4 th Sunday of Advent Cycle C Dec 18/19, 2021 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121921.cfm I have a cousin who was born one week after me. I always think of him when I hear this story of Mary’s visitation to her relative Elizabeth when they were both pregnant. In fact, at his wedding reception, I gave a toast saying that I liked to imagine that I leapt for joy in my mother’s womb when we first met. Patrick is my first cousin, the son of my mom’s sister, and he is my oldest friend. Though I am a week older, it is only because I was premature by a month. He was expected to be born first. My hurry to enter the world made me the first grandchild in our family—which has been a source of much gentle rivalry and teasing throughout our lives. Having a cousin so close in age is like having another brother. Almost a twin. First a so-called “belly buddy,” then a “brother from a different mother.” Every year at...
These posts are the collected homilies of Deacon Ned Berghausen, permanent deacon of the Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, assigned to St. Agnes Catholic Church. The title "Foot Washer" refers to the Last Supper (John 13:1-20) in which Jesus washed the feet of the apostles and challenged them, "“Do you realize what I have done for you? If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow."