OLS - Reno Homilies

No Man Is an Island by John Donne No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, As well as if a promontory were: As well as if a manor of thy friend's Or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. No man, or person, is an island, a poem by John Donne from the early 1600’s. A poem of the connectedness of humanity. A theme also picked up on a book by Thomas Merton of the same name. Who are we and how do we live and operate? Have we ever stopped, considered our actions, our choices, our ethics, our morals and how we came to have them? It could be something as small as when we eat dinner, to core beliefs that drive us. I think one of the values of aging is a certain wisdom and a certain objectivity about ourselves and life. We can see things with a little mo...

There are some books that we race through and will read within a day or two; and there are others we will take a long time to get through. Often the distinction is this, the quick reads are fun reads, great characters and a plot that moves fast. There is not too much depth to them, but still good reads nonetheless. I can think of Tom Clancy novels, and such. The slow reads, well there is depth to them. There are nuances to them, depth of characters and plot that need to be considered. The language and vocabulary are gorgeous, maybe even challenging. There is a story that needs to be understood, a story that to understand we must sit with it. They evoke an emotional response. These are books we will read and reread again and discover new insights. These could be those classic novels, or Russian authors, Shakespeare, or Spiritual books. The Liturgical Season of Easter, all 50 days of it, provides us the opportunity to contemplate the mystery of Jesus’ Paschal Mystery, his life, death and...

It is said to know about ourselves and who we are now, we need to look at how we got to here. This is truth. When I was in counseling for depression, my therapist often asked about old patterns, where did they come from… The idea was to recognize the unhealthy ones and change them to healthy patterns. That way my future could be more livable. We may also know others who have what they call a “type”. They only date persons who act the same, or look the same; and they may not even know it. But others viewing from the outside can see a long pattern and make some predictions on the future. “Know thyself” was written in an ancient Greek Temple, and from it, this maxim found its way into our Christian Western Cultures. A wise statement because wisdom and a better life come from a deeper understanding of who we are and how we got here. None of us just popped into existence ready made, all of us have had to make a journey to get to here and to now; a journey with happiness and sorrow, patienc...

I do not think this statement will be an over generalization; nobody enjoys, likes, desires to be broken up. Nobody enjoys being estranged from those who we consider family and friends; having our hearts broken through betrayal and loss; having our dreams and goals taken away from us; feeling victimized by others; have a disease or injury take away our lifestyle. And when we get broken we feel pulled in a thousand different ways, unsure of ourselves, our intentions and motives. We can’t find our way in life. We lose trust in ourselves and who we think we are. It is devastating.  How many tears I have witnessed from others and shed personally. How do we get back to self? The Hebrew word “Shalom” is a potent word; full of depth and meaning. Translators will apply the English word “Peace”; but our minds hear this word differently. Peace for us tends to mean lack of violence, calmness, or quiet. We really don’t have one word that means all of Shalom. Shalom speaks of wholeness, of bein...

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...