The ninth chapter of John's Gospel causes us to ask: Who is really blind?

The raising of Lazarus was a sign of the coming resurrection -- and also a provocation.

On the Second Sunday of Lent, the deacon preached.  -- We must be aware of our various thirsts.

Considering distraction as a major element of temptation leading to sin.

This homily ran a lot longer than usual, mainly because of late word of the homicide by firearm of an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles.  The focus is mainly on our misunderstanding of what Jesus means when he says we are to be "perfect."

A discussion of the reality of free will.

Jesus says, "Let your light shine"; but he also says "Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."  Does he contradict himself?

Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes: promises that we will be happy even if it seems we are out of step with what most of the world is doing.

This is the Sunday of the Word of God, and we begin our year-long reading from the Gospel of Matthew with Jesus' choosing of his first four disciples.

We are getting started with the long expanse of Ordinary Time and particularly with a continuous reading from Paul's first letter to the Christians of Corinth, Greece.

The Bishop of Rome Emeritus, Pope Benedict XVI, died yesterday.  His resignation in 2013 provided an example to all of us that we all must acknowledge our limits.  Mary's identity as "Mother of God" means that she is pointing to her Son and encouraging us to greater amazement at his identity as truly God and truly human.

In our age of information, the Scriptures for Christmas Day are all about the Word who says everything to us.

Advent points us to completion and fulfillment.  What do we think such fulfillment will look like?

Entering the privileged time of Advent, we are invited into timelessness and the possibility of doing something productive with our swords.

Please note: A number of Sundays are missing.  I know that I left the device at home on the Third Sunday of Advent, when I pointed out a crescendo in what the prophets and the Gospels were saying about "the one who is to come."  Other Sundays, the deacon preached.

Kingship and kinship: Christ is King of humanity because he has identified with our lowest ebb.

The Sadducees did not believe in eternal life; therefore, they were sad, you see.

Last weekend, the deacon preached.  -- If we think about sin, we must also think about mercy, forgiveness, and healing.

Prayer is not for the sake of controlling God.  We must immerse ourselves in prayer so that we may discover how to be united with our God.

The story of Naaman inspires us to consider failures of imagination and the concept of local gods.

Again, the homilist must have forgotten to record September 18.  Too bad; it built on an earlier Sunday's pronouncement that life is not a game.  On September 25, the deacon preached.  -- We need to become more comfortable with the statement "We are unprofitable servants" so that we will wait actively for "the vision."

The weekend of September 4, the homilist was in Paris and North Arm while their priest made a Mission Co-op appeal in the homilist's parishes on behalf of his diocese in Rwanda.  -- The stories of Luke 15 can be revisited countless times, and they do not get old.  God's mercy does not make sense -- but we know we need it.

Jesus is not giving an etiquette lesson.  He is asking us why we are so concerned about status when people who cannot gain any such status need to be responded to.

The homilist must have failed to record August 14, shortly after his mother's funeral.  -- Anyway, LIFE IS NOT A GAME and is, in fact, BETTER than a game.

The homilist preached on the short form of the Gospel, seeing no need to talk about beatings.

After three weeks away, because of a visit to Guatemala and the souvenir he brought back (Covid), the homilist returns and considers the vanity-content of our lives.

Do you think that perhaps Jesus was seeking new recruits because he was having second thoughts about James and John?

The return to Ordinary Time and a consideration of vocation was somewhat overshadowed by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision and its implications.

This separate celebration of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist can never be separated from Holy Thursday and the Passion of Jesus.

Two persons of the Trinity are called "Father" and "Son."  Therefore I decided to stick with family relationships.

We, the Christian community, can work through our problems together.

The Christian people began with a small number; Revelation promises that this nucleus will grow into a vast throng.

We as Christian community must be fed by the Sacred Scriptures.

The gift of resurrection is the foundation of our Christian community.

What sort of conversation can be held among three people condemned and dying?  Saint Luke's Passion gives us an example, and it is the opposite of futile.

Our lives are not games.  We must not manipulate people.  We must treasure the gift of forgiveness which our God has given us, and allow that gift to make us compassionate.

The story of the father and his two sons never fails to agitate us as we marvel at the behaviors therein portrayed.

The "problem of evil" is best addressed by our looking at the evil within our own hearts, and opening ourselves to conversion.

How are promises to be fulfilled?  What is our reaction if we simply see no way to fulfillment?

Beware the polarities of "I am God" and "I am nothing."  If we understand ourselves as God's beloved creatures, we will be less likely to succumb to temptation.

The Third and Fifth Sundays of Easter, and the Ascension, are missing.  In the case of the first two, I had left the recorder at home and did not feel like running back for it.  The Ascension marked the return of Deacon Bob Crosby, who preached.

As I recall, on the Third Sunday of Easter, I preached about our need as Christian community to grow comfortable with one another -- which Peter obviously was not when he discovered himself to be in the presence of the risen Jesus.  On the Fifth Sunday of Easter, I focused on the word "elder" in the Acts of the Apostles and the fact that I am technically a presbyter or "elder," and became an elder before I had turned 26.

