2017

With all the rain lately, we take water for granted. With the turn of the tap, we have clean safe water for drinking, washing, and bathing. Many people in third world countries are not so fortunate. Like the Samaritan woman, they still go to the well with buckets and jugs to carry water back home and so would we if we didn’t have running water.

In May of 1976 when Guam was hit by a powerful typhoon, we were left without power and no power meant no water. The day after the storm, my roommate and I drove to a nearby hotel with a brand new plastic garbage can to obtain drinking water. Imagine the look on the cop’s face when we drove by very slowly with the container full of water carefully balanced on the hood of our car. …

3rd Sunday of LentRead More »

I can’t help but reflect back on my life to see those experiences that have changed my life. Of course, the most dramatic experience was my marriage to the love of my life almost forty three years ago. But there were more experiences that took me a long time to understand.

I would not be surprised that if each of us takes a good look, to reflect on our lives up to the present, we will find times that bewildered us, which challenged us in trying to understand what just happened. The story of the Transfiguration takes us into the bewildered state of mind.

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2nd Sunday of LentRead More »

A very overweight man decided for Lent to go on a diet. He even changed his usual commute to work in order to avoid passing his favorite bakery. One morning he arrived at the office carrying a large, sugar coated coffee cake. His colleagues chided him, but he only smiled, shrugged his shoulders and said, “What could I do? This is a very special cake. By force of habit, I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window were trays of goodies.

“Well, I felt this was no accident that I happened to pass by so I prayed, ‘Lord, if you really want me to have one of those delicious coffee cakes, let me find a parking space right in front of the bakery.’ And sure enough on the ninth time around the block, there it was!” …

1st Sunday of LentRead More »

How often might you have echoed the words of Zion? “The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.” That line resonates the lament of many people throughout history yet Isaiah is quick to come to God’s defense, using the example of a mother and her child. Can you imagine anything or any reason that would cause the average mother to forget her baby? Nor can I. God’s love for Zion, the chosen people, is even more passionate than any mother’s love.

God will never forget us. More likely we have forgotten God when we are ill at ease for any reason. No wonder Jesus tells us, “…do not worry about your life…” yet isn’t that what we do so often? We fret about our budget, our livelihood, our future. Jesus knows our mindset so he cautions us, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Now that’s a word we don’t hear often. Mammon is an ancient word that means money. We cannot live without that so what does he mean?

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8th Sunday of Ordinary TimeRead More »

Life is full of relationships. Good relationships nourish us, giving us joy and satisfaction, but sooner or later, something is apt to go wrong and someone gets hurt. Instead of forgiveness, the name of the game many of us play when we have been victimized is getting even. In good conscience we even defend that right with a line from Leviticus, which Jesus quotes in today’s gospel, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” If any line from Leviticus is worth remembering, however, it’s the one we hear today, “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart.”

Hatred is a very dangerous thing that must be handled with great respect and reserved for a cause such as injustice or intolerance, not for an individual. Hatred expends far more energy than any other emotion, even love. Hate corrodes the soul. We should save our energy for better things. When Jesus speaks of hating enemies, he is referring not to distant nations but to people close to us who make life difficult for us. That could be a relative, a neighbor, a classmate, people we seek to avoid, whom we find hard to forgive, who awaken in us feelings of fear or anger that can turn into hatred. …

7th Sunday of Ordinary TimeRead More »