One Catholic Life Blog

Dark Forest

Homily

The Lure of the Will-O’-The-Wisp: Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter – Year A

In Scottish and English folklore, people tell of the will-o’-the-wisp, mischievous lights in the bogs and swamps carried by fairies and goblins that lead lost travelers to their doom. As the travelers follow those elusive and fickle lights, they leave the path behind, and when the lights are extinguished the travelers are even more lost than when they began. On our journey of faith we sometimes lose our way, following will-o’-the-wisps. We get lost, like those travelers in the woods who wander off the path, following the goblin...

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio

Homily

To Dance in our Woundedness: Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter – Year A

“These signs have been written that you may believe.” In today’s gospel, Thomas needs help in order to believe. He needs a sign. Who can blame him? His friends were making a pretty far-fetched claim. Jesus is risen from the dead? Thomas had seen Jesus crucified. “Prove it to me,” he says. “Show me the wounds.” And Jesus does prove it to Thomas. In his mercy, Jesus appears a week later. Thomas sees the wounds. He also sees the living Christ. And he responds, “My Lord and my...

Jesus Washes Disciples' Feet

Homily

My Feet, Lord? – Homily for Holy Thursday

Jesus asks, “Do you realize what I have done for you?” As we begin these holiest days of the year, it would be good for us to do just that: to realize what Jesus has done for us at the Last Supper. The opening lines of the gospel set the scene. First, Jesus knew that his hour had come, and second, he loved his own to the end. He knew his hour had come, and he loved his own to the end. In his darkest hour he did...

Jesus Heals the Blind Man

Homily

Light from the Mud: Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

Today is Laetare Sunday, which is why we are wearing rose today. We are over halfway through Lent, and the entrance antiphon to today’s liturgy begins, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her.” Laetare is the Latin word for “rejoice.” Today is meant to be a little more festive than a typical Lenten Sunday, and is there anything more festive than the birth of a child? So it’s very appropriate that on this celebratory Sunday we get to witness a birth. We get to witness the birth of...

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

Homily

Jesus Thirsts for You: Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent

Here we are in the third week of Lent. How are your Lenten resolutions going? Mine aren’t going so great, to be honest. Last Friday, I made myself a turkey sandwich for lunch, forgetting it was Friday. I think I was just going through the motions of the day, not really paying attention. Sometimes life is like that, a series of unconscious, or nearly unconscious, actions that add up to a day. The Samaritan woman in today’s gospel is going through the motions of her daily life when...

Aged Hands

Homily

Stretch Forth Your Hand – Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

If you’ve ever looked at the hands of your grandmother or grandfather, Or at the hands of an elderly friend, Then you’ve had a glimpse of their life story. Each pair of hands has a story to tell, And the older we get, the more our hands have to say. Some hands are scarred or spotted. Others are twisted and gnarled with arthritis. A hand can have callouses or be as smooth as lotion. The fingers, too, tell a tale about our lives. Some of us have long...

Benjamin Franklin

Books and Reading

An Epitaph All Readers Can Relate To

There have been few people as wise, eloquent, and humorous as Benjamin Franklin. Evidence: the epitaph he wrote for himself when he was but a young printer in 1729 (Alas, it was not, in the end, used on his gravestone.): The Body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer (Like the cover of an old book, Its contents torn out And stript of its lettering and gilding,) Lies food for worms: Yet the work itself shall not be lost, For it will (as he believed) appear once more In a new...

climbing

Spirituality

The 3 Most Difficult Things a Human Being Can Do

Anthony de Mello, quoting Sidney Harris: The three most difficult things that a human being can do are not physical feats or intellectual achievements. They are first, returning love for hate; second, including the excluded; and third, admitting that you are wrong.

Italian Landscape at Sunset

Poetry

When St. Francis of Assisi Returned from Rome: A Poem

I don’t read nearly as much poetry as I’d like to, but I recently read this lovely poem by St. Francis of Assisi and wanted to share it: When I Returned from Rome A bird took flight. And a flower in a field whistled at me as I passed. I drank from a stream of clear water. And at night the sky untied her hair and I fell asleep clutching a tress of God’s. When I returned from Rome, all said “Tell us the great news,” and with...

Company of Voices by George Guiver

Prayer / Spirituality

“We Treat God Like a Cow” – On Maturity in Prayer

I was reading George Guiver’s Company of Voices: Daily Prayer and the People of God, when I came across this challenging paragraph: However much the modern Church says it believes in prayer, it so often behaves as if it has failed to surrender to God. The word “surrender” is shorthand for Jesus’ image of bride and bridegroom, and the total self-giving which is necessary in their coming together. Allowing God to be at the center is something we all fail to do. We fail to wait utterly on...

Candle in the Dark

Homily

A Candle Cannot Light Itself – Homily for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s readings come straight at us. Isaiah might just as well have said: “You are my servant, people of St. Peter Parish, through whom I show my glory….I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Paul speaks to the Corinthians, but also to us: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the church of God that is at St. Peter’s, to you who have been sanctified in Christ...

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Catholic Education / Spirituality

Facing Trials with Grace: A Meditation by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Today is the feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the woman who founded the first Catholic school in the United States, and also the first American-born saint. In today’s Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, St. Elizabeth explains how she is able to deal with the trials of life. My prayer today, dear reader, is that this beautiful meditation can be of help as you face the various trials of your own life: I will tell you what is my own great help. I once...