Some stories are so good that it is hard to believe that they are true, and I must admit that I heard the story that I will tell today secondhand. It was however from my spiritual director who heard it from the young priest in question and if you can’t trust a lawyer who can you trust?

On the day of his ordination, a newly ordained priest met an older priest whom he had never seen before and never saw again who said to him “Today you have given your life to Christ, don’t spend the rest of it taking it back”.

Continue reading “Homily – 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Fr. Smith)” →

I grew up in a majority Catholic neighborhood with a vibrant Jewish minority. Recently, I met a Jewish friend from those days on a street in Manhattan. She was with a co-worker about our age. When her companion asked how we knew each other my friend said that we grew up in Blessed Sacrament parish. We all immediately laughed. The Catholic community in New York was once so strong that our parishes formed our lives and defined our neighborhoods. There is much that was wonderful about this, but we should not be overly nostalgic or sentimental, other parts were not so wonderful. St John today will help us identify and build on the good parts.

Continue reading “Homily – 7th Sunday of Easter – Fr. Smith” →

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” →

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)” →

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)” →

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)” →