Thought for the Week

Fourth Sunday of Lent [March 14, 2010]

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:08:40 -0900

It is obviously a bit late for me to be thinking about changing careers. Even if it were possible, however, the one occupation that would not attract my interest would be Law. I do not have many friends, who are judges or attorneys, but it occurs to me that Law is a calling that involves a high level of intelligence, deep compassion while making those serious decisions that can realistically affect another person’s life. Indeed, judges and juries in many instances have the power to take or spare another person’s life. Without doubt, therefore the legal profession carries with it great power but also great peril. A wrong decision can make a difference for a lifetime.

It should also be said that a case of law should have no room for assumptions. Life and Law have to do with provable facts. There is no room for superficial assumptions about guilt or innocence.

Third Sunday of Lent [March 7, 2010]

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:09:46 -0900

Let me begin this reflection on the Third Sunday of Holy Lent with an assumption that I feel is almost certain. My assumption is that everyone, without exception, is capable of experiencing God. Secondly, everyone experiences God in his/her own unique way. There is the Catholic experience, the Christian experience, the Jewish experience, the Islamic experience and others too numerous to mention.

I would also like to assert that even atheists experience God, not my God or yours, perhaps, but God in some unique form known and interpreted only by the individual.

Second Sunday of Lent - February 28, 2010

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:51:56 -0900

As I take my seat before this machine called a word-processor, a processor of words, I am, almost literally, without words. The unimaginable destruction and human suffering that has followed upon the 7.0 earthquake on the Caribbean nation of Haiti has left everyone who thinks about it and tries to write about it nearly speechless. No words in the English language can describe the suffering these good people have experienced. Graphic images make us turn our face away. On the streets and alleyways of the cities the odor of death makes people turn and walk in a different direction. In short, communications people who are generally skilled with words are suddenly left without. There are simply some natural occurrences on this planet that defy our ability or skill to explain or describe.

It should come as no surprise to us, therefore, that we live on a very fragile and unprotected planet. One sometimes even wonders whether humankind was meant to live on this planet we call earth. We seem to have little control over our environment.

The First Sunday of Lent [February 21, 2010]

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:16:27 -0900

I have a feeling that the person who was responsible (I’m assuming it was a pope) for the good ordering of the liturgical calendar, the ordered procession Sundays, feast days, obviously did not take the condition of human nature into consideration. It may sound trivial but it has only been approximately 6 weeks since we celebrated (yes celebrated) the Nativity of the Lord and the other lesser feasts that follow directly upon it.

And now, here we are today on the First Sunday of Lent being asked to put on ashes and dreary faces (well, not quite). But we are asked to change our thoughts to serious matters. I’m not sure whether most Christians are ready for that substantial transformation; whether we are prepared for it or not, however, the season has come for us to do some serious thinking about the manner in which we look at life and what we are doing about it

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time [February 14, 2010]

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:17:37 -0900

I am still amused when I reflect on my first year in college at the University of Notre Dame back in the early fifties of another century. I was exposed to courses I never knew existed: Latin, philosophy, logic, public speaking and many others. Here I am a young fellow from the farm along with some military experience but hardly a liberal scholar. So with that I began the process of being liberated from my youthful ignorance.

With utter amazement then I can remember the first piece of homework given in our fundamental philosophy course: “What is Happiness?” I could not even imagine anyone having the time to dwell on such an obvious issue. Is this what philosopher’s do for a living, I asked myself? Anyone with an ounce of brains can tell you what happiness is: it means having a car, money in your pocket, being able to go where you wish, having a girl friend and on and on.

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time [February 7, 2010]

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:51:56 -0900

Think a little with me, my friends, about one of life’s deep mysteries at least a mystery for me. It is a question that many of us who are a little older often think about. How is it that we have become who we are? What series of happenings brought me to this point in my history that I can clearly understand my identity? Why have I chosen this career and not another, this way of living that is unique to me and to none other? Contrary to the stories that are told in the reading from the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel of St. Luke today, our decision to follow our way of life did not happen at one spectacular moment in our history; there was no overwhelming vision that steered us in this way rather than another.
My sense of it is that there have probably been a whole series of events that have happened, and not just ordinary, garden-variety occurrences. No, rather there were small epiphanies, momentary flashes of enlightenment that we cannot explain except that they came from God.

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time [January 31, 2010]

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:24:37 -0900

Consider, my friends the following scenario: Let us say that a young Catholic man decides to go off to the seminary. He has been an exemplary student, amicable in character, well liked by all.

So, he heads off to the seminary. Eight years later he returns to the home parish for his first Mass. All the eyes in the church are upon him expecting a pleasant word from the successful hometown boy. He steps to the ambo to speak: His first words are: “Folks, this is the lousiest parish in the entire diocese. The Christian spirit is completely lacking in this community. I hope that the bishop assigns me to this parish for my first appointment; believe me, I’ll clean up this community like you have never seen it cleaned before.”

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time [January 24, 2009]

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:40:19 -0900

There is something fascinating about having the opportunity to listen to a really good speaker, someone who can truly hold your attention and make you wish that you had the same skill at the podium.

