FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
19 May 2019 The largest Sunday School bus ministry in America is not in the suburbs. It’s in Hell’s kitchen, NY. Pastor Bill Wilson tells the story of a Puerto Rican woman who came to him with an urgent request. She didn’t speak in English so she said in Spanish: “I want to do something for God, please.” The pastor didn’t know what to tell her. It was a good question, usually people want God to do something for them. “I don’t know he said. I”ll have to think about it.” Finally, it came to him, “You can ride the buses,” he said. “Each week get on a different bus and just love the...
Read MoreFOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
12 MAY 2019 For lots of reasons which have to do with the complications of family systems I never spent much time with my maternal grandfather. However, once when I was a small child we were visiting some distant relatives when my grandfather called. When he found out we were there he told us to wait, he’d be right over. When he arrived he was carrying a black lamb, just birthed. When someone asked him why he had shown up, he said: “I wanted my grandson here to see a baby lamb.” I got to hold that lamb and I suppose formed some kind of bond with it. I did not see my...
Read MoreTHIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER
5 May, 2019 Several years ago I went fishing with our music coordinator at Newman–Jeff Weishaar and a young man from Hatley who was the second person to be ordained–John McHugh John had just finished up his final year of studies in Rome and was waiting to be ordained. Now Jeff is a real sportsman–he hunts and fishes, walks the land in search of new conquests. John and I are not. For some reason the fish could tell that John and I did not know exactly what we were doing. They refused to come near our hooks. Jeff occasionally got a nibble. After...
Read MorePalm/Passion Sunday
04-14-2019 It was some time ago that I spent time with a dying man. He was heavily drugged to kill the pain but when he was lucid he told me stories about his life. He was the only and oldest son of six children. He had moved away from home, all the way across the country, while his sisters were quite young. And even though he came home for weddings and anniversaries, and a week each summer, he never really knew his sisters, they were strangers to each other. When he had gotten ill this last time his sisters had been called and told he was dying. They all came to him, and since he had no...
Read MoreThird Sunday of Lent
24 March 2019 Some of you will remember that on Ash Wednesday as we imposed ashes we first asked you a question: “Will you turn from sin and be faithful to the Gospel? We’ve been using that question ever since I came to St. Joe’s. I was introduced to that question by the pastor of my first assignment, John Heagle. On Ash Wednesday that first year we asked that question. An eighth grade boy came forward, I asked the question and got nothing but a blank stare. I asked again. The same stare. Then he got out of line but stood nearby as others came forward. He listened intently and then finally...
Read MoreEighth Sunday of the Year
3 March 2019 One Easter when I was in the seminary, I went to my good friend Mike’s house for dinner. His parents had just been divorced after 27 years of marriage. While his father would not be there his maternal grandmother would. When I first walked into the house I spotted her instantly, she commanded the room. I knew enough about Polish manners to go over instantly to her to show her respect. She nodded, but said nothing and then waved me away with her cane. I walked away and began speaking with others in the room. All the while I felt her watching me. Eventually, I sat down and...
Read MoreSeventh Sunday of the Year
24 February 2019 There are days I just feel like giving up. I suppose we all have days like that. There are days I look at the church and think, “2,000 years and we are still as petty, as mean, as incredibly self-centered, as we were when Jesus was here. Nothing has changed. We have not become the people Jesus called us to be–love your enemies, Do good to those who hate you. That seems such an impossibility. I thought about that a lot as I read through this gospel. Then I stumbled across this, A now somewhat famous prayer text left beside the body of a dead child at Ravensbruck–a...
Read MoreSixth Sunday of the Year
17 February 2019 As a transitional deacon I was assigned, for six months, to St. James Parish in Wausau. While I was there, I used to visit this elderly couple who were, I thought very poor. I’d take First Friday communion to them and always remember always feeling sorry for them. They lived in a ramshackle a three room affair–bedroom, combination kitchen/living room and bathroom. They were pleasant enough people though, easy to be with, and faith-filled especially as the man was dying of cancer. Frankly, I was quite touched by the two of them. Eventually, the man died. The day after his...
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