Deep Calls to Deep The Place & the Case – Audio Homily for Transfiguration
[Three booths at the base of Denali, 2013 – Roc O’Connor, SJ photographer] This first homily summarizes broadly what you saw here Monday & Wednesday – the place and the case. How cool is that! Tomorrow I will post homily #2 which deals with The Face and The Case. Blessings today! –roc,sj
The Parables of the Kingdom II – The Weeds and Wheat
Punch line: “How do we pray in a divided world in a divided country with divided hearts?” Another way to put it is, “Why don’t ‘they’ resist the gospel?” Better, “Why do we hesitate to receive the gospel fully? Why do we hold back?” This parable in chapter thirteen of Matthew deals with all these […]
16th Sunday Ordinary Time – An Hospitable Beginning
This week’s gospel will challenge gardeners who compulsively pull weeds and perfectionists who obsess about ordering every inch of space. Killjoy warning: It’s about not pulling up weeds. So, let’s ease into it all. The Greek verb that introduces the parable of the weeds & wheat (plus two others) literally sets the table for us […]
15th Sunday Ordinary Time – “The evil one snatches away…”
Translating Matthew 13:19 opens a can of worms. How ought we translate the Greek, ponerós? Here’s what the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) does with it in the context of the Parable of the Sower. The NRSV translates the word as “evil one” in a couple other places, too. Yet, ponerós seems to refer to realities other than […]
14th Sunday Ordinary Time – Give a Listen…
I thought I would post my homily from Sunday today. There may be other studies to post, but this will sum up what I would write about. Questions? Please post. Blessings!–roc,sj
14th Sunday Ordinary Time – Seeking & Finding
I was quite surprised to weigh the value of the verb, “to find,” heurisko. It draws so many themes in Matthew together into a network that adds insight to this passage from Sunday’s gospel. Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle & humble in […]
14th Sunday Ordinary Time – “Come to me, all who are weary…”
I’ll lead into the post of my homily by highlighting two key words that I found just fascinatingly different from what I expected. Here is the first. “Come to me…” The Greek, deuete, is most often translated, “Come!” There is one exception that seems interesting and that leads into an informed guess… Matthew 4:18f […]
Thoughts on Independence Day…
God, I’m grateful for the beautiful land, 50 states of remarkable grandeur. I thank you for our founders who established the ideals of democracy, a new impulse in human history which began to be made real in 1776. I offer thanks for the many peoples who have come to the U.S. from so many nations, […]
O’Connor Memorial Day #28
Today my family remembers our mother, Mary Elizabeth, who died on on this date in 1989 from pneumonia, bone cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. She was weeks short of turning 63. Looking back, she was the delightful, beautiful, and wounded woman who passed on to us the frailties and strengths of her side of the family. […]
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.
Deep Calls to Deep 