Homilies
Sunday’s Readings: Exodus 17:3-7; Psalms 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4:5-42 OR 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42
……from your Pastor’s Desk – The Gospel Reading tells the story of a woman who is worthless by the standards of Jewish society at that time. Jesus has sent his disciples off for food, and he is sitting at a well when she comes to draw water. There is every reason why he shouldn’t talk to her at all. …
Sunday’s Readings: Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalms 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10; Matthew 17:1-9
……from your Pastor’s Desk – Transfiguration – This week we have the wonderful gospel of the Transfiguration of Jesus. For one brief moment, his disciples are allowed to see what lies ahead for all who follow his way. …
Sunday’s Readings: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Psalms 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17; Romans 5:12-19 OR 5:12, 17-19; Matthew 4:1-11
……from your Pastor’s Desk – “Where have all the Flowers gone?” – A few years ago, it used to be fashionable at this time of the year in certain circles to say to people “Have a happy Lent!” I must say that I was guilty of it myself! I stopped saying it because I think that it made the penitential season of Lent sound just like Easter season which really is the proper liturgical time for great rejoicing. …
Sunday’s Readings: Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18; Psalms 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13; 1 Corinthians 3:16-23; Matthew 5:38-48
……from your Pastor’s Desk – This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Holy Season of Lent – the time we change our lives for the better in preparation for the Most Holy of days – Easter Sunday. This raises a yearly question for each of us. What should I give up for Lent? Or, perhaps, what should I take on? Preferably – both! To make a more well-informed decision, I think it best to first address WHY we should do either – or both. …
Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 58:7-10; Psalms 112:4-5, 6-7, 8-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16
……from your Pastor’s Desk – Following Jesus – In the Gospels of the last four Sundays we have been following the story of Jesus’ early career. He went to be baptized. Then he moved to Capernaum from Galilee when John the Baptist was killed, and there he chose his apostles (who somehow knew him as the one to follow). Last Sunday we heard part of his “inaugural address,” the beatitudes. Now he begins to instruct the disciples about how to be his followers. …
Sunday’s Readings: Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13; Psalms 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12a
……from your Pastor’s Desk – Seek The Lord – At the very beginning of this day’s readings, we are told to seek the Lord. And then, gratefully, we are told how to do that. Both readings, the psalm and the Gospel, all come together to give a definition of how to seek the Lord. We seek the Lord by seeking justice and righteousness, by seeking peace, by seeking humility. This we know. This we have heard every year when the Gospel is about the ‘Beatitudes’. …
Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; Psalms 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34
……from your Pastor’s Desk – John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Junior. To some of us reading this, these names bring back memories of personal experiences during the turbulent times of the sixties and seventies; the start of the Civil Rights Movement, the Catholic Worker Houses and the beginning of the changes that are still in process today to make this country one of equality for all people. …
Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalms 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13; Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12
……from your Pastor’s Desk – Three Magi, Three Gifts for the Child-King – If I asked you to think of the three worst things you ever did in your life, even if you didn’t want to admit them, you could come up with them pretty quickly – certainly one of them – instantly. Now – If I asked you to think of the three best things you have ever done in your life (other than marriage and children) it would take a great deal more time. …