Posts from 2023 (Page 4)

The first message we glean from our first reading (Isaiah 22:19-23) and Gospel passage (Matthew 16:13-20) on this 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time is about solidity. It is conveyed by the image of a peg holding things together: “I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot.” (Isaiah 22:23) And also by the new name given to Simon by Jesus: Rock, Kephas in the original Aramaic, petra in Greek and Latin, is rendered by its masculine form, Petrus, and the English form Peter.  The concept of solidity becomes…

During a 1962 press conference, President John F. Kennedy commented on the plight of American reservists who continued to be held on active duty after the Berlin Crisis had subsided. At one point, he noted: “Life is unfair.” Tragically, just one year later, on November 22, 1963, this young American president was gone. Americans will forever remember his death as a tragic example of unfairness. In my classroom, when the topic turns to fairness, I enjoy asking students questions like these: Is it fair that…

To make some sense of the troubling gospel passage (Matthew 15: 21-28) given us for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, let me submit to you a probable scenario. It is necessary lest we certainly find Jesus’ conduct and words to that Canaanite woman totally shocking.  Here is the scenario that I propose. Jesus is walking somewhere in Galilee and his twelve, full-blooded Israelite disciples are some abreast with him and the rest within earshot. As full-blooded Israelites, they are…

The readings for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time should help us avoid crossing over from Christian self-confidence into narcissism and rampant self-importance. For a long time, Elijah had such a high degree of self-confidence that, empowered by God, he could singlehandedly hold his ground against Ahab, the King of Israel and his most influential wife, Queen Jezebel. Against all odds, Elijah had foiled their evil schemes and served Yahweh God most faithfully. But when Jezebel swore that she would not rest…

In the 2004 movie, Millions, seven-year-old Damian Cunningham, following the death of his mother, sets out with his father and older brother to establish a new life. A pious and prayerful Catholic school boy, Damian has a fondness for the lives of the saints and an equally powerful zeal for serving the poor. Set within a fictional period when the Bank of England was converting to the Euro (they didn’t), Damian is seen playing outside one day when a bag of…

The Catholic Church might be the only Church who makes a big deal out of the Transfiguration; such a big deal that she celebrates this feast twice each year: on the second Sunday of Lent and on August 6th. For the Catholic Church it is a big deal because of the intimate union of Jesus with all of us in his Mystical Body. The destiny of Jesus Christ, the Head of the Body, is the destiny of his Body as well.…

One day a man stopped by an apartment building to visit a long-time friend of his, an older woman named Mabel who was a music teacher. He greeted her by saying, “Hey, Mabel, what’s the good news today?” Mabel stood up, silently walked across the room, picked up a small hammer, and struck a tuning fork, causing a note to ring out through the apartment. Then she said, “That note is an A. It is an A today, it was an A five thousand…

By Professor Donald R. Byrne While I was a student at Holy Redeemer High School in Southwest Detroit, conducted by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary from Monroe Michigan, I became familiar with the march of the French in the expulsion of the Acadians (1755-1763) from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island as well a portion of Maine, in the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, Evangeline, A Tale of Acadia.  The British, having conquered the French in North America, wanted to…

And Jesus replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” (Matthew 13:52) This is an obscure yet intriguing sentence with which Jesus concludes his teachings about the Kingdom of Heaven by means of parables during the last several Sundays. It reveals a most reassuring fact about this Kingdom applicable to each one of us: from the beginning of…

One modern scripture scholar notes that “parables are figures of comparison that use stories to teach a truth or answer a question.” Two-thousand years later, as we read and listen to the parables of Jesus found in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), all of this seems clear.  However, as the disciples walked with Jesus, this was not the case.  In the Gospel of Matthew (13:10), they asked Jesus: “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He responded…

On the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we find out from Jesus that, as Sower, the Father is one of the worst farmers around. His wasteful clumsiness is due to his infinite love for all his children; he scatters his seed even in the most improbable, unsuited spots such as on a busy trail, rocky ground, and thorn bushes. Nobody can ever accuse God of being less than insanely generous in his sowing! Since Jesus has the same heart of the Father…

I would like to thank you for providing me a few moments to honor this newest Eagle Scout from our parish. It is a privilege to be in the midst of so many who serve their communities in such special ways. This afternoon, as we count the ways in which Evan has earned this distinct honor, I hope to focus my remarks on the future. But prior to moving forward, it should be noted that every future has a past. For Evan, his past has been…