I WILL Dance!

A Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy) If you know mercy then you now how to dance. During the Easter Octave it has been my practice to pray with the various Resurrection narratives we are given across the 4 gospels. But this past Easter Octave was different. I was recently reminded of … Continue reading I WILL Dance!

Stay with Me

A Homily for Holy Thursday 2026 There's a voice rising. Can you discern its source? A voice making a simple, insistent plea: Stay with me. Remain here with me. Stay with me, and perhaps we'll wash each other's feet. Remain with me, and we'll tell each other our stories. Stay with me, and we'll gather … Continue reading Stay with Me

On the Live-Edge

A Homily for Palm Sunday 2026 The Cross is a centrifugal force! The Carthusians tell us: "The Cross stands firm while the world turns." Before the Cross the world was spun by a centripetal force. The world turned by a "center-seeking" force. Life energy moved toward an isolated, insulated, veiled, so-called sacred center. But with … Continue reading On the Live-Edge

Broken Frames/Holy Lives

A Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent 2026 We all have been framed! No, that isn't the start of a homily that's gonna take a deep dive down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. It's simply a fact: We've all been framed. Framed by boundaries like heavy wood around a precious piece of art. … Continue reading Broken Frames/Holy Lives

Be a Blessing

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

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

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

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

Self-Preservation (& the Death of Empathy)

A Homily for the 15th Week of Ordinary time 2025 If I was to say to you: splagchnizomai you might be tempted to respond: Gesundheit! And if you did you wouldn't be too far off! "Splagchnizomai" is the biblical Greek word for "Gut-Wrenched." And, as you probably know, "Gesundheit" is a German word meaning: "Health" … Continue reading Self-Preservation (& the Death of Empathy)

Words Made Flesh

A Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ 2025 I am discovering that a lifetime of practicing Lectio Divina leads to Lectio Divina taking on a life in time. It becomes increasingly clear that the Word is Living, the Word is Unchained, and therefore: Words Matter. Words are always … Continue reading Words Made Flesh