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...

  Reflection on the Death (Transitus) of St. Francis. Offered at Our Lady of the Woods chapel at Bellarmine University on October 2, 2014.  Readings: https://www.franciscanpenancelibrary.com/transitus-of-saint-francis I have come to know St. Francis through the Franciscans here at Bellarmine and through reading about his life.   I would like to share some of the lessons that I have learned about his life and death. St. Francis teaches us how to die well.   If you were able to able to the Campus Ministry office today, you received a pot filled with Brother or Sister Plant.   This afternoon in the quad, the friars blessed our pets, which we call, “Brother Dog,” “Sister Cat,” or if you are my wife, “Sister Hermit Crab.”   This evening, as our prayer began, perhaps you noticed Sister Moon glowing down at us.   St. Francis praised God through all of these creatures and creations of God. Tonight we also recognize and commemorate the one that he ca...