12 Sunday B

From Fr. Tony Kadavil:

1) “No! Jesus who calmed the storm will save me!”

The Mississippi River was flooding its banks, and the waters were rising swiftly around Dorothy's house. The waters had gotten to the level of the front porch where Dorothy was standing when a man in a rowboat came by and called to Dorothy, "Hop in and I'll take you to high ground." Dorothy replied, "No, Jesus who calmed the storm in the sea will save me from flood waters!" The river continued to rise to the second story windows and Dorothy, looking out, saw a powerboat come up. The man in the powerboat called to Dorothy, "Hop in and I'll take you to high ground." Dorothy replied, "No, my Jesus will save me!" The river had now risen to the roof of the house. Dorothy was sitting on the ridge at the top of the house with the waters swirling around his feet. She saw a helicopter fly over, and the people inside yelled over a bull horn, "Grab the rope and climb in, and we'll take you to high ground." Dorothy replied, "No, Jesus will save me!" The river continued to rise. Finally the floodwaters engulfed the house and Dorothy was drowned. The next thing Dorothy knew, she was standing before Jesus. In anger, she asked Jesus, "I put my trust in you. Why have you forsaken me?" And to her Jesus replied, "What do you want from me? I sent you a rowboat, a powerboat, and a helicopter!" (http://www.inspiration.com). Today’s gospel tells us that we have to act promptly, trusting in the power of Jesus and seeking his help as the apostles did.

11 Sunday B

From the Connections:

 

Ring of gold

True story:
A church had collected clothing for the poor and homeless.   The parish youth group volunteered to sort, fold and pack the clothes.  The kids made a game of it, trying on items that caught their imaginations, creating weird costumes, merrily clowning as they worked.
Then one of the kids felt a lump in the pocket of a worn cardigan sweater.  He reached in the pocket and found a little bundle.  He opened it to find a gold wedding ring.  On the paper wrapped around the ring was written in a shaky hand:  “I have no need of this now.  I hope it will help you.”
The hilarity in the room was hushed.  The ring glowed as it was passed silently and reverently from one young hand to another.  No one joked, no one presumed to try on that sacrificial gift for a needy stranger.

Corpus Christi 2015

From the Connections:

 

Elizabeth’s special recipe

Elizabeth's house was always filled with love, joy, good times - and fresh bread.
Of course, things come slower these days for 85-year-old Elizabeth.  The simplest tasks take more time and demand more energy now than they did when she was 25.  But, on days when her beloved grandchildren are coming to visit, she gets up very early and plants herself in her comfortable kitchen.  Her hands, gnarled by arthritis, carefully mix the batter, knead the dough, blend in the sweet cinnamon swirl, and bake the loaves.  The work demands more of her, physically, than the first time she treated her young family to her cinnamon bread, but the joy it still brings makes it all worthwhile.

Holy Trinity 2015

He recalled the husband, who said when he became a father, he better understood the Trinity. When he and his wife had their son, they had evidence of their love for each other. There was the lover, the beloved, and the love, each distinct and yet one.

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I enjoy the playful description of Daniel Durken of the Trinity. The Father played creator and was overjoyed that the world turned out so attractively. The Son played redeemer and put everything right again in the wounded world by stretching out His arms on a cross. The Spirit played sanctifier. He made room in the heart of each of us for the Trinity. "Today," says Durken, "the Trinity invites us to keep playing with them this delightful game of life and love." And why not?  We have nothing to lose but our chains. 

Pentecost B 2015

From the Connections:
 The language of marriage
They met at a party.  Maria was a third-generation college senior from a Massachusetts Italian/Irish family and he was a doctoral student from Iran.  Despite their differences in just about everything, they fell in love and married.  That was 25 years and four children ago.
Their relationship has had its difficult moments, to be sure.  Bridging two such different cultures and histories and religions and languages has not been without its challenges.  As Maria writes in an essay in The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, their life together required extraordinary sensitivity and listening:

Ascension B 2015

From Fr, Jude Botelho:

Today's first reading from the Acts describes the beginning of the Church after Jesus had ascended into heaven. It would appear that Jesus had to leave in order that the Church might begin. His going away physically from this world signaled the coming into existence of the Church and His new presence in their midst. Yes, Jesus was leaving the world in a sense, but not really leaving it. He was not abandoning his disciples to their fate; in fact he was concerned about them and knew they would miss his physical presence among them. Before he goes he instructs them and affirms their faith by time and again appearing to them to convince them that he is alive. While being with them he asked them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father.

Easter 6 B - Love One Another

From Fr. Tony Kadavil:




1) God’s love in action: When Fr. Damien arrived in Molokai to assemble a prefabricated church for the lepers, he spent the first few weeks sleeping out under the trees, because he was unable to cope with the stench in the hovels of the lepers. He certainly wouldn't dare preach to them about God's love for them, because, as they saw it, that would be offensive. But slowly he opened his heart to the grace of God which enabled him to see the suffering Jesus in them. In no time, he was washing them, bandaging them, and burying them. He came to love them, and, through him, they came to believe that God loved them. He smoked a pipe to counteract the stench, but he soon was passing the pipe around for others to have a smoke. He ate food with them from a common bowl, out of which they scooped the food with hands that had no fingers. He caught the disease himself, and he was happy to be able to live and to die for them. Greater love than this no one has…