Sunday, February 24, 2019

Jesus dresses us – 1 Cor 15:45-49

Seventh Sunday of OT, Year C; Holy Infant parish, Mass with baptism.


Tomorrow night, the winners of this year’s Academy Awards will be announced. But, before the ceremony officially begins, we’ll have the pre-ceremony, the red carpet walk. Person after person, especially the celebrities who are women, but increasingly the men too, will be asked: “Who are you wearing?” Not what, but who. The radio station I normally listen on my drive into work each morning was inspired by this, this past week, to ask the same question of people who workin their office, and received such answers as, “I’m wearing H and M” or, “tonight, I’m wearing Targé(t).” For the record, my alb’s by Patti Schlarb and stole and chasuble by Slabbink. But, the deeper answer, the answer that St. Paul told the Christians in Corinth, is that we are wearing Adam, and we will wear Christ.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

God makes the hungry full –Luke 6:17-26, Jer 17:5-8

6th Sunday of OT, Year C; Holy Infant parish.


The beatitudes are wonderful to hear, aren’t they? The woes… not so much. We like hearing about the last becoming first, but it’s not so nice to hear about the first becoming last, especially when we take honest stock of where we stand in the line. Blessed are the poor, great. Woe to the rich, a little more troubling, especially when we consider that thinking globally, if we can turn on our taps and have something drinkable come out, we’re rich. Now, it should be noted that Jesus doesn’t talk about any kind of punishment for being rich, but there’s still this idea that the rich have already got what they’re going to get. And we want more.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Jesus calls us – Luke 5:1-11

5th Sunday of OT, Year C; Holy Infant Parish.


Do you wonder why, at the start of this reading, Peter isn’t listening to Jesus? There’s a whole crowd pressing in to listen to him speak, speak the word of God, but Peter is sitting a ways off, having gotten out of his fishing boat and he’s sitting there tending to his nets. It probably isn’t that Peter doesn’t know who Jesus is. The way Luke tells it, Jesus had healed Peter’s mother-in-law the day before, and when Jesus talks to him, Peter does seem to know him. It seems that Peter genuinely believes himself to be too busy to put down his nets and listen to Jesus.