Advent and the Song of Ascents

A very literal translation of John 1:14 would be "the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us." Another would be to say he "pitched his tent among us". It is the same Greek root word for how God camped among Israel in the desert and dwelt with them in Solomon's Temple. The Temple, and therefore Jerusalem, was understood to be the place where heaven and earth met, the place where God's glory physically dwelt. "To it, the tribes go up" to meet their God. What we await in Advent though is something even greater than a temple, in a city, in a kingdom. It is God in the flesh, who then will live in every Christian, and be present on every altar, even till the end of time.

Jesus, Loser and King of Losers

Jesus loses. He empties himself to become a man. He preaches that we must lose our pride, our power, our treasures, and our very selves. And then he loses even what he had as a man. His public preaching and his passion are the same lesson told two different ways. Jesus loses out of love. Loss is the language of love, and he invites us to love —and therefore lose— too. This is the kind of king he is, and the kind of kingdom he is launching.

A Visitation vs. A Staying

The 9am Mass had a pretty bad first draft of this homily, so I rewrote it entirely for the evening Mass. I think most people could probably follow it the second time. It compares and contrasts the visitation that God had been promising Israel (Mal 3:1, Luke 1:68 & 78, Luke 19:44) and which will come again (2 Thes 2:1-2) with what Jesus is doing with Zacchaeus and with us after the Ascension.

Poured Out Like A Libation

A short (5 min) homily on suffering, failure, pain, and humiliation. St. Paul argues it's part of the Christian vocation.

He Remains Faithful; He Cannot Deny Himself

Israel's God is faithful. Jesus is YHWH's faithfulness come in flesh. Jesus is faithful to the end. And yet, if we deny him, he will deny us. He said this multiple times. So how's that work? Let's take a look.

Why Psalm 95 Has Been Prayed 100 Billion Times

100 billion times is actually a fairly conservative estimate. Listen to the homily and check my math. More important though is the reason for it: starting each day's prayers with an invitation to worship the Lord and a warning to make sure our hearts and minds are in the right place as "we approach the throne of grace".

Not Just Heritage, But Inheritance

St. Wenceslaus' Solemnity-on-a-Sunday homily: the Czech spiritual family, St. Agnes of Bohemia's excellent story, inheriting the Faith, new Confessions and Masses (including new 7:45pm Sunday evening Mass), update on sanctuary restoration, update on deficits. Learn more about St. Agnes of Bohemia here.