Teach What You Believe

If we look at the scripture that addresses the Ascension, it is no surprise that we find several conflicts across the Synoptic writers. But I believe it is John who gives us the line that opens up for us the best way to get to the deeper meaning of the Ascension, when Christ says, “it is good for you that I am going away. For unless I go away the Spirit cannot come to you.” In essence, Jesus seems...

In this Sunday’s readings we heard that John saw a “new heaven and a new earth…for the old order has passed away…and He makes all things new.” This sense of ‘making all things’ new appears over twenty times throughout the Bible, with a reminder of our need to let go of our past, to allow room for the new – but what is this ‘’new thing”?  And why is it so important that Jesus commands it?! Check it...

I invite you to just focus on the God encounter that takes place in the Gospel story of the Transfiguration. It is when God appears in the form of a cloud which casts a shadow over those gathered – a cloud that, although frightens them, they still entered.  What about the darkness and clouds that we face in our lives? For it these types of God encounters where lives are changed - encounters that b...

If I go back some twenty or so years, I remember our family and friends gathering back in my wife’s hometown for many weddings, baptisms, and other sacraments. But as time has moved on and age begins to creep up on our generation, it seems that recently we have gathered all too often to mourn the death of one of our loved ones. And so, this afternoon we remember the life and the love of Vincent. A...

On this Thanksgiving Day, as our country and our world continue to climb out of this pandemic, which has gone on far too long, what does “giving thanks” look like? St. Paul gave us all a model called the paradox of gratitude. Why a paradox? And how can a true and personal story of the actions of a small Mennonite Community, post Hurricane Agnes, shed some light on how we are called to actively liv...

This Sunday we brought to a close Ordinary Time of our Liturgical season and through the year we have walked through the Gospel of Mark, using the Sunday gospels learning how to see as God sees. But the question remains whether we have allowed the words to help us see any better?  In his latest book release, Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ reminds us that we need to see as a Mystic sees.  Jesuit theologian Kar...

We hear this Sunday the story of Jesus healing the blind man Bartimaeus. On the surface this seems to be just an extraordinary story that attests to the divinity of Christ.  But the Bible gives us so many stories of Jesus opening the eyes of those who are blind, there must be more – and there is.  To see the deeper meaning of this Gospel will require us to have our eyes opened in a whole new way. ...

This Sunday we hear the Gospel of the rich young man, who has followed all of the rules and regulations of his faith, asking Jesus what more does he need to do in order to gain Eternal Life. After all isn’t that what we are all seeking? But it is the wrong question any of us should be asking!  What is the right question? And what is the one key word in the response that Jesus gives, that provides...

This weekend we hear the Gospel passage recounting Jesus’ journey with his disciples on a 25-mile hike to the region of Caesarea Philippi just so he could put forth one question to his disciples, “Who do you say I am?”  And Peter gets it so right…and then gets it so wrong as Jesus calls him Satan. So why the hike to that area? And what is so telling about the dialogue between Jesus and Peter that...

This weekend’s Gospel brings to a close a 3-part story that we have been listening to these past weeks focused on discipleship, evangelization...and rest. But when Jesus takes his disciples off to a deserted place, he finds that many of the followers have taken a short cut on land and have arrived at his destination before him.  So, what to do? How to respond? And what does this Gospel show us abo...

The Gospel this weekend has the 12 disciples being sent out to spread the Good News. So, imagine how these disciples were feeling – for they just witnessed Christ being rejected by those who knew him best. So, other than witnessing the words and actions of Christ, they had no real ministerial religious training – and it was certainly long before any dogma and doctrines were ever thought of.  For t...

We all have some degree of fear – what does yours look like?  A recent poll shows that our top current fears are rooted in COVID, gun violence, health and politics. This weekend’s Gospel of Jesus calming the waters is all about Jesus confronting his disciples about their fear. Why? Because fear has a way of controlling our emotions and leading us to actions that are unloving. For the opposite of f...

