Epiphany V 2023
If you came and said to me, "Father, I have a passion to become a master blacksmith", and I told you that you need to be prepared for five hard years of humiliation and failure before you even begin to see much success, and then you get started, and in the first month you are shocked at how hard it is to do anything resembling skill, you will either give
Epiphany IV 2023
Do you think Peter understood what awaited him when Jesus said "Follow Me" and Peter followed Him? How about Matthew, Andrew, James and John? Perhaps St. Paul had a slight indication that he wasn't going to club Med when Jesus knocked him off his horse and blinded him but it wasn't till after he said yes that Jesus showed him all the things he must suffer
Epiphany III 2023
It does not really matter what is going on circumstantially- If we know that we are pleasing to God, even if the waves rage, there will be peace within. But if we doubt, if we are in the throws of shame and dubiety, then even the thrill of hitting all the green lights is not going to be satisfying for long.
Epiphany II 2023
Among all the things John is communicating to us in the story of the wedding at Cana, he is depicting the Woman, the Mother of the Living One in her role as confident and at peace with herself and what she had to do. And she gives a command, not just to the servants, but to us all: "Whatever he tells you, do it"
Epiphany I 2023
We want to live, and to live to the fullest, and if we are not pressing on toward that high calling we will never feel contentment. It is no news to us that this is not easy, that there are many distractions, assaults, and offers of Turkish delight to draw us off course.
The Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord 2023
The event we celebrate this day runs counter to modern sensibilities- feast of the what? Some may ask. The Roman Catholics discarded it in their liturgical reforms as they got with the times- but we still celebrate, if with a wince, the circumcision of the God Child and Savior of the Human race Jesus Christ.
Christmas Day 2022
When we are enveloped by the power of God’s love in Christ, by what he has done for us, by our freedom and glory then all of the present sufferings will be as nothing to us. Sure, there are times to mourn and grieve in this life but it never eclipses the deep abiding presence of Joy and Peace because we know, we know deeply and feel the reality that this
Advent IV 2022
Christs first coming which inaugurated the age of perpetual coming, which age we are in, is the age of mercy for sinners. As long as we are in this age, there is still opportunity to respond to the Evite- the call for repentance which is the prerequisite for entry is still being sounded.
Advent III 2022
Advent I 2022
I suppose folks just don't want to think about the Judgment, it's so unpleasant and negative, while the birth of the Holy Babe is so sweet and joyful. But this is to misunderstand both the Judgment and the Birth. The Birth in fact begins with the great kenosis, the divine humiliation. Talk about negativity- He crossed the infinite divide, and went down.