Tagged: Gospel of Luke

Winter Trees

Homily

#EndoftheWorld – Homily for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

The days are getting shorter and shorter. The leaves are abandoning the trees, winter is on the horizon. The liturgical year, our Church year, is coming to an end. And always at the end of the Church year, the readings are chosen to remind us that just as the year ends, so there will be an end of all days. It’s not that the Church is morbid and wants us to think about our death and the end of the world. We already think about it, as humans...

Global War on Christianity

Homily

The Haunting Question: Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” That is the haunting question that Jesus poses to his disciples at the end of today’s parable, and it’s the haunting question that Luke posed to an early Church that was struggling with persecution and conflict. That early Church is featured in Quo Vadis?, the novel the eighth graders and I are currently studying. Quo Vadis? is the story of a young Roman military tribune and the Christian woman he falls in love with. It takes...

Give Us This Day

Homily

Homily for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

The power of a parable lies in its ability to shock us, or to suddenly flip things upside down. Parables make us sit up and pay attention because they challenge our view of the world. For example, the Parable of the Sower puzzles us because the farmer throws seeds everywhere, on the path, on rocky ground, among thorns. The Parable of the Good Samaritan shocks us because the Samaritan passer-by takes care of the Jew who’s been robbed. But today’s Parable of the Dishonest Steward may be the...

Empty Classroom

Homily / Teaching

Where Do I Sit? Homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

Here we are on the brink of another school year. What an exciting time! So many new things to celebrate. Jefferson Elementary has a brand new building, the Ferris campus is looking fantastic, and Gonzaga Prep students are getting their new iPads ready. Here at All Saints we’ve got some new teachers, some new families, and I’m excited to meet my new eighth graders. When I was in college to learning how to be a teacher, we were taught that on the first day of school students want...

Lodgepole Pine Cone

Homily

Of Pinecones and Fire: Homily for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Twenty-five years ago this weekend was one of the blackest days in the history of one our our national treasures. On Saturday, August 20, 1988, 150,000 acres of forest land burned in Yellowstone National Park. They called it Black Saturday. Wildfires had been raging in the park all summer. 9,000 firefighters and 4,000 military personnel worked tirelessly to keep the fires from destroying visitor centers and other valuable property. The wildfires continued to rage for the rest of the summer, and by the end of the fire season...

Bill Cosby

Homily / Prayer

Bill Cosby and Prayer: Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s readings deal with prayer, and as I’ve been following the events of World Youth Day this past week, I came across a video by one of my favorite authors, Jesuit Fr. Jim Martin, editor-at-large for America Magazine on the topic of prayer. The U.S. Bishops asked Fr. Martin to make a few short videos to show to the pilgrims at World Youth Day this past week, and one of them happened to be about prayer. In this video, Fr. Martin says that whenever he gives a talk...

Jesus and Twitter

Homily

Is Jesus Part of Our Social Network? – Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

Our youngest daughter is playing in her very first Hoopfest this weekend, so I went online to find out when she was playing and what bracket she was in, and I noticed there was a place where you could follow particular teams. You register with your email address, type in the name of the team, click the follow button, and you’ll get updates about how well the team is doing in the tournament. Technology has made following other people very easy but it might also cause a bit...

Kissing Jesus' Feet

Homily

Do You See This Woman? Homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

First let me wish a happy Father’s Day to all the dads here today; we remember in our prayers those fathers who are deployed overseas, and we also remember and pray for the souls of those fathers who have passed away, especially in the last year. For those that are here, I hope that you and your families have a great weekend and really get to celebrate. That’s one thing that St. Peter Parish is really good at–celebrating. Just a few days ago, an amazing team of parishioners,...

Jean Valjean

Books and Reading / Homily / Movies / Spirituality

Les Misérables and the Transfiguration: Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent

The Academy Awards are this weekend, and normally they don’t hold much interest for me, but this year I’m pleased to say that one of my old friends is nominated for a major award. I’ve been teaching the novel Les Misérables for almost twenty years and it has become a steady companion to me each Lent as the eighth graders and I read it at this time every year. The latest movie of the novel is a film version of the Broadway musical starring Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway,...

Family / Homily

Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family – Year C 2012

Today is the feast of the Holy Family, and as we look at the gospel reading today we might be reminded of another story, a similar story, a more modern story. A story of a family taking a long trip during the holiday season who suddenly realize they’ve left their young son home alone. I’m speaking of course of the 1990 John Hughes movie Home Alone, where young Kevin McAllister is sick of being bullied by his older brothers and sisters, tired of being ignored by his parents,...

nativity scene

Homily

Homily for the Christmas Vigil Mass for Children – Year C 2012

God Is With Us! Quite a few firsts in this homily: first homily without a full text in front of me first time preaching at a liturgy for children first Christmas homily first time using the lapel microphone first homily away from the ambo and walking around http://traffic.libsyn.com/stpeter/SP-2012-12-24a.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

Advent Wreath

Homily

Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent – Year C 2012

You Better Watch Out, You Better Not Cry? Last weekend Brenda and I took the girls out to do some Christmas shopping and we ended up at a local sporting goods store looking at boots, hats and gloves. And as we made our way up the stairs to the second floor we saw a young boy, probably five or six years old, trying to hide behind the winter coats. He had obviously had enough of Christmas cheer, and was ready to go home. And his mom looked to...