This one of those gospel stories we all know by heart. The know-it- all son wanting to take off, see the world, make his mark. He had to get off that boring farm and see the city lights. We know what happened. His plans and dreams fell apart and he comes home hanging his head and mumbling ‘I’m sorry.’ Of course his father is overjoyed to see his lost son. He runs to him, embraces him and welcomes him home with a party. Maybe the father knew his son well enough that he knew he was too young, too inexperienced to be out on his own. He knew his son would blow it, he just hoped he’d have the brains to come home; he hoped his son would trust that his father loved him enough to take him back. It was a gamble the father took.
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Archive for the ‘Homily’ Category
Homily – March 14
Sunday, March 14th, 2010The Fig Tree
Sunday, March 7th, 2010Farmers are very practical people. They have to be; their survival depends upon the harvest. Jesus uses the parable of the farmer and the fruitless fig tree to teach us the lesson of our need to repent. Repent, what’s it mean? In a religious sense repent means we regret the wrongs we’ve done and we’re determined with God’s grace to change the ways we live our lives. Repent means ridding ourselves of all those things that hold us back from living the new commandment; ’love one another as I have loved you.’ As we all know this commandment is not an easy one to live.
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Bulletin – February 28
Sunday, February 28th, 2010In this week’s bulletin, the Eco-Sabbath and the National Catholic Mission next Sunday and an invitation to learn about the Orthodox Churches.
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Homily – February 28
Sunday, February 28th, 2010We read in Luke’s gospel that Jesus took his friends Peter, James and John up a mountain to a place of peace and quiet so they could pray. In the midst of his own prayer something happened within him that showed itself in his very appearance, his faced glowed, even the clothes he was wearing seemed to dazzle. In that time and moment of prayer Jesus had a deepening awareness of himself and a deeper understanding of his role as God’s word of love for the world. In that time of prayer and reflection Jesus made a deeper commitment to the mission he had been sent to accomplish. This graced moment made Jesus transparent. He glowed with a passion and purpose that would enable him to continue his journey to Jerusalem where he would face his cross, death and resurrection.
Homily – February 21
Sunday, February 21st, 2010I hope you all received ashes this past Wednesday. When we were kids it was the only day of the year we were allowed to have dirty faces. We wore our ashes with pride to show everyone in town we were Catholics.
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Founded by St. Paul of the Cross, every Passionist takes a special vow to spend his or her energies in promoting remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus, the memory of the Cross, and reflection of the meaning of the Cross for the world.
