Jesus often spoke in parables and metaphors, describing God, God’s action in the world, and our own journey of discipleship in images and words that engaged and challenged the imaginations of his listeners... and us. A metaphor is a figure of speech— a word or phrase that describes one kind of object in place of another kind of object, suggesting a likeness; a connection; a similarity. A pretty girl is like a melody. He has a heart like a stone. She’s as happy as a clam. They

The landscape of our childhood shapes us, in deep and often surprising ways. The exact color of green on the hillside, the way sunlight slants across the yard in winter, the very soil beneath our feet teaches us as profoundly as any textbook. I grew up in a land of red clay. Not brown soil. Not black dirt. Not ruddy hued earth, but Red. Red clay. Now, this was no timid soil, content to blend into the background or be taken for granted. No, this red menace

At this point in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus offers a prayer to the Father giving thanks for revealing all things to the Son. After Jesus completes his fervent prayer, he turns to the crowd and his disciples and opens his most moving invitation. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Those who are worn down with the cares of the world—and even with the many laws of the Pharisees—are offered relief and rest. There are burdens that we bump i

If the Epistle Lesson sounds familiar this morning, it is because it should be. It is the same witness from St. Paul on Holy Baptism that was our Epistle reading at the Easter Vigil. At that Great Feast, this Scripture brought together the Paschal Mystery of the Lord and our own baptism into his death and resurrection. Our catechumens, the elect, were initiated into Christian life by their descent into the water and their rising up as new babes in Christ. They died to sin, St

As I get ready to leave this community to take up a new assignment, I have been reflecting on all of the events and people of the past fourteen years. In a special way, on this Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, I remember that day a fire destroyed our offices and seriously damaged the chapel and the old rectory. I remember arriving in the parking lot and seeing the fire trucks. I saw the mangled metal of the office doors. I saw the charred remains of the o

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. This passage is such Good News, that we might say, the whole of our faith is captured in that one solitary verse. It is truly Good News! But sometimes, the concrete reality of that Good News can seem mighty distant. Despite the overwhelming Good News that waits for us in God’s Word, in the Eucharist, in our community, in creation, we of

I really love the windows in this Church. I love the saints and the stories of the saints. I remember the details and the stories of the miraculous process that we went through to get the windows. I remember sitting in Church and watching the transformation the day that the windows were installed. And today, one detail on one saint in one window keeps my attention. It’s a flame, a tongue of fire. It is a reminder of the Upper Room and the tongues of fire that landed on the he

People of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” Imagine the scene… the disciples are agonized-- overcome by the brutality of the crucifixion; haunted by their own betrayals, convicted by their weakness and fear, mourning the loss of their friend and teacher-- mourning the loss of their dreams. And then, suddenly, overwhelming joy and relief as Jesus walked through walls and held out his wounded hands to clasp. Everything shifted into clearer focus. Old ways

Where I live now, there really isn’t much of a market for “personal testimony” or Wednesday night altar calls. In fact, where I live now, religious testimony is about as welcome as an update on your cousin’s surgery or an invitation to a harmonica recital. But back home, when I was growing up, just about everyone I knew had a Christian testimony— a witness story to tell, and they told it, whether you really wanted to hear it, or not. And for me, It was “mostly not.” Where I g

There are some songs and hymns that were made for certain occasions. In fact, it would be an odd Midnight Mass in which we did not sing “Joy to the World” at Christmas. Then, too, on Easter morning, we do expect to sing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” But now we are well into the Great Fifty Days of Easter, and we turn to St. Peter’s letter to the new churches up in Asia Minor. It would be equally odd, given the focus of this epistle, not to sing: Christ is made the sure fo

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, St. Matthew tells us, Mary “Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. What had been planned as a quick trip down to Jesus’ resting place, perhaps with some time there at the tomb for the kind of sadness and sharing of memories that happen at a funeral. But what they had not anticipated, in the least, was that their itinerary had already been permanently disrupted. Instead of some quiet time of tears and mem

Video homily youtube.com/watch?v=H-pZGDBT2ic&t=3s/