“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.  (Jn 15:1, 4-5, 8) Here is a chapter from a book of mine, and so it may be a little longer than an ordinary post, but it is a commentary on today's gospel reading ..read more

During the Easter season, the lectionary takes us on a journey through the Acts of the apostles every day at mass. We hear all about the very earliest preaching in the church, and how the first Christian communities were formed and grew, spreading outward from Jerusalem. So I found it interesting that two gospel passages to the end of this week invited us to turn our gaze back toward Jesus in a particular way. First, on Friday, we heard John’s account of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. What is unique about John’s account, making it different from the account in the other three gospels i ..read more

This Sunday’s gospel passage makes sure that we see the full meaning of Easter for our lives. The passage begins with a rather humorous understatement: “the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” But the important point, it seems to me, is this: how often do you or I ourselves “see the Lord?” Do you see him easily in the folks around you? In people who need your help? And in people who you find difficult to deal with? It seems to me that this Sunday we are being invited to “rejoice” when we see the Lord in everyone around us. As if to emphasize this point, Jesus then says “as the fath ..read more

  "OPENING UP" - The Easter Verb . Here is my Easter post from 2009, just as it appeared then. I trust that it hasn't lost too much of its freshness over the past 15 years. The Road away from the Empty Tomb As we make the transition in this blog away from our Lenten pilgrimage and into traveling together through "troubled times" we find a perfect gospel story in Luke 24:13-35 to start us on our way. Two discouraged and disappointed disciples are on the road home. Their hopes for a Messiah have been cruelly dashed by the execution of Jesus. As they left to go back to their village ..read more

Last year's post for Palm Sunday still holds a lot of messages for me personally, so I'm posting it for my own benefit. I hope that it may be a blessing for you as well. Let's be sure to pray for one another during this holiest of weeks.  Lift up your heads, eternal gates, let him enter the king of glory! (Ps. 24) Tomorrow’s Palm Sunday celebration, when the church remembers and reenacts Jesus’s entrance into the holy city of Jerusalem, centers our attention on Jerusalem, where all of the action of Holy Week and Easter comes to a head. Early this morning I started thinking about Jesus' en ..read more

My hour has not yet come In the last sentence of this past Friday’s gospel passage, St. John tells us that the crowd in Jerusalem could not attack Jesus “because His hour had not yet come.” He uses that phrase a couple of times in his gospel. First, we remember the scene at Cana when his mother asks him to solve the problem of the wine running out, and he explains “my hour has not yet come.” Then, in verses skipped in the editing of Friday’s passage,in from John Chapter 7, when “his brothers” encourage him to go up to Jerusalem, he replies “my time is not yet here;” and in the followi ..read more

 In this morning’s gospel we heard Jesus tell his disciples,  “And just as Moses lifted up [hupsoō] the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up [hupsoō] so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” I’[d like to offer some thoughts about the Greek verb hupsoō,  “to lift up.”  Most of the time in the New Testament the word is used figuratively for “lifting” someone to a position of honor or power: “Whoever exalts [hupsoō] himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted [hupsoō]” (Matt. 23:12). But John uses it in its lit ..read more

There is a verse in Psalm 50 in which God asks “do you think that I am like you?” This question deserves some careful reflection. The parable of the Prodigal Son (read at mass this morning) is a great challenge us, because it shows us a God who is infinitely merciful and forgiving. I have to ask myself, “Am I like that, or do I set limits on my forgiveness?” I can certainly find plenty of quotations in the Old Testament, and some in the New, that portray God as vengeful, petty and angry, “punishing the children to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents.“ I can show you ..read more

  Our computer network had some issues over the weekend, so I could not share my post. I now have the time to share a previous post that reflects on this past Sunday's reading. Some years ago I posted a different perspective on the Transfiguration, in which I suggested that it is oriented toward the future. Today I'll present another way of looking at the event: It's Jesus' letting his disciples catch a glimpse of the present truth that in the person of Jesus heaven is touching earth. It's not just about the future, but about Jesus' identity as the divine Son of God right now. The sc ..read more

  IBM Selectric On Ash Wednesday I gave the homily at the mass for about 800 students (grades 7 through 12), faculty and staff. I thought I might share it here with you. The story is borrowed from my book “Downtown Monks.” ============================= When I arrived as a freshman at St Benedict’s, one of my first teachers was Father Eugene Schwarz.  He was our music teacher, and was in charge of the choir, which was where I got to know him. I thought he was just the greatest, or as we said back then, the “coolest.”.  By the end of my sophomore year I was convinced that ..read more