The prologue of St. John’s Gospel-in the majestic story of God that it reveals-is every bit as breathtaking as Mount Ararat and Tampa Bay. And if we are paying attention, we will be stunned by the mysterious beauty of the presence of God in Christ that emerges from it, such that we will want to…
A man is incomplete until he is married, and then he is finished. A woman is incomplete until she is married, and then she is finished. I sometimes begin marriage homilies like this to open hearts with humor and open up the profound sacrament of marriage. The humor is in the double meaning of ‘finished.’ …
Jesus gives his life away through the bread and the wine but this is an applied religion Christianity first and foremost. Even the greatest ritual ever of the eucharist isn’t enough in itself. We have to do what it signifies. We have to act it out in our everyday lives. Love is the way that…
To get to the lost meaning of palms, you might go to your trophy case if you have one, or imagine one if you don’t. Think of these gold-painted golfers, or soccer balls or gymnasts. Picture the Lombardi trophy (a golden football) or the Stanley Cup (a silver wedding cake?). 2000 years from now people…
You are going to a funeral and discover that you are the person who passed away. Three people are going to speak: A family member, someone from your church, and a friend from work/school. Write out what you would wish for them to say. Now plan your life!
Thomas Edison is famous for his inventions of the light bulb. We forget that he attempted the lightbulb 1,000 times unsuccessfully before prevailing. When a reporter asked him, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison said, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” Our Lord and…
The obvious deception here is that winning can’t be everything, by definition it is at most half of everything. The other half is losing, which our society tends to deny and avoids. But that’s not healthy, whole or rational. We will face as many losses in our life as wins; and the older we get…