Homily stories

3 Feb 2013

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Prophet motives

You can hear other echoes of the prophets in Christ’s ministry. When at Zeraphath, Elijah met a widow and her son and multiplied their grain and oil so they could survive; when the son died anyway,

27 Jan 2013

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

The annointed ones

"Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.” That line, delivered by the character of Reverend Sykes in To Kill a Mockingbird, is one of the most moving passages in a novel filled with affecting moments.

20 Jan 2013

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Water no longer

LUKE’S story of Jesus turning water into wine is so rich with suggestion that it is almost intoxicating itself. Jesus at a wedding, laughing, dancing with joy. The strange request of Mary. That today’s gospel in some calendars once ushered us over the threshold into ordinary time with Mary’s words, “Do whatever he tells you.”

13 Jan 2013

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Cycle C

Your presence is requested

Sacraments have always been communal events. Luke sets the scene of Jesus’ Baptism by first describing the crowd:

6 Jan 2013

Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, Cycle C

A "dive-ine" celebration

TARPON SPRINGS, Florida, northwest of Tampa, has the largest per capita concentration of Greek-Americans in the U.S. Around the turn of the last century its sponge-fishing industry attracted Greek immigrants to work as sponge-divers—some of whom would go down as many as 150 feet on one breath.

30 Dec 2012

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Cycle C

Keep your balance

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of a busy downtown sidewalk, a little boy was walking very carefully on a long colored stone inlaid in the pavement—as if it were a balance beam, though he couldn’t “fall” off.

23 Dec 2012

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

Hospitable visiting hours

A DAY or so after my mother died, my sister- and brother-in-law appeared at my door with a pecan pie. For the next couple of hours, we sat in the kitchen, ate pie, drank tea, and shared memories of our mothers. I was genuinely moved and grateful for their thoughtfulness (pecan pie is a favorite), kindness, and gift of time.

16 Dec 2012

Third Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

Life’s little elations

In an unusual moment of foresight and planning, I ordered a $10 blonde wig online well in advance of Halloween for a costume my young daughter was planning to wear. When the wig arrived, I handed the package to my daughter to open.

9 Dec 2012

Second Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

Do go there!

THE ADVENT journey invites us to trust God who leads us and fills in and levels the dark valleys ahead. In his Testament, Saint Francis of Assisi wrote: “When I was in my sins, just to see lepers was very bitter for me. And the Lord himself took me among them, and I showed mercy to them. And on leaving them, what seemed bitter to me had turned for me into sweetness of body and soul.”

2 Dec 2012

First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

Front row for the Apocalypse

The Valley of Hinnom swings along the western and southern sides of Jerusalem and meets the Valley of Kidron to the east. In ancient times Hinnom got a reputation as a nasty place of garbage-burning and sacrifices to pagan gods and thus was the inspiration for Gehenna—Hell (Ge-Hinnom).