Homilies

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 »

Jesus undoubtedly stunned his listeners with what he said in today’s gospel by challenging their views on morality. Last week what I said along with the Bishops’ prayer for migrants and refugees ruffled some feathers. Several parishioners complained to me that politics do not belong in Church. The way we deal with immigrants and refugees may sound like partisan politics. However, like many others, I see the issue of immigration as a matter of faith and justice, not politics.

The heritage of our nation is based on immigration. Every one of us owes our presence here to migration. If not us, then our ancestors who came seeking a safer life than what they left behind. The motivation to leave their homeland and face an unknown future outweighed the situation they were in, be it economic or political unrest or religious persecution. …

6th Sunday of Ordinary TimeRead More »

Collecting things of all kinds is somewhat of a popular activity to do. We collect stamps, bottles of all kinds, bells, rare books, art, coins, and many other articles. A group of collectors was holding an exhibit in a Catholic Church hall. The altar Society ran a snack bar selling hot coffee and hamburgers.

One visitor purchased a cup of coffee and a hamburger. As he was walking around looking at the items on display while eating his burger he went past a display of salt and pepper shakers. (a couple hundred of them) He discovered that his hamburger needed some salt. He set his coffee down and reached for one of the salt shakers and found no salt. He tried at least a dozen of them and guess what-No Salt! Finally he went back to the snack bar and got some salt. …

5th Sunday of Ordinary TimeRead More »