The experience of doing something that does not reflect our usual behavior that is not “who we are” is disconcerting. Usually, it is also unwanted because we have done something worse than usual. Less common, at least for me, is doing something uncharacteristically good and noble showing unconditioned love. St John looks at how this occurs, what it reveals, and how we can build on it in today’s passage and it is wonderful that we read it on Mother’s Day.
Continue reading “Homily – 6th Sunday of Easter – Fr. Smith”Category: Homilies
Homily – 5th Sunday of Easter (Fr. Smith)
I don’t think I would have done as well as the apostles in recognizing who Jesus was. From the vantage point of 20 centuries, they can seem somewhat dim but given their justified expectations, they were quite perceptive. They challenge us today.
As our Bible study group is discovering the best way to understand what the Apostles and their Jewish contemporaries felt can be found in the Psalms. They are not only beautiful poetry but heartfelt expressions of faith, doubt and everything in between with often great sophistication.
Continue reading “Homily – 5th Sunday of Easter (Fr. Smith)”Homily – Good Shepherd Sunday (Fr. Gribowich)
Good morning again.
Can you hear me okay with this microphone like this? Okay, great. It’s great to be here., back at Saint Charles. I was in town this weekend for a wedding out in Pennsylvania.
And when I go to Pennsylvania, I usually stop at a farm.
It’s known as a Catholic worker farm, and it’s something that I’m personally involved in.
And the whole mission behind a Catholic Worker farm is in principle to try to cultivate a return to the land so that we know where our food and where our nourishment comes from and to have that interaction with the city.
Continue reading “Homily – Good Shepherd Sunday (Fr. Gribowich)”Homily – Good Shepherd Sunday (Fr. Smith)
There is an old Italian saying: “The fish stinks form the head down”, This has been a guiding principle of the church since the beginning and the human reality behind the image of the Good Shepherd in St. John‘s gospel.
The community which St. John formed was begun by Jews who knew their history. They saw the rise and fall of kings and how that affected the lives of common people. They knew the book of Ezekiel and his use of the shepherd image. He wrote when the Babylonians had conquered Jerusalem and brought the Jewish leaders to their capital as captives. Ezekiel thought that the people had been scattered because the leaders – shepherds – had pastured themselves and not the sheep. (Ez 34:8)
Continue reading “Homily – Good Shepherd Sunday (Fr. Smith)”Homily – Third Sunday of Easter (Fr. Smith)
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)”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)”