Today is the Feast Day of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a Capuchin Franciscan friar, who was martyred during the Catholic Counter Reformation in 1622 (some 100 years after the start of the Protestant Reformation). Fidelis had been evangelizing in Graubünden, now a canton of eastern Switzerland, which at the time was a stronghold of Calvinism. He was meeting with a great deal of success in receiving people into full communion with the Catholic Church. While journeying on a local road he encountered soldiers under the command of the local Calvin leadership. They demanded Fidelis (Latin for “fait ..read more

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter. Like the song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5, John 15:2 depicts the role of God as the grower who spades, clears, plants and takes care of the vineyard only to be rewarded with wild/sour grapes (Isa. 5:1–7; cf. Ps. 80:8–9). According to 15:2, the vinedresser does two things to ensure maximum fruit production (“he takes away … he prunes”; cf. Heb. 6:7–8): (1) in the winter he cuts off the dry and withered branches, which may involve pruning the vines to the extent that only the stalks remain; (2) later, when the vine has sprouted leaves, he removes t ..read more

In the gospel reading for today we heard Jesus tell some bystanders who wanted Jesus to plainly say that he was the Messiah. Jesus replied: “But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” How about us? Are we among his sheep? Granted in other places in the New Testament there are other indicators of membership within the flock, but today’s indicator is whether we hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. But let me nuance that criteria just a shade. What voice are you most fa ..read more

In the gospel reading for today we heard Jesus tell some bystanders who wanted Jesus to plainly say that he was the Messiah. Jesus replied: “But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” How about us? Are we among his sheep? Granted in other places in the New Testament there are other indicators of membership within the flock, but today’s indicator is whether we hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. But let me nuance that criteria just a shade. What voice are you most fa ..read more

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter. The ancient Old Testament allegory of Israel as Yahweh’s vine becomes deeply Christianized at this point. Jesus is the true vine of which the Father takes personal care, pruning the barren branches, trimming and cleaning the fruitful. These latter are the disciples who have accepted Jesus’ life-giving word. They are invited, encouraged to live on, to abide in Jesus. The Greek word for “abide/remain,” menō, occurs eleven times in these few verses, a repeated insistence on the return of Jesus by indwelling. The other all-important word is “love.” J ..read more

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter in Lectionary Cycle B. The first reading for this Sunday comes from Acts of the Apostles. There is a certain sense of appropriateness to that selection as we pay attention to the time after the Resurrection when the apostles and disciples were about the process of becoming “church” (ekklesia) – those who were “called out” to do the work of the Lord. At first blush it might seem odd that the Gospel looks back to the events before the Passion, Death and Resurrection. Our gospel (vv.1-8) is the first portion of the remarkable “Vine and Branches” meta ..read more

Note: still away from the parish, but here is another offering from the trove of homilies past. After having graduated from the US Naval Academy – the first cauldron of forming leaders for the Navy and Marine Corp – and after finishing nuclear power training and submarine school, I reported as a bright shiny Ensign to my first submarine! I was ready to be a deep-diving, backing down full at crush depth, denizen of the deep – “Run Silent, Run Deep” and “Hunt for Red October” all rolled into one. Turns out the submarine’s supply office had just been medically disqualified from serving on submari ..read more

This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter. “This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father” (John 10:17-18) Verses 17-18 form the conclusion to the discourse. In these verses, the shepherd metaphor is abandoned completely and Jesus speaks directly about his death and relationship with God. These verses focus on three theological themes that are essential to understanding the death of Jesus i ..read more

This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter.  “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Verse 11 pushes beyond the imagery of Ezekiel 34 in its reference to the shepherd’s willingness to lay down his life for the sheep. A possible OT antecedent may lie in the messianic oracle of Zech 13:7-9, in which the death of the shepherd is required so that the flock can be purified. Verse 11 may also have points of contact with Palestinian shepherding practices; a good shepherd may indeed have to give up his life to prevent the decimation of his flock by wild ani ..read more

I do not watch a lot of sports on television, live-stream or in person – the one exception: the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team. There was a transitional exception during the recent NCAA basketball tournament, men’s and women’s. After all, one had to catch at least a glimpse of Caitlin Clark. But whatever the sports event, one can not help but notice the preponderance of sports betting advertisements. It is estimated that people watching NBA, NHL and MLB events are exposed to online gambling messages — including betting company logos, commercials, sponsored segments and any time betting odds a ..read more