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The Four Trees of Christmas

Merrcy Christmas, Bellarmine. Since we are here in Our Lady of the Woods Chapel the university, I thought it would be appropriate to preach about trees tonight. The Christmas tree has become a central symbol of the holiday.   Bellarmine has a beautiful, evergreen up on the quad that’s at least 50 feet tall.   Every Advent, it is strung up with lights and the university hosts a lighting event every year in late November.   Kate and I have taken our kids there the last few years.   We have some wonderful pictures of our kids’ faces lit up by both the lights and with joy at looking at the tree.   Last year, our oldest, EJ, got to help Dr. Donovan flip the magic switch that illuminated the tree.   It’s well known that German pagans worshipped oak trees before they became Christians and this might have something to do with the tradition.   However, they rapidly transformed the Christmas tree into a symbol of Christ, who is ever green. Who is a source of life even in the dead of winter
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Love in Action

Deacon Ned Berghausen St. Agnes Catholic Church September 23/24, 2023 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102923.cfm I have a younger brother who says the words, “I love you” very frequently.   At the end of any conversation or verbal exchange, no matter how brief, he will say it.   He called me once for clarification on driving directions—whether to take a right or a left turn.   “Got it. Thanks, Ned.   I love you.” Back when Kate and I were first dating, very early in our relationship, as in maybe 3 weeks—I introduced her to Joe.   And he told her, “I love you.”   This was before I had even said those words to her!   Which was awkward and hilarious. When you ask him, Joe isn’t embarrassed.   He says it’s really important that people these hear these words and know that they’re meant.   He says, “You never know when you might see or talk to a person for the last time.”   I love that. Our topic in the Gospel today is love: Jesus’ great commandme
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Who is my Bhai?

Deacon Ned Berghausen St. Agnes Catholic Church September 23/24, 2023 25rd Sunday of Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090422.cfm Good evening / morning St. Agnes and guests. Thank you for joining us for this mass celebrating the Season of Creation. This liturgical period, which runs from September 1st to October 4th, is a time in which we are called to “renew our relationship with the Creator and with creation, through celebration, conversion and commitment.” Whoever wrote that description really likes the letter ‘C.’ Today’s parable could well be Americans’ least favorite of all time. The vineyard owner in this story pays workers the same wage, regardless of how long each worked or how hard. For many, this offends our cherished principle that hard work should be rewarded amply. We might well agree with the worker who grumbles, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” Ye
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The Unexpected Harvest

Deacon Ned Berghausen Holy Family Catholic Church July 22/23, 2023 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072323.cfm   [Modified Gospel Reading: short form with mustard seed parable from long form] Good evening.  I’m Ned Berghausen, a permanent deacon at St. Agnes Catholic Church.  Thank you, Fr. George and Holy Family parishioners, for welcoming me, Fr. Dismas, and members of the St. X class of 1998 to your Saturday night liturgy.    Tonight, my St. X High School class of is celebrating our 25 th anniversary of graduation.  Many of my classmates are here with their families before heading down to the other end of Poplar Level to celebrate.  This homily will be addressed to everyone in this assembly.  The Bible is a strange book. It contains a wild patchwork of genres mashed together.  Amidst the narratives, poetry, law codes, and myths, is one type of text a reader might not expect to encounter in Holy Scripture: very specific instructions on farming,
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Jeremiad and the Sparrow

  Deacon Ned Berghausen St. Agnes June 24/25, 2023 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062523.cfm If the psalm prays, pray. If it laments, lament. If it rejoices, rejoice. If it hopes, hope. If it fears, fear. For everything which is written here is a reflection of us.  St. Augustine. There is one book of the Bible that we hear at almost every single mass, both on Sundays and at daily mass with the exception of only four days of the year [where we hear canticles].   It is the longest book of the Bible.   Do you know what it is?   It’s the Book of Psalms.   Today we heard Psalm 69 which we sung together, led by our cantor [name], in between our first and second reading.   It’s sometimes easy to miss or forget that these songs are Scripture, just as much as the other readings and the Gospel.   When we approach the Bible, we may think of it primarily in terms of narrative stories, law codes and rule books, parables and proverbs, but Scripture is as mu
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Peter’s Kerygma and the Voice of the Shepherd

St. Agnes Catholic Church 4th Sunday in Easter Cycle A Apr 29 & 30, 2023 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/043023.cfm Ten years ago, Kate and I travelled to Rome and the Vatican for our honeymoon.  We spent a couple days exploring St. Peter’s Basilica, which as I am sure you know is the biggest church in the world, located in Vatican City where the pope lives and the global Catholic Church is centered.   We signed up for a special tour that took us deep into the necropolis underneath St. Peter’s Basilica. The great church was built onto what used to be a cemetery on Vatican Hill on the spot where St. Peter was martyred. It takes about an hour to explore this subterranean cemetery.  The ground slowly rises until you come to an ancient tomb, which is marked by a very simple monument that is scrawled with Greek graffiti saying, “this is Peter.” In the center, is a simple, transparent box containing the very bones of Peter.   As we ascended back to the floor of the main churc
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Discerning the Devil’s Voice

St. Agnes Catholic Church February 25/26 1st Sunday of Lent https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022623.cfm Good evening / morning, St. Agnes, and a blessed beginning of Lent. On Martin Luther King weekend, a group of St. Agnes parishioners from the St. Thea Bowman Society visited Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic church, a predominately Black parish on the West End. My six-year-old son EJ was with me. In the lobby were numerous posters of Dr. King in honor of the occasion, but there was also a permanent framed poster on the wall there.  It was titled, “the Fork in the Road” and it shows a man and a woman standing at a crossroads.  On one side is a leafy green pathway reading to Jesus, wreathed in a rainbow and clouds with his arms extended in invitation.  On the other half of the image, is a desolate path, enveloped in storm clouds and lightning.  At the end top is an ominous figure with a death’s-head and horns.  Just like Jesus, his arms are extended in invitation.  EJ kept com
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