Fr. Rick Spicer

Last weekend, the movie, Les Miserables, based on the novel by Victor Hugo, was showing at the Clyde Theater. I didn’t see it, but years ago, I did see the play and I was moved by its drama, which, like today’s readings, deals with new beginnings.

Jean Valjean was imprisoned for stealing a small loaf of bread to feed his niece. Paroled after 20 years of hard labor and brutal treatment, he is a bitter and broken man. He is desperate for work but no one would hire him. Cold and hungry, he is taken in by a kind bishop. That night, Valjean steals the bishop’s silver plate, but soon he is arrested. The police bring him to the bishop’s home and ask the bishop to identify the thief and his silver. Indeed, it is his silver, the bishop says but then he explains that he gave Valjean the silver. He thanks the police for bringing Valjean to him because he was concerned that his guest had forgotten to take the silver candlesticks as well.

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5th Sunday of Ordinary TimeRead More »

Forty years ago, I began graduate studies in deaf education at UW. My first course that summer was anatomy of speech and hearing, which I presumed would be just that. I was surprised to discover that the course also covered the muscles of the abdomen and the interaction that takes place among the different parts of the body which make both functions of hearing and speech possible. Made in the image of God, our bodies are well designed with many parts that work together, allowing us to savor God’s creation and presence to the fullest.

Consider the ear, which is divided into three parts. First, there is the outer ear with the lobe and ear canal. Sound is funneled into the canal to vibrate on the ear drum, which in turn, vibrates the three smallest bones of the body in that tiny space known as the middle ear. Upon vibrating to the end of the last bone, sound waves then hit the tympanum, the doorway to the inner ear. There the waves vibrate through fluid until they touch the tiny hairs that detect a certain frequency. This happens in the snail shaped cochlea, which is the size of a pea. Upon reaching the appropriate hairs, the waves then become electronic impulses that travel through the auditory nerve to the brain.

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3rd Sunday of Ordinary TimeRead More »

How fitting that we begin ordinary time with such a common scene, a wedding reception where a couple are celebrating the start of a life long relationship. At a glance we are drawn to the transformation of water into wine but this isn’t about alcohol. Some listeners might be offended by the manner in which Jesus spoke to his mother, but this isn’t about etiquette either. Perhaps a good way to approach this incident in Cana would be to remember a line that Jesus said elsewhere in John’s gospel, “I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Jesus took something basic and essential to our lives, water, and transformed it into wine, which scripturally is a sign of joy, warmth, celebration, and abundance. He took something good and made it even better.

Unlike the relationship between a parent and child or between siblings, marriage is a bond that people freely enter into. A man and a woman freely choose to stand before witnesses and proclaim to each other their commitment to love and honor each other for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do they part. Their goal is to take a good relationship and make it an even better one.

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2nd Sunday of Ordinary TimeRead More »

My earliest recollection of baptism was as a teenager back in the mid sixties in a rather empty, somewhat cold church on a Sunday afternoon. Less than ten people were present: the baby, her parents, my family and the priest. That wasn’t much of a congregation yet that scenario was rather common in Catholic churches for years until the bishops meeting at Vatican II asked themselves, “What’s wrong with this picture?”

Back then, baptism’s purpose was seen simply as washing away original sin. While that remains true, that isn’t the whole point of this important sacrament. Until St. Augustine arrived on the scene in the fifth century, the notion of original sin wasn’t even an issue in the early church. Jesus certainly had no need to be freed from original sin, so what did baptism mean back then?

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Baptism of the LordRead More »

My, oh my! Jesus seems a little insensitive, doesn’t he? “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Then Luke adds these interesting words: “But they did not understand what he was saying to them.” Is there anyone in this room who has not felt at some time in your life that your parents did not understand you? Of course not. All of us have had times when we felt like our families didn’t understand us. Conflict within families, particularly between the generations, is as old as time. It’s not easy being a parent at any age nor is it easy being a young person. One mother said, “Doctor, I’d like you to evaluate my 13 year-old son.” “OK,” said the doctor, “He’s suffering from a transient psychosis with an intermittent rage disorder, punctuated by episodic radical mood swings, but his prognosis is good for full recovery.” The woman was surprised. “How can you say all that without even meeting him?” she asked. The doctor said, “Didn’t you say he’s 13?”

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Holy FamilyRead More »