In Luke’s gospel none of the disciples immediately understood what happened to Jesus. Mary Magdalene comes the closest but even she needed instruction by an angel to remember Jesus’ own prophecy. When she and the other women tell the apostles that they had seen Jesus’ tomb empty and heard the explanation of the angel only Peter believed them. He ran to the tomb but left amazed and more confused than enlightened. Particularly clueless were the disciples that we meet today on the road to Emmaus. Perhaps that is why they are among my favorite characters in the New Testament.
Continue reading “Homily – Third Sunday of Easter (Fr. Smith)”Category: Homilies
Homily – Divine Mercy Sunday (Fr. Smith)
“The Man who Shot Liberty Valence” is one of the great American Films. It was produced in the early 1960s and chronicles both the evolving American West and the developing American newspaper industry. It contains a most memorable line “When a legend becomes fact, print the legend” This combined with the adage “Nature abhors a vacuum” is the foundation of many of our Christian stories. St Thomas the Apostle is a case in point. (Link to the scene in the movie can be found here liberty valance print the legend – Bing video)
Continue reading “Homily – Divine Mercy Sunday (Fr. Smith)”Homily – Divine Mercy Sunday (Fr. Smith)
“The Man who Shot Liberty Valence” is one of the great American Films. It was produced in the early 1960s and chronicles both the evolving American West and the developing American newspaper industry. It contains a most memorable line “When a legend becomes fact, print the legend” This combined with the adage “Nature abhors a vacuum” is the foundation of many of our Christian stories. St Thomas the Apostle is a case in point. (Link to the scene in the movie can be found here liberty valance print the legend – Bing video)
Continue reading “Homily – Divine Mercy Sunday (Fr. Smith)”Homily – Easter (Fr. Smith)
When the angel spoke to the women at the Tomb in today’s gospel, he told them “Go quickly and tell his disciples” to meet him in Galilee. This is the language of the org chart. The angel recognized where the disciples, the most prominent followers of Jesus, are in the organization and gave them instructions from their direct report.
Several minutes later the women meet Jesus himself and he tells them to “go tell my brothers to go to Galilee”. His desire to see him is understandable. All the disciples ran away when danger arose, some fell asleep when he needed them most and Peter, their leader, denied him three times before the authorities. Our first thought might be that they have a lot for which they must answer. Yet Jesus calls them “my brothers”. He uses the language of family and speaks of them with affection.
Has he forgotten their betrayal, has there been no judgement? Far from it. The resurrection is itself the judgement of God. For centuries the LORD sent prophets, teachers, kings and poets to show his people how to live. He shared his very mind with them, but they did not change. He therefore sent his son. God’s judgment is that reformation isn’t enough, there must be transformation. Jesus did not show us a new way of seizing earthly power or of obeying the divine law, he showed us a new way of being human.
Homily – Good Friday (Fr. Smith)
BEFORE READING OF THE PASSION: As we read the Passion of St John today, I ask you to pay attention to when Jesus knew that everything was finished.
HOMILY:
The Passion according to St John is majestic and perfectly integrated into his whole gospel. I asked you to listen to when Jesus found everything finished. Let us ask what was finished and why then.
The moment was after Jesus had told Mary to “Behold her Son” the beloved disciple, usually called John, and John to behold Mary as his mother. Both too much and too little can be made of this passage.
Continue reading “Homily – Good Friday (Fr. Smith)”Homily – Palm Sunday (Fr. Smith)
(In lieu of a homily for Palm Sunday, the following reader’s guide was read before the Passion.)
Peter and Judas are prominent in all the Passion stories, but it is only in Matthew, which we read today, that they, or rather their fates, are clearly contrasted. Both know they are sinners but take vastly different paths,
Peter was the spokesman for the Apostles and although he often put his foot in his mouth, he was rewarded for his exuberance. His declaration of faith in Jesus as the Messiah is reported in Matthew, Mark, and Luke but only in Matthew is he renamed the rock, and only here is he given the keys to the kingdom. (Mat. 16:13-19) He is unquestionably the most honored of the apostles. Yet as in Mark and Luke when he argues with Jesus over Jesus’ prophecy of his impending execution, he is called Satan, a stumbling block. (Mat. 16:23) The harshest words ever spoken by Jesus.
Continue reading “Homily – Palm Sunday (Fr. Smith)”Homily – 4th Sunday of Lent (Fr. Smith)
We modern people have difficulty accepting the black-and-white statements of Jesus. We pride ourselves on seeing the exceptions, the grey parts of life. Given the world’s present clumsy polarization, this is quite ironic and perhaps we can now acknowledge that Jesus has a particularly pertinent insight. He reveals who is good, bad, or ridiculous but perhaps we could better say who will be good, bad or ridiculous.
Continue reading “Homily – 4th Sunday of Lent (Fr. Smith)”