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12th Sunday: Faith in God's Faithfulness

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I recently watched a video and the speaker was saying that even the best person, who loves all and is willing to help so many will stop if they are continually let down by another. Some people we may know make it difficult to be there for them. They accept invitations and then cancel at the last minute repeatedly. They say they want to hang out, but they find other things to do; they accept help from others, but giving that help back… and after a while it gets exhausting. So we stop extending invitations, we don’t give the time as we done previously. It is not that it is a quid pro quo we want, but a little respect, a little fidelity. Nobody likes to feel taken for granted. Years ago during my internship at Stanford hospital as a seminarian, I was called to a room (I have shared this story before, but I find it powerful). A mother was there with her young daughter and the mother was very very upset. I listened to her, and she revealed that they had recently been baptized as Christians
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10th Sunday Understanding the Faith

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In seminary there seemed to be three types of students: those hungry and excited for the challenge and learning of theology; those ambivalent about it, just getting through classes; and those who were upset because what they thought they knew was being challenged. This last group of guys tended to have a more difficult time during seminary. One particular man in my class was a convert from Presbyterianism. He had been raised as a biblical literalist; an older fellow for seminary, maybe late 30’s early 40’s. Nice guy. We took our first Scripture class and all the assumptions he had were being destroyed. The profs told him that this was our Catholic understanding and what he thought he knew, he misunderstood. The poor guy was devastated. He ended up taking a year and more off to grasp the situation, and he never was quite the same. One theme I continually raise in homilies is the need to continue to grow in our understanding of God and of our Catholic Faith. The more we understand, the
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Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ - Remembering

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An observation I have made about Europeans and Cultures, of their people, is that they seem to have long memories. When I was in Ireland on a tour they spoke of Oliver Cromwell with a vehemence, as if he was just there attempting to destroy them, not 500 years ago. Or when the former Yugoslavia broke apart and led to the conflicts and ethnic cleansings, they fought over generational conflicts; even the ongoing conflict in Israel-Gaza has it violence continuing through long memories. But not all that is about badness. Some memories are good, of saints and heroes, of community pride. Of course it helps that there are buildings and churches that are hundreds if not thousands of years old that surround them. People also have deep roots in the land, sometimes owned for multiple generations. An observation I have of us in the USA, our memories tend to be much much shorter. Maybe because we are a younger country? Maybe our viewpoint is more directed to a future? We experience things, good and
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Trinity Sunday - God with us.

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Some 11 years ago I took a six week retreat with the Camoldolese Monks at Big Sur. Part of my spiritual exercise was a daily walk in which I asked either the Father, Son or Holy Spirit to walk with me. My sense most often, and it surprised me, it was the Father who came; sometimes the Holy Spirit; the Son almost never. I would engage the Father, have conversations; and one time I had the impression the Father was laughing at me (for good reason). I really think my understanding of God was changed through those experiences. Throughout Religious Education as a kid and teen, we are taught of God. This is a good thing, because it provides a foundation. Seminary also teaches seminarians of God, theology. We take lots of classes and most seminaries will include what is called the Summa by St. Thomas Aquinas. A TOME of Thomas’ in which he logically and systematically explains God and the Catholic Faith. It is a good thing. Of course there are many more theologians that we studied, and their
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Pentecost

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Graduations will start soon! Graduations from High School, University, and apparently kindergartens now. We will start getting those notices, those cards and pictures; it is always nice to get them. It means though our kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews, are growing up, and life is changing for them. Kind of exciting, and a little sad too. Graduates too get excited. They are “released” into the world. They have it all! They can go and do whatever! Nothing more is needed… They think REAL life will start. Well we know that may be the fantasy, but reality has a different view. Learning and growth continues really for all of our lives. We always need to be updated and grow in our knowledge. School, University, Seminary provides the groundwork and teaches us how to think and grow. We will need to also take the initiative and continue our own formation. This risk is that if we do not, we stagnate, we get left behind, or worse we cause harm to others with faulty understanding. None of us wou
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Ascension Feast: God's desire for union

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Like many events in our Scripture and Gospels, there are different takes on how and what happened. Today’s feast day, the Ascension of the Lord is a perfect example. The first reading, from Acts which was written by Luke, has Jesus with his disciples for 40 days after the resurrection, then ascending to heaven. The Gospel of Mark, once read fully, has Jesus ascend the same day as his resurrection. And ironically Luke’s gospel also has Jesus ascend the same day as his resurrection, so he gives two different stories. Matthew and John will also have their views. So what are we to make of this? I knew a man once that when I pointed out these contradictions he would get upset at me, telling me I was saying Scripture was not true.  The timing really does not matter, it is the core of the event and the action of the disciples. It speaks really to a need in our own lives as well, some 2000 years later. The Core event, the Son of God came down from heaven and was incarnated, became a human p
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6th Easter: Living life eternally

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To live life eternally, do we grasp the fuller meaning of this? Eternal means more than forever, it actually means for us that there is no time at all. It is hard to wrap our minds around this, but God is eternal, and God does not exist in time, so there is no forever, there is no reference in time. If we think on that too much, we will get a headache. We humans cannot not think of time. To live life eternally in one sense is that we continue on, in some form, after our physical life comes to an end. We believe this as Christians. And it also means more… God is eternal and God is love. So using logic, we can say Love is eternal. Love has always been, is now and ever shall be. It is an eternal value. As well any value we equate with God, which actually derives from Love, such as mercy, kindness, compassion, generosity. Heaven is that state in which the fullness of God exists, and thus the fullness of these values, the fullness of love.  God created the heavens and the earth, to be one.
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