Foot-washer

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092026.cfm  How would you feel if a rich and powerful person said these words to you? “My ways are above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.” Two weeks ago, an individual (named Stan Kroenke) bought the Los Angeles Angels, a Major League Baseball team, for $4 billion.  This is the man’s sixth pro-sport team.    In addition to these teams, he is the largest private landowner in North America, owning 2.7 million acres, and his net worth is $27.6 billion.  I can imagine him or others in his orbit saying: “My ways are above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.”  And he would be right; I have no idea what his world is like. I cannot justify buying a $100 jersey for my favorite sports team, much less conceive of buying the team itself.    In another recent development, some of the wealthiest Americans have been exploiting accounting loopholes that allow them to av...

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/083026.cfm  In today’s first reading, we hear the prophet Jeremiah complain that he is suffering beyond what he can bear.  In response to his preaching, his audience called him “a madman who poses as a prophet.”  They whipped Jeremiah 39 times and publicly humiliated him, locking him up in stocks where he was abused by passersby.   As Jeremiah says, “All day long I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me.”  He curses the day that he was born, and asks, “Why did I come forth from the womb, to see sorrow and pain, to end my days in shame?”   Sometimes, when people are suffering, we say the expression, “God will never give you more than you can handle.”  These words are meant to bring comfort and are said with good intentions.  Jeremiah reminds us today, however, that there are times when people do, in fact, experience more pain than they can handle.  Being told ot...

  16th Sunday in Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071926.cfm  In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus tell a parable about slaves working the fields of a slave master.  We may be surprised to find him casually using slavery in a teaching story, but it would not have been shocking to a first-century audience. In today’s homily, I will explain what the Bible says about slavery, what it meant to Catholics in the United States in the antebellum period, and apply that example to social injustices that are with us in the world today.  Slavery was ubiquitous in the ancient Mediterranean, including among the Jews who lived in Israel. The Jews had been enslaved in Egypt, and their liberation by God and exodus from bondage is the high point of their national and religious story.  Despite this, when they settled in Israel, they began to enslave foreigners themselves.    I wonder, as we reflect on Jesus’ parable, whether we might think of slavery...

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062826.cfm Today, I am going to preach about an incredible religious experience that Kate and I had while visiting Peru ten years ago.  I am going to start by speaking about the Peruvian custom of mummifying the dead that was practiced during the Incan Empire before the Spanish conquistadors arrived.  I will then apply those customs to Christian beliefs about the resurrection, okay? Got that: Peru, mummies, resurrection.  Here we go. Most of us learned about mummies when we studied ancient Egypt as kids.   You can go to the Louisville Science Center and see a couple of examples on display here in town.  But the Egyptians are only the most famous of dozens of cultures that mummified their dead.   In the days of the Inca Empire (the 1400s) in what is now Peru, the Incan emperors were believed to be descendants of the sun god Inti.  When they died, the emperors were taken up t...

5th Sunday in Easter https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050326.cfm I had never seen or met a Catholic permanent deacon before I was 27 years old. My first encounter was in Oklahoma City. I had moved to that city for two years to take a teaching position. Within walking distance of my house was a predominantly Black Catholic church called Corpus Christi, which became my parish. I had not been to a Black Catholic Church before, and I was quickly stuck by the sense of community, the incredible music, and the powerful preaching. Corpus Christi had two Black deacons who had a real gift for homiletics. I privately thought of them as the crying deacon and the professor. The first deacon would preach moving homilies that, without fail, had a moment when his voice would crack and, caught up by the emotion of his testimony, he would breaking down in tears, bring the congregation along with him. The second deacon was a dentist and a professor at Oklahoma University. His homilies were as...

Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041426.cfm  Good morning, St. X, and Happy Easter Season. What are your favorite sounds as you go about your day here at Saint Xavier High School?  I’ll ask that question again [repeat]. I bet you have never given that much thought.  We often tune out familiar noises as we go about life.  I want to share with you my four favorite sounds. First, when I come into the Driscoll building in the morning and pass the auditorium, I usually hear a wild and raucous noise drifting up from the weight room at the bottom of the steps.  There’s the metallic clang of iron plates hitting each other, the crash of heavy bars, hype-up music blaring, and above it all the primal sound of guys driving each other on.  This is what brotherhood sounds like. Second, when I walk down the first floor of the T during the school day, I’m bound to hear a single word—IF!—from our teacher of the year, Coach John Jef...

Easter Sunday https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040526.cfm Good morning and Happy Easter. The whole world, it seems, celebrates Christmas, even non-Christians and atheists. In the lead-up to December 25th, Christmas songs, decorations, trees, and Santa Claus are inescapable.  And the whole world stops for Christmas.  In our country, schools and many workplaces offer extended breaks for the holiday season, and there is a strong cultural expectation to be home for Christmas with family and loved ones. Easter, on the other hand, is easy to miss.  A few weeks ago, Kroger put out chocolate bunnies, egg-dyeing kits, Peeps, and jelly beans.  That may have led shoppers to ask themselves, “When is that coming up again?” The calendar certainly doesn’t help: Easter can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25—a 35-day period.  Jesus’ resurrection happened during the Jewish celebration of Passover, and the Church has always kept Easter during the same period.  ...