TV Mass Homily

“All spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came out of his mouth.” So the people of Nazareth first responded to Jesus in his hometown synagogue. Then suddenly they turned on him. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” They even tried to throw him off the hill. Why this sudden change? Perhaps when Jesus read the words of Scripture with such authority their vision soared beyond themselves and their everyday world. But when they looked upon Jesus simply as a home town boy putting on airs their vision narrowed. Many of us have had times when we have been so spiritually moved that we were lifted above the weariness of the moment and we feel close to God. There also are times when uncertainty, anxiety…

“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad,” the psalmist sang. One of the wisest founders of the United States Benjamin Franklin wrote, “The morning hour has gold in its hand.” It was a way of saying that this day the Lord has made is a gift to be used well. The gift of today is an important note from our readings. In the first reading from the Book of Nehemiah, the people were rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem after returning from captivity in Babylon. Ezra the priest reads to them from the rediscovered scroll of the law which many had never known about before. Hearing the word of God the people weep, perhaps because they were ashamed that they had not been…

Do you believe in miracles? The dictionary defines a miracle as a ”transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the deity or by the imposition of some invisible agent.” Nowadays miracles by the volition of the deity, by God, are viewed by many as absurd because God does not exist for so many. They believe that eventually science will reveal all the invisible agents that produce mysterious happenings. A man with little faith was lost in the desert. He told his friends that he was in such despair that he knelt down and cried out to God for help. Did God answer he was asked. ‘Oh no.’ He said. ‘Before he could a man appeared and showed me the way out.’ Was that coincidence or a…

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Our Gospel reading gives us a glimpse of the Holy Family as a very human family. Anyone who has cared for children can appreciate the fear, the anxiety Mary and Joseph must have felt on discovering that Jesus was not with them. The journey from Jerusalem to Nazareth was a long walk on hilly roads. Historians tell us that the men and women often traveled in separate groups at differing paces. They would meet at an appointed place for the night. Children might travel in either group. So Joseph could have thought that Jesus was with Mary and Mary thought that he was with Joseph. When they discovered otherwise, anxiously they returned in search. Can you…

One of the special traditions of Christmas is to put lights in the window, a welcoming sign of Christ who is the Light of the world. In two days Christmas will be here. Whether the One who came and is to come is with us that festive day and the days that follow depends on whether we see the light in the window, the window of our hearts. We desperately need that welcoming light to guide and console us through the storms of life which seem especially heavy and diverse these days. Some years ago there was an article in Catholic Digest about a Native American on a reservation here in South Dakota remembering when during a winter blizzard he had to go out to get more firewood. He had…

‘What should we do?’ The people asked John the Baptist. It is a question we often ask, especially in times of anxiety, uncertainty or fear. John the Baptist and St. Paul suggest answers. John the Baptist must have had a powerful presence because when he called those around him to account, many responded. He told them that judgment is coming; they must repent; they must change. And they responded – ‘tell us what we should do.’ His answer was not earth shattering, not impossible to achieve. To the crowd he said: you have two coats, give one to someone without one; give your surplus food to those who are hungry; in other words, share your blessings. To the tax collectors he said: take nothing more than is required by law;…

With the Christmas holiday and holyday less than a month away, many will identify with the verse in today’s Gospel: “beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.” Sadly the hubbub and expectations of our cultural celebration of Christmas can allow this special time to degenerate into a trap of material expectations and of anxiety. The shopping, the wrapping, the cooking, the cards, the decorating, the parties, the travel, can become a trap of sorts when we lose the spiritual dimension of Christmas. As someone said, the season of Advent we begin today is not so much about preparing for Christmas day to come as preparing for Christ to come. I…

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. Every year I remember this humorous anecdote. Father George Fitzsimmons was pastor of Christ the King parish in Kansas City. The bishop called the parish one day. When the phone was answered the bishop asked: “is this Christ the King? “No,” came the response, “this is George the pastor.” In a way we are called to be Christ the King. Through baptism we are to become his instruments of justice, love and peace. We tend to think little of kings. Presidents and Prime Ministers hold sway in our day. Somehow Christ the Prime Minister just doesn’t raise up the image of who we worship and who we need. “Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked Jesus. To Pilate a…

As winter approaches and the Church liturgical year comes to an end next week, our readings raise the question of when will Christ come again to judge the living and the dead. This article of faith we will affirm in a few moments when we profess it in the recitation of the Creed. When it will happen has been a matter of speculation for many centuries. With the multitude of tragedies in the world, some believe that the end must be coming soon. There are wars and insurrections, volcanoes rumbling and earthquakes shaking, famines and floods, fires and health epidemics, and violence in its many forms that feed such speculation. With humility we must not confuse any specific problems or catastrophes of our day as signals of the end of…

One of the great blessings with living in the wide open spaces of the prairie is that we can observe birds soaring above us in their grandeur of God given freedom. The story is told of a man who trapped an eagle which he put it in a cage on display in his store hoping to attract customers. One customer saw this and asked the owner how much he wanted for the eagle. The answer was a huge amount. The customer purchased the eagle, left the store and immediately set the eagle free. He was asked why he would spend so much money on a bird just to let it go. His response was, “wealth isn’t what you’ve got, but what you’ll give to do the good that needs to…