Front Row to Peter's Preaching

In the seminary we heard a lot of hype on Mark's gospel. Some teachers hyped it because it might be the oldest gospel, and they thought that meant "the only really authentic one". Others, because they felt it had been forgotten over the centuries. Others, because they claimed it was more personal and immediate. That sounded like the best reason to be a Mark fan, but I never truly understand what that claim meant till I read Michael Pakaluk's 2019 translation-and-notes which goes by the name The Memoirs of St. Peter. Pakaluk knew how to translate Mark's unique Greek (sometimes pigeonholed by folks as "primitive") in a way that highlighted that "immediate" sense of Peter's storytelling without making it sound lowbrow. Sometimes the very people who spoke of Mark's power also made him sound simplistic and repetitive. So as we celebrate this Word of God Sunday (trademark by Pope Francis, 2020, all rights reserved) and begin in earnest this Year B of the Lectionary focusing on Mark's gospel, I hope you find new ways to appreciate the power of Peter's preaching and the genius of St. Mark's writing. 

Calendars, Cold Dips, and Chalk: An Epiphany Patchwork

Epiphany has a ton of traditions and trivia connected to it, so today's homily was a grab bag of Epiphany minutiae. 

"Caught Up in Love": the Catholic "Rapture" of Christmas

FYI, I fumbled the ball as I crossed the goal line; the last part was supposed to be "...the God who is Love itself, being made lovable to us." And today I stumbled across this marvelous two-line poem by Michael Longley (see attached picture) posted on Twitter by @EmilyKath319 which seemed like the perfect summary of the concept "so that as we recognize in Him God made visible, we may be caught up through Him in love of things invisible." Merry Christmas, one and all. 

Two Advent Homilies

 Here ya go; Happy Advent!

2nd Sunday of Advent

3rd Sunday of Advent

Like a Thief, Like a Fire, Like C.S. Lewis' Dwarfs

St. Paul to the Thessalonians has some scary imagery, but Paul is full of hope. Why? It all comes down to our disposition to God's flaming heart of love and mercy. We can burn or we can be burned. 

Ten Virgins, Purgatory, Prayers for the Dead

Yesterday's sermon on dying: What we do for the living, how should we understand Purgatory, the origin of indulgences, and prayers and Masses for the Dead.

Beauty And Reverence

Sermon about how loving and using beauty and reverence isn't remotely against the gospel call to humility, simplicity, and care for the poor. Star-witness St. Francis of Assisi takes the lead, as he did back in 1200 A.D. when he led the original Eucharistic Revival (see here and here and here). I'm including pictures of St. Joseph's in 1970 and today, not to wag any fingers (I think the parish in the last 20 years has done great work to recenter Jesus and make a beautiful church) but because I specifically mentioned the original detail work being turned to a beige ocean. Also, the 5:30 Mass missed the story that's on here now at 19:45, so I want to draw attention to that.