“Life is difficult.” So begins Scott Peck’s 1978 bestseller, The Road Less Traveled. Doesn’t sound very Easter-y, does it? But try to dress it up as we might, our own times have been especially difficult. There’s the pandemic, of course,…
Read MoreRichard Rohr writes, “Trust the down, and God will take care of the up.” We hear today in the letter to the Philippians an ancient Christian hymn that sings of Jesus’ descent from his high and mighty…
Read MoreThe ancients used to wrap their newly dead the same way they wrapped their newly born: with strips of linen cloth, in swaddling clothes, as it were. Bound in that way, it would have been difficult for Lazarus…
Read More“Here’s mud in your eye.” Jesus may have been the first to offer that toast to another’s health as he was literally putting mud in someone’s eye. Why mud? Could have been all that healing sulfur, zinc, magnesium…
Read MoreWalker Percy writes: There are few joys greater than drinking cool water after a serious thirst. They both had a serious thirst that led them down to the well that day. At the beginning,…
Read MoreFather Greg Boyle tells the story of Louie, a former gang member. Louie has three daughters. He wasn’t present as his first two girls were born as he was deep into a meth addiction and in and out…
Read MoreFather Greg Boyle, the Los Angeles Jesuit who founded Homeboy Industries, the world’s largest gang intervention and reentry program, tells the story of his 92-year-old-mother on her deathbed. In and out of consciousness, when she would open her eyes and…
Read MoreIn To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch says to his daughter, If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things…
Read MoreIn the news this week was a nursing home in Paynesville that has constructed “visitation stations” to help residents connect with their loved ones during the COVID lockdown. The stations have a window, an audio system, and handsome wood paneling.
Read MoreI recently came across the term, “Prophet of Compassion.” Following the Google trail, I found myself reading about the prophet Muhammad, whom Islam calls “a mercy for all creatures.” There are innumerable references to compassion and mercy in the Koran:…
Read MoreCreatio ex nihilo—creation out of nothing—is how God started this whole thing. I’m always impressed with those artisans and crafts people, artists and writers who are able to put virtually nothing together and make something beautiful or useful. That’s what…
Read MoreToday we mark a change of liturgical season to so-called Ordinary Time. However, for the Episcopal and Lutheran Churches and Eastern Rites among others, Epiphany continues: a time of ongoing discovery of the Incarnation, its ripening. This year, of course,…
Read MoreLiturgical theologian, Benedictine Aidan Kavanagh, notes the “gruff robustness” of the first rubric for the fourth-century rite of Baptism. The bishop enters the vestibule of the baptistery and addresses the catechumens with four words: “Take off your clothes.” Kavanagh goes…
Read MoreThe story is told of a little girl and her mother who stopped to look at the Nativity scene at their church. The mother explained that the Three Kings were presenting their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The little…
Read MoreThere were eight of us in the church for Christmas Eve Masses (not counting Jesus, the Holy Family, and the shepherds). My dinner table was set for one. I told a friend I was spending Christmas at home: “the hermitage.”…
Read MoreAccording to Jon Mendelsohn, the medical director of Advanced Cosmetic Surgery and Laser Center in Cincinnati, injectable procedures such as Botox are up 90% compared with the same period last year, doubling his days in the operating room and extending…
Read MoreA recent innovation to help fathers-to-be understand what their wife or partner is in for when giving birth to a child, is a “labor pain simulator.” Pads carrying electric shock are placed above the abdomen, simulating the contractions and pain…
Read MoreOn my trip to El Salvador one year ago, I met men and women who had survived the civil war of the 1980’s, having undergone unspeakable brutality at the hands of the Salvadoran government. Some of them had known Archbishop…
Read MoreExtreme inequality in income and resources between the haves and have-nots. Wealthy elites fiercely guarding their stashes. Imperial powers throwing around their weight. No redress for the poor and working classes. A complacent, if not complicit, religious establishment. Is this…
Read MoreWe know the story of Aladdin, the middle eastern folk tale about a young boy, a magic lamp, a genie and three wishes. We’ve all wondered, “If I had three wishes…” The Lord’s wish: “Comfort, give comfort to my people.”…
Read MoreWatch. Stay awake. Stay woke. For African Americans, to “stay woke” originally meant to have heightened alertness to police brutality and systematized racism and violence against Black persons. And not only that, but it implied being active, being activists. More…
Read MoreAt its Greek root, the word for the deadly sin of “acedia,” means, “lack of care”—that is, to not give a damn. Acedia is evident, one preacher says, in …The ability to look at a starving child…with a swollen stomach…
Read MoreOf all the thousands of words that were spoken to me on the day I was ordained a priest over 37 years ago now, I return most often to these, when Archbishop Roach handed me a plate and a cup.
