Deep Calls to Deep 23rd Sunday Ordinary Time – Jesus’ Odd Journey – Geography as Spiritual Theology
Not only did Jesus travel to these places – what we take as an historical travelogue – but the author of the second gospel sets a layer of connections between his Greek text, within his Greek text, and with the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible). Thus, Tyre is not just an ancient […]
23rd Sunday Ordinary Time – Jesus’ Odd Journey – Geography is Symbolic
Imagine a slide show or a set of photos on Instagram of Jesus trip (Mark 5-7). Jesus waterskis across the Sea of Galilee, encounters the wild man in the tombs, heals him, wild man goes off to the Decapolis (the Ten Cities) to proclaim the good Jesus did for him in freeing him from “Legion,” […]
Jesus Speaks with Authority – TUES 22nd Week of Ordinary Time
Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with […]
The Folly of God. The Folly of Creation. The Folly of the Cross.
At today’s community Mass, Fr. Phil Rossi, SJ preached about the foolishness of God as seen in the gift of creation. The incarnation expressed that same gift and came to fruition in the folly of the cross we get to deal with today. Here are some verses from today’s first reading Phil referred to: Has […]
The First Stage of Grief is Anger & Blame…
Ten days ago (20th Sunday of Ordinary Time), I responded to the new allegations of sexual abuse by Cardinal McCarrick and of over three hundred priests in Pennsylvania in my homily. On that Sunday, we heard Jesus talk about eating his body and drinking his blood to have eternal life. Priests, bishops, and cardinals all […]
20th Sunday Ordinary Time – Bread of Life & Bread of Sorrow
Especially this part of Sunday’s gospel (below) revealed dissonance between Jesus’ words and the painful allegations against priests and bishops from the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report given earlier in the week. Ouch. “…Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the […]
19th Sunday Ordinary Time – Eating & Life; Seeing & Believing
It would be good to look at Jesus’ saying, “I am the Bread of Life,” in relationship to the other “I Am” sayings in the gospel of John. The Fourth Gospel situates the person of Jesus at the center of a prism, at the heart of a large web of relationships. Everything refracts the mystery […]
19th Sunday Ordinary Time – “Are you ready to Grumble!”
I apologize for my hiatus of nearly two months. Between moving, visiting family, weddings, and moving in (still an ongoing project), I took myself off the grid for a bit. Let me start things off with this less-than-ten-minute version of my homily from last weekend. I deal with this, the first verse of this second […]
11th Sunday Ordinary Time – Audio Recap
I complete my move this afternoon. If you know me, you know I fret & get busy about many things. Me & Martha. Whatever the case, I believe this homily had some good stuff in it. Perhaps it will speak to you! “On the Road Again…” In interpreting the second parable, that of the mustard […]
10th Sunday Ordinary Time – Kinship in Christ…
I’m sore distracted these days packing & moving. Permit me to post, please, my homily from 2 1/2 weeks ago about Jesus’ family thinking he’s crazy and wanting to talk to him: “Who are my mother and sister and brother? Those who hear and do the will of God are mother and sister and brother […]
Deep Calls to Deep 