Sunday, January 26, 2025

1st Corinthians and the Anatomy of Christ's Body

"Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?" No, said St. Paul, but somebody has to be. Paul's famous use of a physical human body to describe the mystical Body of Christ is the perfect metaphor for us to recognize that we need different callings within the Church, that we should judge down neither ourselves nor others for our callings, and that we should reflect on how we fit, through humility and discernment. 

Click here to listen.




Thursday, January 2, 2025

Reflecting on the "Gloria In Excelsis Deo"

January 1st is dedicated to Mary under her title of "Mother of God", but it is also the Octave Day of Christmas—the same "notes" of Christmas Day, harmonizing in a different key.

The last major section of the homily (starting at 11m 45s) may benefit from a visual aid to go along with the audio. [Click here to listen]


The usual layout of this section (in English and Latin) is as 3 couplets:

    You take away the sins of the world · Have mercy on us                       A·B

    You take away the sins of the world · Receive our prayer                      A·C

    You are seated at the right hand of the Father · Have mercy on us     D·B


But if you include the next part, the three "you alone are..." and read it as a 3x3 (like the Kyrie always was for over a thousand years, both East and West), you get something else:

    You take away the sins... · Have mercy on us · You take away the sins...

    Receive our prayer · You are seated at the right hand... · Have mercy on us

    You alone are holy one · You alone are the Lord · You alone are the most high

And this is how the Greek versions of the text lay out those first six phrases too: as 2 sets of 3, not 3 pairs of 2. (Though, admittedly the Greek text has only the first two "alone" titles— holy one and Lord.)




 

 

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Sunday, December 8, 2024

John the Baptist According to Luke

A little on Luke, a little on Isaiah, a little from both of them on John the Baptist.  Audio here. 




Sunday, December 1, 2024

Inaccuracies about the "Two Comings of Jesus" Framework

For at least several decades, there has been a well-circulated depiction of the Church's season of Advent as having two clear and distinct parts and, more challenging for priests and parishes, that the focuses of those two parts are to be kept separate. "The first 3 weeks of Advent are all about our anticipating the Second Coming of Jesus, and then only in the final week do we switch over and think about remember His birth in Bethlehem." So yeah, I wanted to preach on my reflection that this is, yes, built on some things that are true, but can be taken to extremes by some thinkers and liturgists, and is also impractical and kind of weird. (C'mon, how many 2nd Coming hymns do you know? Catholic hymns too, not Left Behind music.) 

The one thing I forgot to mention in this recording is that in the Mass readings previous to 1970 all of the scriptures are focused on getting ready for meeting Jesus in this life, and yet nobody thinks that Pre-Vatican II Advent wasn't focused on Baby Jesus on Bethlehem. 





Monday, November 18, 2024

Last Two Sundays' Homilies

Here's two weeks worth of Sunday homilies. I've switch away from Internet Archive and its embedded players, at least for now. Sorry about that; maybe I can find a format with more controls like skips and playback speed. (Let me know if you've got suggestions.) I'm going to start going backward now and repairing or re-hosting previous audio on here.

Homily for 11/10/24, 32nd Sunday, Year B: Letter to the Hebrews and Temple Worship

Homily for 11/17/24, 33rd Sunday, Year B: Gems in Eucharistic Prayer IV






Monday, September 30, 2024

"Would That All The People Were Prophets" and Prop 434

Sunday's homily. First part about the readings and the second part about the multiple propositions on the Nebraska ballot this November.