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 ...

  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...

Ash Wednesday Reflection. A reflection for an all school prayer service at Mercy Academy on  Feb 18, 2015.   What if you knew that you were going to die tomorrow? This last week we have gone through a riot of colors: red, lacy and a million shades of … pink for Valentine’s Day.   On Monday, a huge blanket of white enveloped us over what has turned into a longer-than-expected winter break.   Today brings us new colors, the purple of Lent (which is a symbol of repentance) and the dusty grey-black of ashes.     Ash Wednesday and Lent call us to remember our own mortality.   They are a reminder of the stark fact that we all, each one of us, are going to die.   If you are a teenager, you may not have given this much thought. You can be excused for feeling like you’re going to live forever. I sincerely hope that you don’t have much experience of death at your age.   It is worth considering, though, that how ever long your life is, it w...