The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time [B]
Genesis 18:20-32  +  Colossians 2:12-14  +  Luke 11:1-13
July 24, 2016

“What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?”

When my younger brother and I were little, we got into a fight one day while playing football.  In the midst of this fight my two front teeth were chipped, and they still are today.  So I always think of brother whenever I brush or floss.  It’s odd:  the connections that stick in our minds.

But discord is part and parcel of life in this fallen world.  The great British writer G. K. Chesterton once said that Original Sin is the simplest Christian dogma to prove:  all you have to do is pick up the newspaper (or in our day, click on a news app…). Continue reading →

The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]
Genesis 18:1-10  +  Colossians 1:24-28  +  Luke 10:38-42
July 17, 2016

“Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

 

Husbands, you probably will not be able to relate to this scenario, but stretch your imagination.  Imagine that you have put your foot in your mouth during an argument with your wife, and you are in the doghouse.  Actually, you have put both feet in your mouth, and the dog has kicked you out of the doghouse, you’ve messed up so bad.  Now maybe that’s never happened to you, but if not, let’s pretend I’m talking about “your brother”.

So “your brother” realizes he needs to mend the fences with his wife, and he decides to take her out to eat:  not to Spangles, but to one of those restaurants on the east side with cloth napkins.  That’s how bad your brother has messed things up. Continue reading →

The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]
Deuteronomy 30:10-14  +  Colossians 1:15-20  +  Luke 10:25-37
July 10, 2016

“Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”

My father loves to tell stories, especially about his children.  One of his favorites concerns Angela, my oldest sibling.  On her very first day of school, her class was led to the cafeteria at lunch time, and the entrée was (this will tell you how long ago it was) the entrée was liver.  This did not please my six-year old sister at all, and she promptly explained to the cook:  “My dad doesn’t eat liver, and I don’t either!”

From what young parents have told me over the years, the chore of getting children to eat healthful foods is among the more exasperating that they face.  Parents might try different strategies:  for example, they might try the percentage strategy, where if the child eats seventy-five percent of his spinach, he gets released from the dinner table for good behavior. Continue reading →

The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]
Isaiah 66:10-14  +  Galatians 6:14-18  +  Luke 10:1-9
July 3, 2016

“…do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you….”

Father Sam may have explained that one of the reasons I’m residing at Aleppo is because my chief assignment is Chaplain for the IHM Sisters, who last year moved into their new convent two miles south of Colwich.  It’s a much shorter drive to the convent than the drive I had this past year.  But a happy consequence of residing at Aleppo is serving in the two parishes where my classmate, Father Sam, is pastor. Continue reading →