Priest. Hermit. Aspie.
Picture this little scenario.
You go to Mass next Sunday. During the Mass, the priest suddenly stops and proclaims, “The best Catholics are the ones who sit in the front pews!”
You go to Mass the following Sunday, and a different priest proclaims, “The best Catholics are the ones who sit in the back pews!”
If you sit in the middle, you are already thinking, “And what are we – chopped liver?” Continue reading “The More Excellent Way”
One of the names we have given to the Sacrament of the Eucharist is Communion. Communion is the opposite of isolation. The word reminds us that, by our sharing in this sacrament, we also share in the Lord’s very Body and Blood. Moreover, we share this as a community of faith. We are also the Body of Christ. No matter what the vocation of each one of us may be, none of us ever walks this path alone. We walk with the Lord and we walk with our sisters and brothers in Christ. Continue reading “Communion”
Now that baseball season is well underway, I can mention a quote I recently came across. It was from Warren Spahn, the Hall of Fame pitcher who played for the Braves nearly all his career – beginning when the Braves were still in Boston. Here is the quote:
“Hitting is timing. Pitching is disrupting timing.” Continue reading “The Serpent’s Trap”
It’s a familiar scene from the Gospels.
The disciples are in a boat, struggling with wind and rough waters by night. Jesus comes to them, walking on the water. Peter cries out, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water”. Jesus says, “Come”, and Peter comes. However, seeing the wind and waves, Peter loses heart. Beginning to sink, he cries out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus does do, and then gently chides him for his ‘little faith’.
We usually see Peter’s ‘little faith’ as being his fear in the face of wind and wave. We often hear homilies extolling Peter’s willingness to leave the safety of the boat in faith, but then telling us how Peter took his eyes off Jesus and then sunk. But what if there was another way to understand this story? What it Peter’s lack of faith happened earlier, before he even left the boat? Continue reading “Is It Really You, Lord?”
You find the sparrow that falls
When boughs break, to you she calls
With broken wing, still she sings
You find the sparrow that falls
– from The Language of Flowers, by Connie Dover
In my last episode, I spoke of how Thomas and the other disciples were able to meet the Risen Lord through his wounds. They had learned that they were far more vulnerable and wounded than they knew. The wounds of the Risen Lord gave them hope. Continue reading “From Shame To Joy: The Road to Emmaus”