Foot-washer

  Bellarmine University  Our Lady of the Woods Chapel Easter Sunday https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033124.cfm    Happy Easter, Bellarmine.  Christ is risen today, Allelulia.  The Easter eggs came out two weeks early in our house this year.  My wife, Kate, brought them out of the basement to get ready for our egg hunt.  Our four kids started to play with them before the Easter bunny could fill them.  Max, one of our four-year old triplets, pulled out this egg here and brought it to me early on Saturday morning (while I was still in bed).   I’m not sure if you can see this well, but this yellow and orange egg has three crosses on it: the cross of Christ and those of the two thieves.  Max said to me, “look Dad!” pointing to Christ’s cross, “Jesus died here.” Then he popped the egg open and said, “it’s empty inside.”  But then he looked a little closer and said, “there’s the sun in there!”  Sun spelled s-u-n....

  St. Agnes Catholic Church  March 2/3 3rd Sunday of Lent  https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030324-YearA.cfm  As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. It is you I seek! For my body yearns, my soul thirsts for God, the living God (Psalm 42:2-3a, 63:2). My high school students have a very strange problem.  [pause for dramatic effect].  They are overhydrated.  I know you are familiar with dehydration.  It may sound strange to hear that a person could be overhydrated, but I see my students carrying around large water bottles at all times—Stanley cups, Camelbacks, Yetis—which they are constantly draining and refilling.  Consequently, they can hardly sit for whole class period without needing to visit the restroom.  And on the way, they refill their water bottles.  This situation would be utterly alien to the people of Jesus’ world, who experienced water scarcity when wandering in the Sinai desert, an...

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012824.cfm Discerning the Spirits When I was a child attending this church on Sundays with my family, I always looked up at the high altar in the sanctuary. I wondered what the heck the big stone things were on the corners up there. Were they gargoyles? Sphynxes? I couldn’t tell from where we sat in the middle of the church. Do you know what they are? [pause] Angels! There are little baby faces faced at a diagonal angle. The rest of their figures are wings with no bodies. Whoever designed this church really liked angels. I’m going to give you fifteen seconds to take a look and see how many you notice [pause]. I am quite sure that if I don’t tell you right now how many angels there are, you will spend the rest of my homily trying to count them and won’t hear a thing I say, so let me tell you. By my count, there are 50 angels: eight are on the high altar and the tabernacle, including two inside the tabernacle ...

Merry Christmas, Bellarmine. Since we are here in Our Lady of the Woods Chapel the university, I thought it would be appropriate to preach about trees tonight. The Christmas tree has become a central symbol of the holiday.   Bellarmine has a beautiful, evergreen up on the quad that’s at least 50 feet tall.   Every Advent, it is strung up with lights and the university hosts a lighting event every year in late November.   Kate and I have taken our kids there the last few years.   We have some wonderful pictures of our kids’ faces lit up by both the lights and with joy at looking at the tree.   Last year, our oldest, EJ, got to help Dr. Donovan flip the magic switch that illuminated the tree.   It’s well known that German pagans worshipped oak trees before they became Christians and this might have something to do with the tradition.   However, they rapidly transformed the Christmas tree into a symbol of Christ, who is ever green. Who is a source o...

Deacon Ned Berghausen St. Agnes Catholic Church September 23/24, 2023 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102923.cfm I have a younger brother who says the words, “I love you” very frequently.   At the end of any conversation or verbal exchange, no matter how brief, he will say it.   He called me once for clarification on driving directions—whether to take a right or a left turn.   “Got it. Thanks, Ned.   I love you.” Back when Kate and I were first dating, very early in our relationship, as in maybe 3 weeks—I introduced her to Joe.   And he told her, “I love you.”   This was before I had even said those words to her!   Which was awkward and hilarious. When you ask him, Joe isn’t embarrassed.   He says it’s really important that people these hear these words and know that they’re meant.   He says, “You never know when you might see or talk to a person for the last time.”   I love that. Our topic in...

Deacon Ned Berghausen St. Agnes Catholic Church September 23/24, 2023 25rd Sunday of Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090422.cfm Good evening / morning St. Agnes and guests. Thank you for joining us for this mass celebrating the Season of Creation. This liturgical period, which runs from September 1st to October 4th, is a time in which we are called to “renew our relationship with the Creator and with creation, through celebration, conversion and commitment.” Whoever wrote that description really likes the letter ‘C.’ Today’s parable could well be Americans’ least favorite of all time. The vineyard owner in this story pays workers the same wage, regardless of how long each worked or how hard. For many, this offends our cherished principle that hard work should be rewarded amply. We might well agree with the worker who grumbles, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” Ye...

Holy Family Catholic Church 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072323.cfm   [Modified Gospel Reading: short form with mustard seed parable from long form] Tonight, my St. X High School class of is celebrating our 25 th anniversary of graduation.  Many of my classmates are here with their families before heading down to the other end of Poplar Level to celebrate.     The Bible is a strange book. It contains a wild patchwork of genres mashed together.  Amidst the narratives, poetry, law codes, and myths, is one type of text a reader might not expect to encounter in Holy Scripture: very specific instructions on farming, including rules about what can and can’t be planted together in one field. After reading these instructions, we might think of the Bible as an Old Farmer’s Almanac.  Maybe a ‘very old’ and ‘holy’ Farmer’s Almanac for the people of Israel. Jesus’ parables today, then, would be very surprising to his l...