Thanksgiving Day – November 28, 2024 Most of us don’t get handwritten letters in the mail anymore. Instead, our mailboxes are filled with bills, ads, and end-of-the-year solicitations, and our inboxes numb us with spam, more ads, and work. In … Read More
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe – November 24, 2024 Seven years after World War I, Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King. Earlier that year, Adolf Hitler published Mein Kampf, and … Read More
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 17, 2024 We come almost full circle since we began the Year of Mark, and today’s Gospel should sound familiar. The verses that follow this pericope were proclaimed on the First Sunday of … Read More
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 10, 2024 Many landmarks and much of the infrastructure we take for granted were built by persons enslaved and exploited by unjust systems. I think of the White House, of rail and roadways … Read More
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 3, 2024 On this Sunday before Election Day in the United States, the Lectionary gives us a blessing in disguise. Today’s pericope of the greatest commandment is so familiar that we might miss … Read More
Solemnity of All Saints and The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed – November 1-2, 2024 Time is a liturgical symbol created by God and regulated by the cosmos. In each particular day or season, in each minute or hour, … Read More
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 27, 2024 At the edge of Jerusalem, after misunderstandings, disappointments, and misguided requests by Jesus’s followers and would-be disciples, we finally find a worthy companion for Christ on the road to the cross. … Read More
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 20, 2024 In Mark’s Gospel, the language about the cross and what it requires is violent and unambiguous. Jesus will suffer greatly and be rejected, killed, and handed over. He will give up … Read More
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 13, 2024 Does Jesus want us to sell everything we have to inherit eternal life? Or is this another hyperbole to get our attention? Recall that in the first Christian community, “no one … Read More
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 6, 2024 Hopefully no one in their homily last week advocated for self-harm or mutilation as an actual response to human weakness. We do not interpret Scripture literally or use it to invoke … Read More