There was a lot to talk about, including the Russian attack on Ukraine, in light of the image of having a block of wood in your eye.

It was a crazy day, and what I have here is a summary.  Love your enemies.

"Blessed are you who are poor": may there be no obstacles to our accepting this promise of Jesus.  (This file runs a little long; I remembered to turn off the device after I dismissed our catechumen.)

I don't like to be startled.  Peter, I suppose, needed to be startled.  I trust in God's gentle revelations to me of his presence.

St. Paul's meditation on love anchors us in a sense of what is valuable.

How clear is St. Paul's "analogy of the body"!

The Magi, the baptism of Jesus, the wine at Cana: all these are connected with Epiphany, the manifestation of Jesus to the world.

In the midst of uncertainty, we have a "theophany" -- God showing himself to us.  Sorry, this file runs a little long; I forgot to turn off the device.

We see very clearly that the human family is a global community.

There are tensions even within the Holy Family.  We must not be surprised at the tensions within ours.

The account of the visit of Mary to Elizabeth is crowned by the Canticle of Mary, the Magnificat.

John the Baptist speaks of elementary, immediate acts of social justice.

Luke very deliberately fixes the time of the emergence of John the Baptist.

We lift up our heads with confident expectation of what God is giving us.

This is a king whom Pilate cannot fathom.

As we try to appreciate the gift of everlasting life, we find that anything having to do with love will help us.

Jesus, both priest and sacrifice, offered his own blood in the heavenly sanctuary.

Law must find its way into our hearts and habits.

Jesus is the effective high priest because he shares in humans' weakness.

Six months away from the Easter Triduum, we read two Scripture passages associated with Good Friday.

Hebrews: The Word of God penetrates even the spaces within ourselves where there is no space.

No recordings exist for the last three Sundays of September.  -- Take note of the argument of the Letter to the Hebrews, to be presented during the next seven Sundays.

As Jesus respects the man he heals, so we must be cognizant of the private and public spheres of everyone's lives.

We must credit the ancients with insight into disease, even if they did not have direct knowledge of microorganisms.  Jesus is making a different point: to be concerned, not about what passes through you, but rather about the evil which emerges from you.

To whom shall we go?  Our reception of the Holy Eucharist is personal, not conventional.

Mary's immaculate conception and assumption follow from our understanding of her as "Mother of God."

If one is interested in being an "influencer," Jesus' method is not the way to go about it.

Jesus begins to talk with people who did not perceive the "sign" of the Kingdom but simply want some ready source with which to be sated.

What good are five loaves and two fish for a crowd of five thousand?  Do we perceive the "sign" in this merciful act of Jesus?

Let us go rest in an out-of-the-way place -- but it's not out of the way if throngs of people come there.

Going out on mission: Do we recognize that our not clinging to our property is the sign of the truth of the treasure of the Kingdom?

Jesus was not accepted in the place where he grew up.  And the homilist gets lots of pushback when he attempts to state that Americans are in the same sinful state as all other human beings.

God did not make death.  Jesus gives life and health to all.

Anxiety is something we all experience.

I don't recall why there is no recording for June 6.

Take a risk -- it's a small step, like a mustard seed, and you will experience much growth.

Love is something shared.  God as Trinity is the height of sharing and loving.

The Holy Spirit works with us to repair an atomized human society.

The power of "up" and "down," and "sitting at the right hand," upon our imaginations.

The many dimensions of love.

You can't beat the vine and the branches for clarity.

Deep thoughts on shepherding.

It is I, myself.  Look, I'm eating.  Do not be afraid of ghosts.

Faith and love require that we enter more deeply into Christian community.

We note how Peter and John, entering Jesus' empty tomb, reach a moment of insight which convinces them of his resurrection.

Barabbas is "son of the father."  Jesus, "son of the father" in the deepest sense, takes the place of every last one of us.

Jesus is the grain of wheat which loses its identity in order to bring forth an unexpected harvest.

Jesus revives Lazarus because he is God and can do so, but also because he is human and he feels the bitterness of bereavement.

The best-known verse of the Bible, and the end of the Hebrew Bible.

You'd think those beholding the healing of a man born blind would rejoice.  Instead, he is a problem.

On the foolishness of God.

Pope Francis in Iraq and the beauty of dialogue.

What does it mean to rise from the dead?

Jesus is entirely like us, having experienced the struggle with temptation.

The man who is healed talks too much.  We need to consider whether we, likewise, talk too much.

A discussion of the mysteries of time, on a recording which I think runs on until almost the Eucharistic Prayer.

On preferring the authority of one's arguments over an argument from authority.

On the "Sunday of the Word of God," we have to consider the context of the Scriptures we hear at Mass.  Jonah was called by God, but he was quite an unwilling prophet!

Sorry, merely a summary on the matter of being called by God.

My response to the desecration which occurred on January 6, 2021.

An irony: We who have been given the good news may, with great strength, resist it.  Thank God for crises.