Fourteenth Sunday of the Year Homily
FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR 9 July 2017 Homily We went to elementary school together. I don’t get to see him much but our meetings set up comparisons–mile markers in my life. If I had chosen a different life, this is what it could look like. The last time we met, it was over dinner. He spoke about walking in on his wife and another man –in his own bedroom. I can only imagine how hard that must have been. Hard because of course this was his second marriage. After the first he swore he’d never let anyone get that close again. He did, and then for this to happen again. Well, it...
Read MoreTwelfth Sunday of the Year Homily
TWELFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR 25 June 2017 HOMILY Almost 20 years ago now a former student offered to take a group of us on a boat trip up and down the St. Croix. My good friend Mike came along. Several other former students also took the trip. It was a good reunion and also a sad one. The students who used to be very active in the church no longer went to church. We were on the river for about an hour when the former student who had organized the trip blanched white. I was sitting next to him and asked, “What’s wrong?” And then, the engine stopped. “Well,” I said, try restarting it.”...
Read MoreCorpus Christi Homily
FEAST OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST 18 June 2017 Homily My good friend Mike spent four years getting his doctorate in Rome at San Anselmo. While he was there I was able to go over twice and do some touring. I have to admit that while I was there I did conclude the best thing about Rome is the food. I know it’s supposed to be the church or the art or something like that, but it’s the food. While Mike was ther e, since he was studying liturgy, he made it a point to experience the great liturgies of the different rites. In some cases he didn’t know much about what he was experiencing and...
Read MoreSixth Sunday of Easter Homily
SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER 21 May 2017 Homily “If you love me…..” Those words from Jesus in the gospel are haunting They are words which put all of us on our guard? They come from our spouses: “If you love me, you would……” From our parents–no matter how old we are: “If you don’t want to disappoint us you would…..” From our friends, again more often implied but still there: “If you were really my friend you would…..” “If you love me……” In most cases, we do love the people who make such statements to us. And yet we all experience this need to be reminded...
Read MoreFifth Sunday of Easter Homily
FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER 14 May 2017 Homily I didn’t intend to wake up to watch John Paul II’s funeral in the middle of the night. I did though. Accidently. Like many people I was moved by the simplicity of his casket sitting there on the ground in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. This man used to be the most powerful person in the church. There he was, in a simple wooden box, on the ground. His funeral in the end, even though it was attended by the great and powerful, was really not much different than the funeral that anyone of us might have. There is a lesson there. It’s a hard lesson for...
Read MoreFourth Sunday of Easter Homily
FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER 7 May 2017 Homily I have a friend who moved into a “gentrified” neighborhood in St. Paul. It was one of those areas of the city which had basically fallen apart, the government came in and claimed the houses for back taxes and then sold them cheaply. One catch. You had to live in them. My friend who is a college professor bought one of these homes. It was still a “bad” neighborhood when she moved in and started fixing up her home. It was an attractive place when she got through with it. And it was the perfect place for her to display the art she had collected all her...
Read MoreThird Sunday of Easter Homily
THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER 30 April 2017 First Eucharist I am always struck by how the scriptures can come alive– How something that happens in my life, the life of those around me, can suddenly make sense. Several years ago I got a letter which made me see the gospel today in a way I’d never seen it before. Two things to notice about this familiar story: First, these two disciples had really given up on two things–Jesus and the community of believers. They were running away from both. Second, once the two disciples had decided to leave the community it was very hard for them to recognize...
Read MoreSecond Sunday of Easter Homily
SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER 23 April 2017 Homily Thirty Five years ago this spring I buried by great Aunt. She was the last of her generation. All of us who gathered for her funeral were very much aware that with her death we lost our last living link with the “Old Country.” My grandfather, his brothers and one sister all came here from Poland. They were the ones who kept alive for us our connection with Poland. As a young child I remember sitting through family gatherings hearing stories of the Old Country. Stories about fruit trees that lined the way into town, about the faith of...
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