Foot-washer

                        Feast of Christ the King Nov 21 & 22, 2020 What is your spirit animal?  Maybe you are familiar with the concept of ‘spirit animals.’  It originally came from the Lakota tradition of spiritual quests in which an animal spirit guide accompanies a teenaged seeker in a coming-of-age ritual.  It has entered into America pop culture.  People choose and animal they identify with or whose qualities they really like.  My spirit animal is a grizzly bear.  The animal for my four-year-old son EJ is a tyrannosaurus rex.     Many people choose a fierce animal—one that might be at home as the name of an NFL team.  A big cat—Lions, Panthers, Bengal Tigers,  Jaguars.  Or a bird of prey—Falcons, Eagles, Seahawks.  You get the idea.     Jesus has a spirit animal, too.  Can you...

  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...

 An incomplete homily for the  Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020 (September 13). This would have been my first homily, but I abandoned it for being too dark for my inaugural.  The story about my friend and the skull is a bit... much.  Maybe I will find the right audience or work it in some place else.  https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091320.cfm In the first reading, we hear Joshua Ben Sirach say, “remember death and decay, and cease from sin!”  This is a repeated line in this unfamiliar Wisdom Book of the Hebrew Scriptures.  Elsewhere Sirach writes, “In whatever you do, remember your last days and you will never sin” (7:36).  Saint Benedict, the famous monk, was probably inspired by this line in his Rule.  He poignantly wrote, “Keep death daily before your eyes” (4:47). I know a man who lived as a monk in Rome for several years.   One day several of his monastic brothers were digging in the monastery’s garden when they ...

Homily for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 12 & 13, 2020)   How often must I forgive? --I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.       During the pandemic this year, I’ve been quarantined at home with my family, like many of you.  I am married and the father of four young children all four years old or younger.  In one of our rare bits of free time, my wife and I watched the musical  Hamilton,  which was released on TV around the 4 th  of July.      I see this musical as very timely for our current moment in history and for our Gospel reading in which Christ calls us to limitless forgiveness and mercy for our brothers and sisters. Let me describe a climactic scene to you from the musical.   Two men stand ten paces across from each other, each pointing a dueling pistol at the other.  They are in a the midst of a wooded ledge overlooking the Hudson River. It is dawn ...

 

 On April 15 on this year (2019), the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris burst into flames.  As the fire was blazing on the roof of this remarkable church, imperiling the entire structure and the life anyone who entered, the chaplain of the Paris fire brigade, Father Jean-Marc Fournier, rushed in.  I want to share with you in his own words what he did and why: As soon as I arrived, there were two things that it struck me as absolutely essential to recover: firstly, the invaluable treasure that is the Crown of Thorns, then, of course, Jesus, present in the Blessed Sacrament.   Everyone understands that the Crown of Thorns is this precious, extraordinary relic, but the Blessed Sacrament is our Lord made flesh... you'll understand it's difficult to see someone you love perish in flames. He describes standing alone in the cathedral "surrounded by flames, fire and smoldering objects falling from the ceiling" as he rescued this relic and the consecrated Eucharist. [1] ...

  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...