Homily: Easter Sunday Morning

“They did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”  Now there’s a line for your Easter morning meditation; and it might even carry you through the whole of Easter Week.  But then, we can sort of empathize with these three confused disciples – Mary Magdelene, Peter, and “the other disciple whom Jesus loved,” traditionally understood to be John.  After all, this morning’s Inquirer ran a front-page story entitled “Debating the Resurrection.”  In that article, the Rev. Cindy Jarvis, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut...

From the Pastor: 4.29.12

Yep.  I’m on my faith-Church-culture “kick” again.  I subscribe to an online Catholic headlines service (sponsored by Paulist Press) which provides me with access to a widely diverse collection of Catholic-related stories daily, Monday through Friday.  Think of it as a sort of electronic version of “Catholic Digest.”  On any given day, it can cover anything from Jim Martin, S.J.’s latest book to an official announcement from theVaticanSecretary of State.  It make for interesting reading, I assure you…  While almost all of the stories are noteworthy in...

From the Pastor: 4.22.12

Ideally, this column would have run LAST week; but “doubting” Thomas intervened.  Anyway, I hope you’ll agree that it is never too late for thanks and congratulations.  Just TWO weeks ago, we completed another memorable celebration of the Triduum and Easter; and many, many thanks and congratulations are in order.  First off, thanks to our liturgy planning and coordination group (Fr. Ed O’Donnell, S.J., Norm Gouin, Stephen Paesani, Luanne Balestrucci, Chuck Burke) for all of the advance work which they did by way of planning and preparation.  Stephen Paesani was...

Homily: 2nd Sunday in Easter

For the last 25 years, I have been talking about Thomas on this 2nd Sunday of Easter – usually speaking in his defense and explaining why his doubts should not seem so surprising.  But as I prayed and pondered on the readings this year, it struck me in a whole new way that today’s scriptures – including John’s account of “doubting Thomas – are really all about us. Think about it.  Like Thomas, we were not lucky enough to have been present in that Upper Room when Jesus came and appeared to the rest of the apostles.  We never met the risen Jesus “in the...

Homily: Easter Vigil, 4.8.12

Tonight’s celebration is primal and archetypal; it is at once both universal in scope and up close and personal.  It is about forces of power – fire, water, mythic words, and food and drink – and it is also about the five biggest human issues and questions: suffering, death, love, God, and eternity.  In our prayer this evening, we both experience and celebrate light overcoming darkness, water washing clean and giving life, community and belonging triumphing over alienation and abandonment, and the infinite God embracing weakness and smallness to draw near to us in...

Homily: Palm Sunday, 4.1.12

At first glance, it is tempting to seize on the apparent contrast in today’s liturgy between the joyful entrance procession with its Gospel account of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the sad and somber Passion narrative which we have just heard.  While we resisted the urge here this morning/evening to throw our coats on the floor in the aisles, we did wave our palms and sing our “Hosannas” along with the crowds who welcomed Jesus.  And now, a scant 15 minutes later, we have heard those same crowds cry out “Crucify him!  Crucify him!” even as they...

From the Pastor: 4.15.12

“Thomas Sunday” – a.k.a. Divine Mercy Sunday in recent years – seems a good time to reflect on reconciliation and forgiveness.  After all, one of the transformative effects of Christ’s dying and rising is our redemption, which involves “justification”  That’s just an expensive theological word which means that the Divine Judge, acting on his own infinite authority, accepts Jesus’ obedience and humility as having “balanced the accounts” for our own pride, rebelliousness, and self-indulgence.  God chooses to let the “right and just” behavior of...

From the Pastor: Easter Sunday

Back when I was studying theology before ordination, I had a Dutch Jesuit as my spiritual director for two years.  Frits van der Ven was a “free spirit,” and very full of life for a man nearing seventy.  He laughed easily and often.  He loved good food and good wine.  He reveled in theCaliforniasunshine (we lived together in community inBerkeley).  And he generally approached life with enthusiasm and gusto. You didn’t have to know Frits for very long before he would confide the “secret” of his “élan vital.”  He would explain that as a younger...

From the Pastor: 4.1.12

Wow.  Palm Sunday again already.  Our FOURTH together!  It’s an interesting feast.  Presumably this moment of triumphal entry toJerusalemreally happened in the earthly life of Jesus; but it serves a dramatic function in the Gospels as well, insofar as it represents the “calm before the storm.”  For this one brief moment, Jesus is popular, the crowds are happy, and the apostles are riding high.  If I were painting or filming the event, however, it would feel dishonest if I failed to include the Pharisees and Sadducees huddled somewhere in the background...