Read MoreI hate to wait. I hate waiting for the pizza guy. I hate lines at Target. I hate waiting for Mass or a movie to start. I can’t wait more than a second or two for a test result. Or…
Read MoreYou would have liked my mom. She was at the same time a tenderhearted but tough bird: hardworking, straight talking, unpretentious and tenacious, uncommonly generous. She had a wry wit, worn, dishpan hands, and great legs. She loved people by…
Read MoreI was talking with a young couple a few weeks ago about the scriptures for their upcoming wedding. They chose the Beatitudes. The bride said, “The Beatitudes are beautiful.” And they are. Poetry. Even the word “Beatitude” is a beautiful…
Read MoreWhen couples come to talk about their upcoming marriage, the clergy often think it’s interesting to ask if they love one another. “What a stupid question!” theologian Stanley Hauerwas says. “How would they know? A Christian marriage isn’t about whether…
Read MoreGod and Caesar, church and state, the reign of God and civil society: complex relationships. Jesus recognizes the necessity of contributing to the welfare of the state and acknowledges legitimate civil authority. But he frequently addresses how that authority—both civil…
Read MoreIn these trying times, what we would hope for here is a gentle, encouraging gospel message. Unfortunately, what we’re stuck with today is a tale of greed, violence, and murder. The landowner entrusted all he had into the hands of…
Read MoreAt a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol for Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg Friday, the presiding rabbi quoted Deuteronomy 16:20: “Justice, justice you must pursue.” It was a quote that hung in Judge Ginsburg’s chambers. Because the rabbinic tradition assigns meaning…
Read MoreThis could be one of the most “un-American” of all parables: an account of equal pay for unequal work. Like giving every student an A, or every team a trophy, it just doesn’t sit right. Our uneasiness demonstrates why the…
Read MoreNigerian writer, Chamamanda Ngozi Adichie, speaks of “The Danger of a Single Story.” As I listened to a presentation of hers, I was both captivated and heartsick. She reminded me that, as impressionable young children, some of us heard and…
Read More“We must speak to them with our hands before we speak to them with our lips.” Those are the words of St. Peter Claver, a 17th-century Jesuit whose feast is Wednesday: a day of fasting and prayer for racial healing.
Read MoreA priest and a rabbi are at a prizefight. A Jewish boxer gets into the ring, flexes his muscles, jumps up and down, and goes into his corner. Then a Catholic guy gets into the ring. He flexes his muscles,…
Read MoreA question about questions: How many of them, questions, that is, does Jesus ask in the gospels? A lot more than you think: 307. He has some doozies. “What do you want me to do for you?” “Do you love…
Read MoreEarly in life we’re told that sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will never hurt us. One of the biggest lies of our childhood. Being a chubby kid, I was brought to tears with hurtful words and,…
Read MoreA teacher writes, “Everything you’ve ever wanted is sitting on the other side of fear.” What in our life has been undone by fear? Today’s eternal lesson is that although Jesus cannot eliminate life’s violent winds and waves, he’s there,…
Read MoreWhen the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt was 18, his left hand was badly burned in a fire. His third and fourth fingers were paralyzed, making it impossible for him to play the guitar as he had. But soon he discovered…
Read MoreSaturday after Saturday these days, we’re celebrating the sacraments of initiation here at Ascension: Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation of children and youth and adults. It’s heartening to have others—many others—join the Church. And no matter their age, our message…
Read MoreThe landscapes of our earthly kingdoms—Washington, Rome, North Minneapolis, our homes—are invariably fields of weeds among wheat. Good progresses, yet evil does, too. Our discouragement with the current landscape—all those weeds—may lead us, in the words of today’s first reading,…
Read MoreOn the front page of Thursday’s StarTribune was the photo of a neighborhood kid, 10-year-old Darius Miller, in his football uniform and helmet. The caption above quoted him: “I was afraid to get shot.” The article told the story of…
Read MoreA so-called woman of influence welcomed the prophet, Elisha. She provided him a little room on the roof: a bed, table, chair, and lamp. Receiving the prophet, who most often are hard to take, she received a prophet’s reward: she…
Read MoreIn his poem, “Whatif,” Shel Silverstein writes, Last night, while I lay thinking here, Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear And pranced and partied all night long And sang their same old Whatif song:… Whatif I…
Read MoreWhen I was seven years old, I said Mass in my bedroom every day. I had all the stuff: altar, vestments, candles, crackers, and Kool-Aid. But I didn’t have any people. It was a solitary affair, just me. I’d extend…