In the successive ages of history when public orators were rare but polished at their trade, even commoners would gather in courtyards to hear them and be mesmerized by the smoothness of their art.

In the Romano-Greek age of history, for instance, scholars like Aristotle, Demosthenes, Cicero and even Paul of Tarsus were recognized as classical speakers. The fact that we have the records of their rhetoric still in existence today gives you some insight into the importance of these speakers.

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time [January 17, 2009]

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:25:11 -0900

Contrary to what many people may think about the daily life of priests, it is really not such a bad life. Priests, like anyone else, of course, have their down days, but they also have their individual interests, hobbies, travel, sports; they usually get a day away from the madness of the parish office or the classroom. We all need to get away from the daily grind occasionally.

One of the pleasant features about being a priest or minister is that you have the opportunity to take part in the celebrations of others: weddings, baptisms, anniversaries, family gatherings.

The Baptism of the Lord [January 10, 2010]

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:50:16 -0900

One of the pleasant features about being a priest or minister is that you have the opportunity to take part in the celebrations of others: weddings, baptisms, anniversaries, family gatherings.

The Epiphany of the Lord [January 3, 2009]

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:30:17 -0900

Let me tell you a story about God. Actually, it is someone else’s story about God, but it is worth the retelling.

Some years ago a reporter for the New York Times was sent to Guatemala to do a story on the civil war in that saddened country. He stood in the middle of the cathedral market place, observing people in a long line waiting for food. The line nearly extended around the block. Finally at the end stood a slender young woman holding a basket. It seemed to take forever for her to reach the officials who were distributing the food. When she finally arrived, there was only a single banana left on the table. She looked off to the side where a little boy and girl were waiting by the fence. She then took the banana, walked over to them, peeled it, broke it in half and gave a peace to each of the children. They walked out of the square. At the end of the reporter’s description of this event, he wrote: “You know, I think I saw the face of God just then.”

Feast of the Holy Family [December 27, 2009]

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:53:27 -0900

I am not ordinarily not very alert or perceptive at 7:00 in the morning, but there was an occasion several weeks ago when I was having my morning shot of coffee and the comics that it suddenly it occurred to me that about 90% of the comics are about children and families. So, I asked myself, why should that be? Do most people simply enjoy reading something that doesn’t take much intelligence or concentration? Could be. But then, I silently waxed philosophical and thought to myself, “why not; hey, it’s our own story; we all do those silly things described in the comics. Down below the surface (if the writer is good at it) one can always find some very basic traits of human nature. Why, for instance, is the Classic Peanuts comic still running after all these years? Could it be that the kids are portrayed as “little” adults with all of the adult idiosyncrasies? When we laugh at them, we are actually laughing at ourselves. Charles M. Schultz, the author, was no dummy. He spent a large part of his life making fun of us and for us.

The anthropologists, therefore, are not the only smart people who claim to know something about human nature in all its beauty, its complicatedness, its love, its meanness, it’s pride and its shame. It’s all about the family, the descendants of Adam and Eve. We are nature’s masterpiece.

Fourth Sunday of Advent [December 20, 2009]

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:39:30 -0900

My friends, it is my hunch that if you were to ask any priest or minister who preaches for a living how they feel about preaching during the Sundays of Advent, they will tell you that it’s a battle, it’s always been a battle, at least in these modern times when the commercialization of Christmas has caught the eye of Christians and non-Christians alike.

Let me tell you, however, that this beautiful season of Advent which has its own meaning and identity often gets lost in stories of Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.

Third Sunday of Advent [December 13, 2009]

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:33:17 -0900

I always look forward to the Third Week of Advent each year, mainly because we are introduced to the last of the great prophets, John the Baptist, “J.B.” as I like to call him. I like him for the contrarian character that he is. He beats people up, figuratively. One will not escape John’s wrath, whether one resides in First Century Palestine or in our own Twenty First Century. We may not like John’s “attitude” or the way he chooses to dress but we will have to admit that he answers questions bluntly and straightforwardly. “What should we do?” one person asks. “Here’s what you should do, listen up,” he says. So it goes. People asked questions and got answers. People never went away from John’s preaching puzzled.

Here I must interject a “J.B” character from modern film, someone I have often mentioned before, Dewey Euliss, played by that great actor, Robert Duval. The film is titled The Apostle. Dewey Euliss is a “laid back” North Texas pastor of a large church. He has no problems; he’s the senior pastor with tenure. All goes well for Sonny: He preaches fiery rhetoric but never asks hard questions. There are no significant questions to be asked; everyone is quite content with life.

Second Sunday of Advent [December 6, 2009]

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:34:18 -0900

If you were to ask any Catholic person with even a smattering of catechism background in Roman liturgy what comes to mind when they hear the word Advent, without doubt, they will say, waiting and preparing. It is true: For all the years of our Catholic upbringing we have dwelt on those two words as the core of this beautiful season. Unfortunately, for many years, at least as children, we were told that we were waiting and preparing for the coming of Jesus or the birth of the baby Jesus. Partly true, of course, but not true enough. There is so much more depth and meaning in those two words that we were not ready for in our early days. Are we ready for them today, that’s the question? Here are some thoughts, not all original, but worth some reflection nonetheless.