Father Kevin A. Codd

Perhaps we read Jesus' words to his apostles responding to a request to "increase our faith" in a scolding tone, when, in fact, he may be speaking to them with a bit of comic exaggeration...and even more with affection and delight.  Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community, Cuenca, Ecuador

Yet another parable to consider! This time, Jesus is speaking directly to a group of religious big-shots and this parable of the unnamed rich man and the poor, hungry Lazarus is for them. As we get deeper into the story, Jesus pulls the old gospel switcheroo of the " the first shall be last and the last shall be first" type. By the end of the parable, it is clear that this is a story about himself...

Today's parable is a most head-scratching one! And the commentaries by Jesus that follow the story itself don't help any. What to make of this strange story in which at first sight Jesus seems to approve of a sketchy steward who plays fast and easy with his boss's money? Maybe this is one of those stories that needs some "creative color" added to it so it makes sense to us in our times. That "crea...

Today's feast of the Holy Cross preempts the ordinary Sunday, giving us an opportunity to take a good look at this "gibbet of shame" that has become the preeminent symbol of Christianity. Though we now love our crosses, in the time of Jesus, they were anything but lovely; they were the great sign of Roman cruelty towards those who threatened their empire. It is only in understanding this that we c...

Paul has a problem! His lead pastor among the Colossians, Philemon, has a slave, Onesimus. Onesimus does something to offend his master and flees. Where does he flee to? Well, to Paul who is presently imprisoned in Rome. This is Paul's problem: does he keep Onesimus with him, who he now loves greatly and who has become a Christian...or does he send him back to Philemon, as the rules of Rome dictat...

"Old Greedy Guts" was one of the worst things someone could say about us when we were kids. When, indeed, we were greedy, the epithet stung because it was true. Most of us learned to be generous most of the time, but some never did and really did grow up to become very much "greedy guts." The opposite of being a greedy person is not just simple "niceness" or even just generosity; for a Christian,...

The ancient story of Sodom and Gomorrah, particulalry Abraham's role as intrcessor on behalf of these depraved cities, is our starting point today. The story teaches us two foundational things about God as revealed in the Hebrew scriptures: God feels and God listens. Those two characteristics of God clearly find their way into Jesus' own teaching to his disciples on how to pray.  Homily shared wit...

Las figuras bíblicas de Abraham en el libro de Genesis y la de Marta en el evangelio de San Lucas son muy distintas en su manera de vivir la virtud de hospitalidad. Una comparación de los dos nos ensena mucho sobre el valor de hospitalidad en nuestras propias vidas.  Homilia compartido a los feligreses de la Iglesia de San Francisco en Cuenca, Ecuador. 

On the one hand, the figure of Abraham as he joyfully receives and cares for his three guests at the Terebinth of Mamre and on the other, Jesus' dear friend, Martha, as she slaves in the kitchen while her sister, Mary does nothing, could not be further from one another. Yet they are bound together in today's Liturgy of the Word, and dealing with them both offers us a deeply personal challenge as w...

A doctor of the Law approaches Jesus with a question. How do I gain everlasting life? Jesus bats the question back to him...he's the doctor of the Law after all. The doctor of the law responds with the fundamental commandment to love God...and our neighbor, but presses the issue by asking Jesus then, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus offers him a very challenging parable: "A man was going from Jerusalem...

Un maestro de la ley se acerca a Jesús con una pregunta importante: ¿Como puedo alcanzar la vida eterna? Jesús le dirige contestarla por su propia cuenta porque el es el maestro de la ley. El responde bien por citar la ley fundamental de Moisés: que ame a Dios con todo su corazón…y ame también a su prójimo. El maestro de la ley sigue con otra pregunta de inmensa importancia: ¿Quién es mi prójimo?...

The writiers of the sacred scriptures often used particular numbers to signify important and holy things: 12,7, even little 3! Today's passage from Luke's Gospel continues the tradition with three very important numbers marking his account of Jesus sending forth his disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God. Each number gives us an insight into our own mission to proclaim and live the Gospel. Homil...

