OLS - Reno Homilies

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...

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...

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 hum...

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 o...

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...