This weekend we heard from Mark’s Gospel two parables of what the Kingdom of God is like. The challenge many Christians have is that we mistakenly think that the Kingdom of God is “eternal life”, or it is where we go when we die. But actually, the Kingdom of God is here and at hand…and it must continue through us, with us, in us and frankly despite us. How?  By planting Gospel-based seeds.  What d...

The Feast of the Ascension brings to mind all the historic art that shows Jesus ascending upward on a cloud, with the disciples looking towards heaven. It makes for great art and reflects the cosmology of those times, but if we stop there, we totally miss the whole concept of what the Ascension means to you and me today.  So what is that?  Check it all out…

The Gospel tells us that the disciples had no idea what ‘risen from the dead’ even meant.  Do we?  Wisdom from Pope Francis…and from children in an African tribe may just open our eyes in a new way so that we can better see how we are connected in our call to make all things new. And that Easter tells us that through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, love wins out over death every time a...

During this time of the pandemic, instead of focusing just on the cross that Christ died on – a death that was for us …what if we spent some time on the deaths that happen to us …to focus on our crosses and on our dying that needs to occur each day?  In other words of the need to die to our egos, our strategies, our politics, and our prejudices. If not, then are we missing the point Christ was mak...

I was blessed to have just returned from spending three weeks with my nineteen-month-old granddaughter, Bloom. During our time together she retaught me one of the core lessons we need to be reminded of this Palm Sunday as we move into Holy Week.  What did she do and what did she teach me?  Check it out…

So, when there is so much turmoil, so much fear, so much uncertainty, so much unrest in our world and in our lives, it is easy to ask, “Where is this epiphany, this manifestation of the Lord?”  I think the answer lies within two key lines of today’s Gospel.  What are those lines? And why should we carry those lines with us each day?  Check it out…

As a father and grandfather I really enjoy the celebration of the Feast of the Holy Family which allows us to look at how this God incarnate…this Christ Child…this God among us has a direct connection to our daily life and our family.  Which raises questions like:  How do we as a community of believers share the blessings from this table onto others?  How can we help others see God in themselves?...

Luke, who wrote this Christmas narrative we hear every year, mentions twice that this baby was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manager – and that this was a sign .  And it is this sign that gives us a powerful message this night – a sign that breaks open the meaning of Christmas!   What is this sign? And what is Christmas really all about?   Check it out….

Over the past three weeks of Advent we have called to stay awake, to be alert, all the while listening and waiting and making straight our paths.  So, what has your Advent been like during these times of the pandemic?  Outside of marking the time by lighting the Advent candles each week, what, perhaps have you been seeing, feeling or doing differently this year? Faced with all the challenges that...

This weekend we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year. Once again, we hear from Mark’s Gospel and the need to be awake, alert and always watching?  But what are we watching for…and whatever it is, could it be where we least expect to find it? And how can the story of two boys who run Cross Country Track – one of who is blind, help us to see in a new way? C...

“Many are invited, but few are chosen” is unfortunately one of the most misread, misunderstood and misused phrases in the Bible.  Then again, so is the parable of the Wedding Banquet where the King acts with anger and vengeance on those who refuse his invitation to come to the wedding. So what is the meaning hidden within this parable and how can we really look at what seems to be a line of exclus...

This weekend’s Gospel of the vineyard landowner paying a full day’s wages to those who worked all day as well as those who worked for only an hour has us often crying out, unfair…echoing all those times in our lives when we feel the same way – that life is just unfair. While I still mourn the recent tragic death of my 3 year old grandson, it is he and my other three grandchildren who give me a con...

In last week’s Gospel Peter got it so right to the point where Jesus will use Peter as the foundation of his Church and then in the next moment, we hear this week, Peter gets it so wrong as to be called Satan? Peter goes from a foundational rock – to a stumbling block. So why the big swing with Peter?  There seems to be competing voices going on in Peter’s head.  So what does this mean to us and t...