Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kings 3:5-12; Psalms 119:57-130; Matthew 13:44-52

No matter how great a treasure might be, there is a bit of craziness to the idea of selling everything one has in order to go all in on a single item. We try so hard to make faith sensible. Why? What are we afraid of? Solomon's wisdom did not come from rational intellect, after all, but from the gift of an "understanding heart". Without this latter grace, how could anyone make sense of God's commands, let alone love them? Yes, it takes a bit of lunacy to find the kingdom of heaven, but do not fear the act of embracing such faith, for only a beautiful insanity could reveal such wonderful Truth.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 12:13-19; Psalms 86:5-16; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43

There is a certain appeal to today's first parable, given the evil that surrounds us. This weekend, the headlines come from Gaza and Ukraine. Next weekend … Too many of our brothers and sisters have already been cast into a "fiery furnace", from where even the deaf can hear their "wailing and grinding of teeth". So yes, there is a certain appeal to the idea that those who cause this misery will get what is coming to them in the end. But such vengeful delight can only be indulged by ignoring the caution implicit in the parable. Who is wheat, and who is weed? How many of us turn a blind eye to our own complicity in the headlines that make us wince? Are there any among us who have not caused one of our siblings to sin? Are there any among us who have never participated in some form of evil? By all rights, those bundles of weeds should be as numerous as the stars. We are most fortunate, then, that God is "good and forgiving", "lenient to all". And I say that our Parent will never consider one of their children to be a weed. So is the parable a bluff to get us to behave? Or is it a warning about the nature of the kingdom of heaven, where the veil of our limited vision will be lifted, and we will know with certainty of the misery we have caused? Such knowledge would indeed be a "fiery furnace" and just cause for "wailing and grinding of teeth". "Whoever has ears ought to hear."

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalms 65:10-14; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23

We are creatures of such stunningly limited vision. I was reminded of this truth in an unexpected way this weekend. LeBron James' decision to return home to Ohio was a jolt to our conventional wisdom. As one sportswriter, who four years ago referred to James as the "King of Crass", wrote yesterday, "Few actually believed he would pick Cleveland. How can spending four years as the leader of a renowned sports circus actually make an athlete more grounded?" In other words, few saw Miami as rich soil, and yet it seems like it was. Perhaps more significantly, many questioned whether James himself was rich soil, and now they are rejoicing at being proven wrong. But what if James had made a different choice? Would that have spoken more to the quality of his soil or our vision? How often do we misjudge the ground upon which our Parent has sown their seed? "My word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it." We are a product of that word. And there is not a single one of us who is not rich soil. Each of us will produce the fruit that God desires, even if that means "groaning in labor pains" for generation after generation. So let us "shout and sing for joy", for never has there been a harvest more wonderful that this.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Romans 8:9-13; Matthew 11:25-30

"For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." The frightening truth is that our time on this speck of rock is not nearly as monumental as we would like to believe. Perhaps if we stopped scurrying around trying to build our various fiefdoms, especially the ones being built in God's name, we might notice how very grand life is and how very little our Parent demands of us in return for that gift. "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest … For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

2 Timothy 4:6-18; Matthew 16:13-19

God chooses the unqualified and the enemy to be their agents in this world. Not exactly who we look for to be our leaders. Which is perhaps why our institutions, religious and otherwise, seem so unholy. We fill our resumes and highlight reels with the trivial and pointless, and our kingdoms reflect these choices. Our Parent, on the other hand, looks only for faith, hope, and love. And their kingdom is the most wondrous of sights to behold. To them be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Deuteronomy 8:2-16; Psalms 147:12-20; John 6:51-58

I wonder: Did our Parent shower manna only on those whose relationships bore the proper ecclesial authorization stamps? And did our Brother quiz the crowd members on their political records before offering them his flesh and blood? Is it God who thinks that some of us need to go hungry, or is that one of our issues rearing its ugly head? Well, in any case, this is my prayer: Lord, there is no one who is unworthy of having you as their soul's guest, because that is the way you love. Alleluia!

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Exodus 34:4-9; Daniel 3:52-56; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18

How often do we turn on the evening news only to be greeted by the spectacle of countless brothers and sisters being slaughtered or exiled because they proclaimed the "wrong" name for God? And how often do we turn away from such visions certain in the knowledge that we are better than those who perpetrate such evil? But are we? Yes, we put down our swords, at least the faith-based ones, a few centuries ago. But that has not stopped so very many of us from asserting that the "infidels" will get their comeuppance in the end. "Whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." But then the Trinity wanders into the mix. If we confess that God goes by multiple names and faces, how can we be certain that any of our siblings are worshipping the wrong one? Two thousand years ago, we knew less than half of God's faces. But now we know that we have seen them all? If the Trinity teaches us anything, it is that the Divine One is not an I, but rather a very big we. It also reminds those of us who use the "correct" names that we are still a "stiff-necked people" who do not understand our Parent nearly as well as we think we do. Fortunately, our stupidity, not to mention "our wickedness and sins", has never stopped them from embracing us as their own. "Glory and praise for ever!"

Pentecost Sunday

"Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." We tend to view this as a gift of power and authority, but it is not. No, it is a test, a test of our ability to listen, and of our willingness to love. Our Parent has shown us their boundless mercy. Our Brother told us to love our enemies. The Spirit simply offers us the opportunity to live out such mercy and love. She continuously gives us the chance to recognize and act upon the truth that the greatest divine gift is our brothers and sisters, human and otherwise. Will we tarnish that precious gift by abandoning them to the bondage of sin, or will we lift them up with mercy and love into new life? There is no studying for this test. Nor are there any clever tricks to letting go of the anger and fear that hold us back from forgiveness. Our Lord has sent out his Spirit, and if we trust in their mercy and love, she will renew the face of the earth. The choice is ours.

Acts 2:1-11; Psalms 104:1-34; 1 Corinthians 12:3-13; John 20:19-23

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Acts 1:1-11; Psalms 47:2-9; Ephesians 1:17-23; Matthew 28:16-20

"And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." God with us. Always. Not on a throne in some cloud realm, but sitting beside us wherever we happen to be. Not swooping down from above to make everything better, but whispering reminders in our ears of the bountiful grace set before us. Not locked behind mighty fortress walls where only the pure may enter, but wandering the dirty and broken highways of our hearts begging us to accept their love. Yes, God with us. Always.

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Psalms 66:1-20; John 14:15-21

"On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you." You and God are intertwined in such an intimate way that it is impossible to tell where one stops and the other begins. But is this good news or a terrifying reality? We are comfortable with the divine as Parent, Sibling, or Advocate. But as Lover and Self? Such notions give birth to relationships and kingdoms many of us are just not ready for. But if you are willing to be so seduced, revelations more strange and wonderful than you can possibly imagine await. "Let all the earth cry out to God with joy!"