Though tied together by today's liturgy, Peter and Paul were rather an odd couple. The differences between them were substantial in almost every way, and especially their approach to spreading the new faith in the Risen Jesus. One principally a pastor, the other a missionary. The church binds them together in today's feast as a way of saying we need both! Homily for the Solemnity of Saints Peter a...

The magnificent passage from today's liturgy celebrating the profound mystery of the Holy Trinity, (Proverbs 8: 22-31), is worth paying close attention to. It reveals a God who creates our universe, our earth, and we ourselves as human beings filled with delight in doing so. The Wisdom tradition in the Jewish religion in the centuries before Christ, provide us with an alternate view of God the mig...

"In the beginning..." Genesis tells us that when God created the first human being, he breathed life and spirit into him as an act of pure love. "Ruach" is the word in Hebrew for "breath", but also for "wind", and "spirit". It is this same "Ruach" that we hear about in the great Pentecost story of Acts and in John's Gospel as well. The Pentecost story is that of God doing again what he once did: c...

Though our Easter liturgies carry on, the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday has made the past week a time of grief and hope. We remember Francis for so many lovely gestures of mercy, compassion, and love. We pray that his successor will be a shepherd who brings all his sheep to the Church's Table.  Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador

"Happy Easter" is a fine greeting, but the word "happy" doesn't really communicate the depth of what we experience on this Easter morning. The risen Jesus offers his own "word" for his disciples and for us:  "Peace."  Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador, (and wrapping up a long Holy Week, the homilist is a bit weary which seems manifest in his delivery!)

John's narrative of Jesus' passion, death, and burial includes the mention of many names. There is Jesus and Simon Peter, of course, but also Malchus, Annas and Caiphas, Pilate, and at the end, the noble Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. But there is also the name of Barabbas, the brigand, and that of Caesar; what significance might these two names hold in this deeply sad story? Homily shared wit...

The Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. All of it...eighteen minutes of it, here told again as so many times before. A simple reflection follows: Jesus prays three times in this long story and each prayer is worthy of its own homily; each one shows us something deeply important about Jesus, his relationship to his Father, and his relationship to us. There is a fourth prayer here, t...

The horrific story given to us on this fifth Sunday of the Lenten season is so much more than a story about a woman "caught in the very act of adultery"; it is a story about that woman, of course, but also about the men carrying the stones in their hands ready to kill her in the name of Moses, and it is a story about Jesus... Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuad...

The magnificent parable that Jesus tells in Luke 15 proves he is one of the great story-tellers of all time. It also is a spiritual revolution because it turns upside down the way most people have imagined God. Jesus pulls no punches in this story, which as it happens, is squarely directed at the religious leaders of his day. What is God like? For Jesus, God is this father who loves his sons so mu...

The magnificent story of Moses and the Burning Bush reveals to Moses (and to us!) a God who has the ears to hear the cries of a people enslaved, humiliated, and impoverished. That God would care with a burning passion for the sufferings of a small tribe of Hebrews trapped in Egypt teaches both Moses and us so much about the God at the heart of our faith. But there is more to this story worthy of o...

En la primera lectura de este domingo cuaresmal, encontramos con Moisés algo maravilloso: una zarza ardiendo sin consumirse. Es mas que cualquier zarza y mas que cualquier zara ardiendo sin consumirse: es un encuentro con Dios. Este Dios revela que es un Dios con oídos para escuchar los gritos del pueblo de Moisés esclavizado en Egipcio y un Dios con un corazón para los oprimidos. Ha hecho la deci...

Abraham looks up into the night sky resplendent with stars and sees his destiny: "Your children will be more than even the starts of the night!" James, John, and Peter look into the divine face of Jesus and are given a pre-vision of Easter glory. And more than that, they, and we with them, also see our own destiny: what we see in Jesus Glorified is what we too shall be when all is said and done. ...

Following his extraordinary experience in the Jordan River, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert. Here he must confront the fundamental temptations of his life, especially now that he clearly knows his is God's Beloved Son. Each  of the three desert temtations is a test of his vocation and mission. Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.