Deep Calls to Deep True Self, False Self, Soul????
As I learned from Ernest Becker’s review of 19th century psychology (Denial of Death, chapter 9), scientists opted for the term “self” to mean one’s history of neuroses going back to childhood that could be studied and understood as a path to happiness. 19th century science opposed religion pretty much at every point. Becker names this as […]
4th SUN LENT – Tug-o’-war with God
What are we to do about the tug-o’-war we play with God? Deny it? Accept it grudgingly? Red badge of courage? Name it for what it is? God pulls me toward living completely in trust and surrender. I pull God toward my will to make myself great. Yep. As best I can discern, I grew up […]
4th SUN LENT – Lenten Blindness / Homily Audio
Another reflection about flagging Lenten resolutions: Why do we give up on Lent? What happens when you commit to fast, give alms, or pray? What does this have to do with being blind – as seen in our gospel. My resolution: give away 8 things a week for a year. Tons of anxiety has […]
4th SUN LENT – Key to dealing with the gospel…
So, the blind man began to see. The Pharisees blindness was revealed and affirmed. Hmmm. It’s a story of the development of a disciple who relied on his experience and the resistance of the Pharisees that became entrenched. What is going on here? Seems to me that what we had heard earlier in John […]
4th SUN LENT – “How do I get there from here?”
“As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.” (John 9:1ff) Jesus simply acted. […]
LENT 3rd Week Friday – “Are We There Yet…?”
So, here we are on the 24th day of Lent. How long, O Lord!!! How goes your Lenten resolutions? By now, they should be dead in the water. Praying every day. Fasting. Almsgiving. Yep. Down the tubes. It’s time to feel defeated and remorseful. “I should have done better.” Minimize the failure, yet feel […]
3rd SUN LENT – “He told me everything I’ve ever done…”
She was thirsty. She went to the pit to draw water. Jesus, the fountain of living water was there, but she was not impressed. She had been coming to the pit for a long time. She didn’t know the water didn’t slake her thirst. Having five husbands revealed her inability to be nourished by anything […]
Fr. Don Driscoll, SJ – RIP 2007
It’s ten years today since Don died suddenly of a heart attack. He had served as chaplain to the College of Pharmacy at Creighton University for a number of years before. So many of his colleagues and students and friends and family and Jesuits remember him today with a huge sense of loss. Especially […]
3rd SUN LENT – Thirsty people…
We are thirsty people. Where do we go to slake our thirst? John’s gospel highlights this conundrum by using two different Greek words for “well.” …So [Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well [pēgē – ‘fountain’] was there, and […]
2nd SUN LENT – The only fear is…
One brief comment about fear – at the sound of the voice from the heavens, the disciples were overcome by fear; Jesus said, “Get up and be not afraid.” What kind of fear…? To fear, be afraid = akouo Matthew 17:6f When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and […]
Deep Calls to Deep 