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Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion C ~ "Mass in Time of War" ~ Rev. Jim Schmitmeyer
A friend of mine wrote the following description of attending Mass on an aircraft carrier: It was 1962, the height of the Cold War. I was...
susan mcgurgan
Apr 4, 20222 min read
Lent 5 A ~ Homiletical Exegesis for the RCIA Scrutiny John 11:1-45, ~ Rev. Richard Eslinger
The raising of Lazarus in John 11 stands as hinge between Jesus’ public ministry and his private ministry to his disciples. It represents...
susan mcgurgan
Mar 29, 202213 min read
Lent 5 C ~ "Say Her Name" ~ Susan McGurgan
Say Her Name is a movement that emerged from the stories of women affected by institutional violence, particularly women from...
susan mcgurgan
Mar 29, 20224 min read
Lent 4 C ~ "Rehab, County Jails and Lost Parents" ~ Rev. Jim Schmitmeyer
Young children will occasionally wander off, casting their parents into a temporary state of anxiety and frantic searching until the...
susan mcgurgan
Mar 21, 20222 min read
Lent 3 C ~ "Holy Ground" ~Susan McGurgan
A young Ukrainian violinist, standing alone in a basement in Kyiv, plays a haunting arrangement of an old Ukrainian folk song, filming...
susan mcgurgan
Mar 15, 20223 min read
A Homiletical Exegesis for Lent 3 Cycle A (RCIA Scrutiny) Readings ~ Rev. Richard Eslinger
A Catechetical Gospel. For parishes engaged in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, the Lenten Scripture lessons remain with Year...
susan mcgurgan
Mar 15, 202215 min read
Lent 2 C ~ "A Place Called Home" ~ Rev. Jim Schmitmeyer
What if someone were to say to you, “I saw you under the street light” or “I saw you under the umbrella.” Your first reaction would be...
susan mcgurgan
Mar 7, 20223 min read
First Sunday in Lent C ~ "Company in the Wilderness" ~ Rev. Richard Eslinger
St. Luke sets the scene quickly and with attention to the key details. Jesus has been baptized at the Jordan by John and now a new drama...
susan mcgurgan
Feb 28, 20226 min read
8th Sunday OT C ~ "Lessons from the Field" ~ Susan McGurgan
My grandfather Roy was born into a family that pioneered on the high plains of north-west Kansas. He began life in a sod house, a home...
susan mcgurgan
Feb 22, 20223 min read
7th Sunday OT C ~ "Freedom" ~ Rev. Jim Schmitmeyer
I once heard a preacher say that the Ten Commandments were ten ways of God saying, “Don’t hurt yourself. Please, don’t hurt yourself.” A...
susan mcgurgan
Feb 14, 20223 min read
6th Sunday OT C ~ "You Gotta Love this Place" ~ Rev. Jim Schmitmeyer
When I hear the words of the Sermon on the Mount, I think about a reflection that a young priest in my diocese wrote regarding the scene...
susan mcgurgan
Feb 8, 20223 min read
6th Sunday OT C ~ "The Eyes of Jesus" ~ Susan McGurgan
One enduring memory of my first trip to the Holy Land many years ago is a small chapel half-way down the western slope of the Mount of...
susan mcgurgan
Feb 6, 20224 min read
Homily for the 5th Sunday OT C ~ "Duc in Altum: Put Out into the Deep" ~ Rev. Richard Eslinger
In a lovely bay off Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada, an Anglican Church sits just off the sea shore. It is a tourist attraction and you...
susan mcgurgan
Jan 31, 20227 min read
4th Sunday OT C ~ "Pumping Iron in Nazareth" ~ Fr. Jim Schmitmeyer
It’s Saturday morning at the Nazareth Fitness Center. All present are exercising hard: pumping iron, plying the treadmill, pushing...
susan mcgurgan
Jan 24, 20223 min read
3rd Sunday OT ~ "In Case of Emergency, Break Glass" ~ Susan McGurgan
It’s 10 AM in a small town down the road-- the kind of town that can be found half-way between "just about anywhere," and "no place in...
susan mcgurgan
Jan 18, 20224 min read
2nd Sunday OT ~ "The Sign" ~ Rev. Jim Schmitmeyer
Her name is Elsie, she’s 86 and she is hard-of hearing. Tonight, she sits at a table in an elegant hall, the lights are low and a handful...
susan mcgurgan
Jan 11, 20223 min read
The Baptism of the Lord "Something in the Water" ~ Susan McGurgan
Before the first leper was ever healed or a single parable was told, he was loved. Before any sinner was embraced; before the crowds...
susan mcgurgan
Jan 3, 20223 min read
Epiphany of the Lord "Happy Kairos!" ~ Rev. Jim Schmitmeyer
The Feast of the Epiphany—2022 St. Anthony, Dalhart, Texas There’s a country song with a line that says: “Time, like money, just slips...
susan mcgurgan
Dec 29, 20213 min read
The Epiphany of the Lord ~ "We have a God who Keeps on Appearing" ~ Susan McGurgan
As far back as he could remember, he had been searching for something. His parents called him their "perpetual motion machine." His...
susan mcgurgan
Dec 28, 20214 min read
Feast of the Holy Family "Glimpses of Grace" ~ Susan McGurgan
Sometimes, among the diapers and the cheerios, in the middle of carpools and homework wars and hockey practice-- in the chaos that...
susan mcgurgan
Dec 22, 20213 min read
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