A Homily for the 2nd Week of Lent 2026 What would you say is your preferred local anesthetic? What do you reach for when life becomes too much, when the feelings get too big? I refer to it here as a "local anesthetic" for two reasons. First, because it is something we can apply locally … Continue reading Be a Blessing
The Thing Itself
Thomas Merton once described the journey of conversion as: Coming to a deeper sense of who I am, who I am called to be, and an ever-sharpening awareness of the distance between the two. That really is at the heart of our annual call to conversion during the Season of Lent. We are invited to … Continue reading The Thing Itself
Occupy the Earthquake!
A Homily for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 2026 32 years ago I was a newly ordained priest serving in a parish in Los Angeles. It was January 17, 1994 at 4:31 am when the world literally shook. The 6.7 Northridge Earthquake, which struck that morning, was what some called a "sandbox" … Continue reading Occupy the Earthquake!
Keep Your Feet
A Homily for Christmas Day 2025 My feet are ugly! How's that for the beginning of a Christmas Day homily? But it's true. My feet are ugly. I have my mother's bunions and my father's spindly toes. And the older I get the more my mother's bunions push my father's spindly toes into an awkward … Continue reading Keep Your Feet
Late Rain
A Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Advent (Gaudete) "See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains." Dry season after dry season, you watch, you wait, you wonder. You remember the early rain. A nostalgia stirs your heart. … Continue reading Late Rain
Get Real!
Homily for Thanksgiving Day (USA) 2025 When God gives he doesn't give things, God always gives himself. When human beings are grateful we give ourselves back in return. Or, to put it another way: Giving reveals God's Divinity. Gratitude reveals our humanity. At the center of our gospel passage from Luke this Thanksgiving Day we … Continue reading Get Real!
Flannery’s Peacock
A Homily for the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time 2025) Flannery O'Connor had peacocks! Among other animals on the 1960's Georgia farm on which the Catholic Southern writer lived with her mother Regina, there were peacocks. And because of this the peacock has often been closely related to O'Connor, but … Continue reading Flannery’s Peacock
Like a Life I Never Knew
A Homily for the 28th Week in Ordinary Time 2025 There is an adage that goes: "People will tend to prefer a bad certainty over a good uncertainty." Or to put it another way: "People will tend to prefer the life they know over a life they've never known." I suggest we can see this … Continue reading Like a Life I Never Knew
Between Flesh & Stone
A Homily for the 27th Week of Ordinary Time What would you say is the size of the gap in you between flesh and stone? In our gospel last week we heard the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. We heard how, after both men died, there existed, in the afterlife, this vast chasm … Continue reading Between Flesh & Stone
Still Point
A Homily for the Exaltation of the Cross 2025 The spiritual writer, Jacques Philippe, asks a question that I believe is worth our pondering this morning. He writes: "To what degree can evil in my surroundings affect me?" And, simply put, his answer is: "Only to the point I allow it to penetrate my heart." … Continue reading Still Point
Chiaroscuro Spirituality 