Foot-washer

2nd Sunday of Lent   Cycle C March 12/13 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031322.cfm Three weeks ago, a group of more than twenty St. Agnes and six Good Shepherd parishioners visited Christ the King parish on 44 th Street in our city’s West End.   Christ the King is one of four predominately Black Catholic parishes in our city.   Our visit was a continuation of a program called “Moving Towards Oneness” that partnered several of our parishioners with others from Christ the King and Good Shepherd this year. During Lent we are called to go unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable places and to respond, in the words of our Lenten theme for this year, “I must go.”   Last week, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert.  This week the Holy Spirit appears in a stranger guise—a bright cloud that overwhelms the three disciples, Peter, James, and John, that accompany Jesus to the top of Mt. Tabor.  The journey to Christ the King did not have as ...

  Today we celebrate Mercy Day, which is a day dedicated to Mary.   One of her many titles is “Our Lady of Mercy.”   Mary was a Model of Mercy for Catherine McAuley.   By a happy accident, Catherine opened her House of Mercy on the feast day of Our Lady of Mercy, September 24.  This House of Mercy on Baggot Street in Dublin was a place that educated the ignorant, especially women, housed the homeless, and healed the sick. It was and is a place of welcome, symbolized by a striking red door.    Nine more Houses of Mercy would open in Ireland—Tullamore, Charleville, Carlow, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Birr, Kingstown and Booterstown—and  many more around the world. Following Communion, we will recognize several people in the community of Assumption who model Mercy, following the examples of Mary, Catherine and the Sisters of Mercy.  I would like to tell you about a person in my own life who models mercy, my mom, Karen Cassidy.  Throu...

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time   Cycle B Feb 13/14, 2021 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021421.cfm . Happy Valentine’s Weekend / Day, St. Agnes.   Or if you prefer, Happy Singles Awareness Day!   Also, happy last weekend of the Carnival, Mardi Gras season. I am going to pose two questions to you this evening / morning.   They are: What is your definition of the Church? What did Jesus intend the Church to be?             You may not have a quick answer for these two questions.   I would definitely encourage you to explore them after mass today.   You do talk about the homily after mass, right?   I sent my high school sophomores out last month to interview five different people in their community, including family and friends, a child, an elder, and a teacher. Some were believers, others nonbelievers. They posed these two questions.   Two of the most frequent responses were: the Church is a building or a ...

January 24, 2021 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012421.cfm   If you ever visit the city of Venice in Italy, you will see a peculiar sight.     Flying  from flag poles all over the city, is a red and yellow flag with a huge image of a winged lion holding a book in its paw.     As it turns out, this is the flag of Veneto, the province that Venice is in.       The lion represents St. Mark, the evangelist who wrote the second Gospel.  You see, twelve hundred years ago, a group of clever and crafty Venetians travelled to Alexandria in Egypt.  Once there, they stole the body of St. Mark and snuck his remains away in a barrel covered in produce and took him back to Venice.  Then the Doge of Venice built a giant, glorious basilica called, of course, “St Mark’s” with an altar over his remains, and the city has showed off their great Christian pedigree by flying their St. Mark flag everywhere.  And they t...

  29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Oct 17/18, 2020 Somehow, in the great providence of God, our readings for mass today are the famous “render unto Caesar” Gospel passage.  With 17/ 16 days to go in our presidential election, what on earth does God have to say to us about politics and civic engagement in the midst of this chaotic, stressful, and divisive election year?   Much ink has been spilled and many sermons given on Catholics’ faithful citizenship and participation in our democracy.  In my reading and prayer preparation for today, however, I began to feel that “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” is not the important part of Jesus’ response, even though those are the words we remember and quote.  The critical words here are from the second half, “render unto God what is God’s.”   How often do we give Caesar more than his due?  How often do we give Caesar what belongs to God?    [Reminder of the...