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

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

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

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

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

“Delight in the Human Race”

A Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity "Hail space for the Uncontained God!" That line, coming from the Eastern Orthodox Liturgy for the Annunciation, has become a long time favorite of mine. In it the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary is reframed and Mary redefined as the seemingly limited space … Continue reading “Delight in the Human Race”

“Even Now”

An Easter Meditation In this Jubilee Year of Hope, in the buoyancy that so many have felt in the election of our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, and in his early message which seems to hang on two words: "Peace" and "Unity," can we say, where ever we are, in the midst of our … Continue reading “Even Now”