid skirt, and your Mercy plaid immediately identify you as a Catholic school s...

https://therecordnewspaper.org/couple-anticipates-deacon-family/ Kate Bulinski and Ned Berghausen played with their one-year-old son E.J. in their Highlands home Aug. 18. The couple is finding ways to balance their young family, careers and formation to the diaconate. (Record Photo by Ruby Thomas) By Ruby Thomas, Record Staff Writer As Ned Berghausen changed his one-year-old son in their Highlands home on a sunny August afternoon, he talked about juggling his family life and formation for the Archdiocese of Louisville’s diaconate ministry. Berghausen and his wife Dr. Kate Bulinski, a geologist, are getting ready to start their third year of formation for the diaconate this fall. Berghausen is a theology teacher and director of campus ministry at Mercy Academy. He said he’s “incredibly fulfilled” by that work. “It’s what I felt God called me to do,” he said. Yet, he feels called to something deeper still, he said. “I felt the calling to the diaconate is a calling within a calling,” he s...