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Daily homily thoughts, 9/22

Yesterday we celebrated St. Matthew. He loved his piles of money. But they didn’t bring him any happiness to speak of. Then came Jesus. Jesus said, Follow Me. And he got up and left his money behind. No second thought is recorded in scripture. Amen. Today we hear in our gospel, blessed are the poor. Money, big houses, fancy jobs and cars….who cares. Jesus is what counts. Our first reading reminds us: We come into the world with nothing and we leave with nothing. Jesus gotta be our everything. Forget the stuff, or better, give the stuff to the service of Jesus. After all, as paul says, love of money is the root of all evil. Just ask St. Matthew

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Daily homily thoughts, 9/21

Today we celebrate St. Matthew. He was a tax collector, probably working late one night when all the sudden Jesus came. Into the darkness of his office. Light entered. Jesus likes to come to places of darkness and sadness. Today we offer this Spanish Mass for the afflicted in Mexico after the terrible earthquake and Puerto Rico after the hurricane. May God bring Light there.

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Teach them that Jesus is real

I enjoyed reading a little card from St Meinrad profiling a holy man who is a good friend and soon-to-be priest, Dcn David Farrell:

It was while working in a summer youth camp in rural North Dakota that Deacon David Farrell’s prayer life blossomed. “A priest was teaching us how to talk to the kids about prayer,” explains Deacon David…”He told us, ‘If you teach these kids anything this summer, teach them that Jesus is real.”

“What he was calling us to do was to witness through our own experiences that Jesus is real and present in our lives. From that point on, I started praying every day and started forming a deep relationship with Christ.”

It’ a relationship that has deepened through the years. “When I first began praying, the goal was to spend time with Jesus. As I’ve gotten further in the seminary formation at St Meinrad, I’ve come to see that prayer is not only about a relationship with Jesus; it’s about transformation in Christ. I’s about becoming more like Him.”

Once he’s ordained a priest, Dcn David looks forward to helping others encounter God. “Prayer helps us live in the awareness and presence of God continually and helps us realize how joyful that can be. That’s something I hope to bring to my parishes. I want to help others see the way God is working in their lives and how He is knocking on the door of their hearts.”

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Daily homily thoughts, 9/20

Today we celebrate Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, the so-called Korean Martyrs.  Fr. Andrew was the first native Korean priest. All of these men brought the Church to Korea. They paid a price. But, when they met Jesus, they turned the world upside down.  In our Gospel today, we see the opposite: we see people who, upon meeting Jesus, are indifferent. Jesus says their indifference is like when someone plays a flute and no one dances, or when someone sings a dirge and no one weeps.  So much indifference.  I wonder if the Korean martyrs were born here in Shelbyville, about 50 years ago.  What might they have done with this whole place? What might they be doing.