Deep Calls to Deep Ascension Thursday-on-Sunday (2)
Here is the audio version of my homily from the feast of the Ascension. Besides the presence/absence (connection/abandonment) paradox, I also take up the tension between openness and resistance to Christ’s ascension. The context: the baptism of little Charlotte.
Ascension Thursday-on-Sunday (!)
Here is what I wrote for the Gesu bulletin for this feast. I like it, anyway. Let me know what you think. For a few years not that long ago, I began to think of the feast of the Ascension as a celebration of abandonment, being left in the lurch, or Arnold saying, “I’ll […]
5th of Easter – Mothers’ Day, Infant Baptism, & the Place of Encounter
The community at the 9 am Mass of the Church of the Gesu welcomed two 3 month-old baby girls into the faith of the Church – Nora & Quinn. What might “preparing a place” mean to the couples who undertake the religious formation of their daughters? Here’s a thought. Or two.
5th of Easter – Mothers’ Day & the Place of Encounter
Happy Mother’s Day to all who so celebrate today! It seems to me that moms give so much and probably don’t receive enough back from those whom they love. For any moms whose approach to life resembles mine – there is NEVER enough – this is for you. The gospel of John, I propose, speaks first […]
4th of Easter – Audio homily (finally)
Perhaps these 13 minutes can help you prepare for Sunday’s gospel. Or help reflect on last week’s gospel about Jesus, the gate for the sheepfold.
4th of Easter – Desire & Locked Doors
Seems to me that what we humans desire most is connection – acceptance, approval, love, welcome, hope, and such. Why does it seem many either don’t really pursue our deeper desires or we find other things to fill that connection? Case in point – The disciples locked the doors (gates) yet Jesus stood among them and spoke to […]
4th of Easter – The Deeper Desire
We are told that the deeper or deepest human desire is for God. I have had a goodly number of moments like that. On the other side of the scale, there’s been seemingly weeks, months, and years of other than that. What might it mean to search more attentively for this desire for God? It […]
4th of Easter – The Voices we hear / Good Shepherd? Strangers?
What does the voice of the Good Shepherd sound like? What differentiates the voice of the Shepherd from strangers? Jesus’ Voice = phoné John 10:3–5 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When […]
4th of Easter – Voices of Strangers and Shepherds…
Jesus made another attempt to get the attention of the Pharisees at the start of chapter ten in John. Recall he had a dust-up with them over the man born blind and then told them they were blind. Here, he tells them they are idolaters (“stranger’s voice” = “strange” gods before me…) and essentially false shepherds. Ezekiel […]
Retrospect to 2nd of Easter – Lost Audio
Yeah, I just got this audio file this week. It’s about, as you may recall, Jesus’ appearance to the disciples in what came to be the ‘safe environment’ of the room with the locked doors. It’s only within such a safe environment that we can face how we use others to shore up our fragile self-esteem. […]
Deep Calls to Deep 