Category: Homilies

Today’s gospel, Fr Charlie believes, is all about setting boundaries. If someone hurts you, speak to him or her about it respectfully. Hopefully, the disagreement can be resolved. But, if it cannot, “detach with love” rather than bitterness.

Today’s Readings

The LORD then said to [Moses], “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that I would give to their descendants. I have let you feast your eyes upon it, but you shall not cross over.”
DT 34:1-12

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.”
MT 18:15-20

Only a shepherd who is in “crazy love” love with his sheep would leave the ninety-nine to go after the one who is lost.  Yet that, Fr Peter points out, is exactly what Jesus is telling us God is like.  We have no need to be envious of anyone. God loves each of each of us as though we were the most important person on earth.

Today’s Readings

“[The Lord, your God,] will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed.”
DT 31:1-8

 “It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”
MT 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

Today’s gospel about Jesus’ novel approach to paying the “temple tax” reminds Fr Paul how his father always managed to find the family’s weekly church contribution.  While he never had to send his son Paul out to catch a well-heeled fish, as Jesus did with St Peter, Fr Paul’s dad, like Jesus, always seemed to find a way. 

Today’s Readings

[The Lord] executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him. So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
DT 10:12-22

“Go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.”
MT 17:22-27

Fr Charlie recalls some of the themes he’s explored with us over his 14 years at Our Lady of the Desert: putting love first, agreeing to disagree, and being in partnership with God in prayer. Today he adds another. “Faith is like Wi-Fi. It’s invisible, but it has the power to connect you to what you need.”

Thank you, Fr Charlie, for connecting us to what we need.  Good luck in your new assignment.  We’ll miss you!

Today’s Readings

The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage.
WIS 18:6-9

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
HEB 11:1-2, 8-19

“You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
LK 12:35-40

Today’s readings remind Fr Greg of the desert fathers’ story of Abba Lot and Abba Joseph:

 “Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, ‘Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?’  Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, ‘If you will, you can become all flame.”*

Are we, like Abba Lot, willing to setting for something not quite satisfying or are we, like Abba Joseph, ready to become “all flame” in God.

*Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection, translated by Benedicta Ward (p 103)

Today’s Readings

[Moses said to the Israelites:] “Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?”
DT 4:32-40

“Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
MT 16:24-28

Jesus warns us to guard against greed in today’s gospel. Fr Greg points that our possessions aren’t really the problem. It’s clinging to them so tightly to it that we loose sight of reality – the reality of God, the reality of others, and even the reality of our own mortality.  Living the life God gives us fully and sharing it generously each day with those around us is what really matters.

Today’s Readings

What profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun? 
ECC 1:2; 2:21-23

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly.
COL 3:1-5, 9-11

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
LK 12:13-21

The Lord describes four major festivals the Israelites are to observe in today’s first reading: Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost), the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths. All these festivals, Fr Peter notes, involve food for which the Israelites are to give thanks to God.  They prefigure the greatest festival of all – the Eucharist – in which God Himself becomes our food.

Today’s Readings

The LORD said to Moses, “These are the festivals of the LORD which you shall celebrate at their proper time with a sacred assembly.”
LV 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34B-3

“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house.”
MT 13:54-58

The Redemptorist order, Fr Greg notes, is a lot like the net in today’s gospel which collects “fish of every kind.” St Alphonus’ enduring gift to the church was to form a patient, loving and generous community from these “fish” – a community dedicated to the overlooked, the abandoned, and the rejected. Thank you Redemptorists!

Today’s Readings

Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him.
EX 40:16-21, 34-38

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.”
MT 13:47-53

 

Fr Paul notes that St Ignatius found the “pearl of great price” Jesus describes in today’s gospel while convalescing from the leg wound he received during the battle of Pamplona. Like the merchant, Ignatius gave all that he had that he might obtain it. What will we do when we find our “pearl of great price?”

Today’s Readings

As Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while he conversed with the LORD.
EX 34:29-35

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”
MT 13:44-46

Fr Charlie notes that Moses pitches the “meeting tent” outside the camp in today’s first reading. The Israelites had set themselves apart from God in making the golden calf. Only Moses and Joshua, who had not been party to the idolatry, dared enter the tent. God speaks to Moses in the tent to let him know that while he forgives the Israelites their “wickedness and crime and sin” that their poor choices – as do ours – still have consequences. 

Today’s Readings

“The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God… forgiving wickedness and crime and sin; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless.”
EX 33:7-11; 34:5B-9, 28

“At the end of the age the Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.”
MT 13:36-43