OLS - Reno Homilies

Those born and raised in Nevada will understand this, those who have moved here, we hopefully eventually will understand this…winter here in Northern Nevada does not always want to let go. We all know the experience or the stories of people who want to camp during Memorial Day weekend, and they don’t take cold weather clothes. We know that our sweaters, sweatshirts, beanies are never packed away completely. We don’t plant tomatoes in Reno-Sparks until Peavine is clear. We know snow in June, and even in July at times. Winter will not let go. People can be like that too. We will not let go. We will not let go of the past. Especially past mistakes, past traumas, past grief, past wounds and hurt… We will replay events, hurts, wounds again and again in our minds and hearts. We can feel the hurt all over. A hurt we caused and which we think we need to be punished. A hurt caused to us, and which we think we need to punish the other. We will hold on tightly to the past. This impedes us in lif...

  Recently I saw a video on TikTok. The speaker was relating how a teacher had the classroom of kids each blow up a balloon and write their name on it. Then all the balloons were collected and placed into the hallway. The kids were told they had 5 minutes to find their own balloon.  Only a few did. Then the balloons were again placed out into the hallway, and this time the teacher said, the first balloon you pick up, read the name on it and give it to that person. By the end, all had their respective balloons. The moral of the story; trying to find your own happiness does not often work; but when we help others to find theirs, we can find ours too. Now replace the word happiness with joy, and we come to the Christian sense of what we celebrate tonight, and live always. A continuing struggle with Jesus’ disciples and in general with the people: what kind of messiah was he? Some thought he was the political messiah, the one who would really be king, would restore Israel to its g...

Bob woke up one Sunday morning and the bed felt so comfortable and he was so tired, he decided he would skip mass. However he heard his Mom knock on the door: “Bob, are you awake?” “Yes” he reluctantly replied. “It’s getting late, you need to get ready to go to church.” She stated. “I am not going.” he said, “I am tired, besides the people there are mean and grumpy, the music is uninspiring, and I don’t like it.” Mom said: “I don’t care, you are the priest, that is your parish, get up and go to mass!” Years ago in a galaxy far away, in another parish, we brought in a group, at the suggestion of a parishioner, for a Youth Retreat. The group was from Southern California and the parishioner said that they were spirit filled, with teen leaders and adults, and it would be transformative for our kids. An adult leader arrived ahead of the main group to begin prep work, a man of probably about late 50’s into his 60’s. He was excited for us. The main group arrived later in the evening, cons...

One of the things that tends to bother me is when natural disasters would hit or some kind of other bad event and people would say that this was God's punishment. We saw this when Hurricane Katrina happened to New Orleans; I read people say God is punishing the United States for evils that supposedly we have done. It really gives Christianity a bad name. It gives God a bad name. How do we see God? How do we see God in our lives? What happens when bad things happen to us? Notice in this gospel passage that with the man born blind everybody seems to see it as a result of sinfulness. Even Jesus’ own disciples ask whose fault this is, the parents or the man. And of course all the other people throughout see everything as sinful, that this is God's reckoning on this man, this man's family whatever the situation. And even Jesus’ own miracle is seen as a sin. And how does Jesus see this situation? Jesus sees the man and he sees an opportunity for God's love to shine through. J...

Although we are preparing for Easter, think back to the novel “ A Christmas Story” (seems fitting with the snow). Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, through which he is devastated. His life is revealed to him, the pain caused to him and the pain he caused to others. What can he do? What will he do? I think we can mostly agree, some of the most powerful prayers that we can pray are those moments in which we are most in need, or at our lowest. Moments when our egos have been deflated, when we see few other options, we have no other place or person to go to. And our words can simply be, “God, help me.” They can come in moments when someone we love is very sick, dying. Moments in which a dear relationship comes crashing down upon us. Moments in which we have been shown how we have failed; failed as friend, spouse, parent, sibling, priest… Despite the pain, these can be moments of beauty; moments of transformation. What will we do? Faith means t...