Read MoreA little girl was busily drawing, using all of her crayons, and all her concentration, when her teacher asked just what it was she was drawing. “It’s a picture of God,” she said. “Oh, honey,” the teacher said, “Nobody knows…
Read MoreI wouldn’t have believed it. I wouldn’t have believed that a police officer would pin a man to the ground with a knee to the neck while the man begged to breathe, to live. I wouldn’t have believed that it…
Read MoreIn her book, Wouldn’t Take Nothin’ for My Journey Now, the poet Maya Angelou recalls her grandmother, who raised her in the little town of Stamps, Arkansas. She describes her as “a tall cinnamon-colored woman with a deep, soft voice,” whose…
Read MoreOprah said it: There will be no pomp because of the circumstances. Due to COVID-19, the Class of 2020, college and high school graduates, and our own Ascension School and Academy eighth graders, are foregoing the ritual of a traditional…
Read MoreSo, do you watch Channel 4 or 5 or 11? Fox News or CNN? Who do you listen to, the President or the Pope? Of all the voices we’re hearing these days, there’s one voice we recognize among all others:…
Read More“We had hoped.” A sad three words. We had hoped. We had hoped for a cure. We had hoped he’d be hired. We had hoped she’d come back. We had so hoped. The disciples on the road today are not…
Read MoreI. I am so glad I have Chucho these days: my dog. I’m grateful that there’s one living being in the world from whom I don’t have to socially distance. He’s become much more of a lapdog recently, seemingly enjoying…
Read MoreAs I sat in the sanctuary a couple of days ago with my small band of Triduum prayer mates, I could see through the open door of the church. I saw snow blowing by, and thought, “This doesn’t look…
Read MoreMeet you at the cross. One of the most moving elements of this, the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion, is the Veneration of the Cross: a solemn procession when each of us approaches the cross to touch it,…
Read MoreAlmost ten years ago, I visited Poland with a group of pilgrims. We visited the town of Oświęcim, more commonly known by its German name, Auschwitz. Among the things we saw in the extermination camp were Jewish and…
Read MoreIt’s called “The Problem of Evil.” In philosophy and theology, it’s the dilemma of how to reconcile the existence of a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all loving, with the existence of evil in the world. How can a…
Read MoreIn the 1964 film, Zorba the Greek, the young English writer (played by Alan Bates) asks Anthony Quinn’s Zorba, “Are you married?” Zorba replies, “I’m a man, so I’m married. Wife, children, house, everything…the full catastrophe!” It’s not a complaint.
Read MoreIn his remarkable, radiant memoir, The Planet of the Blind, Stephen Kuusisto chronicles a life of “trying to pass,” as he says, as a sighted person. Trained as a child to disavow his blindness, Kuusisto spent his life pretending to…
Read More“He is,” we hear in the TV commercial for Dos Equis beer, “the most interesting man in the world.” “If he were to pat you on the back, you would list it on your résumé…During his school years, his…
Read MoreA priest friend of mine just returned from an eight-day silent retreat. “Really powerful,” he said, adding that he had gotten (quote) “recalibrated” with Jesus. I’m totally jealous. For the past few weeks, I feel as if all of…
Read MoreAlmost as troubling as the question, “How much do you weigh?” is, “So, what are you giving up for Lent this year?” It is, after all, a deeply personal decision. So, I Googled it. The first website produced “102 Things…
Read MoreI. Politics. The term comes from the Greek words for “city” and “citizen.” Despite rich Catholic social teaching, we Catholics sometimes think we’re supposed to avoid politics. But the U.S. Bishops write, Our nation’s tradition of pluralism is enhanced,…
Read MoreI. Nearly thirty years ago now, it was a moment that redirected the course of my life. In 1991, I was hospitalized for depression. The stigma that surrounds mental health issues today was even greater then, and I found the…
Read MoreI. A few years ago, some Kindergarteners shared with me their take on the story of Jesus’ birth. Maggie wrote, The angel came to Joseph and said, “You will be Mary’s husband.” He was scared at first because he…
Read MoreI. “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Here’s an Advent story: The abbot was greatly distraught at the decline of the monastery. He had prayed and pondered over the situation, and admonished…
Read MoreI. Among the most evocative of the sacred sites I visited in El Salvador was St. Óscar Romero’s residence at the Divine Providence Hospital – the “Hospitalito,” the “Little Hospital” – where he lived with a community of Carmelite Sisters.
Read MoreI. I spent two weeks in El Salvador. It will take a long time – a lifetime, perhaps – to absorb all that I experienced in this land of intense suffering. I was worn down by the stories of assassinations,…
Read MoreI. Last weekend began with our regular Friday morning Mass at the Visitation Monastery. Later, at 1:00, we had a quinceañera and a baptism. On Saturday morning, we celebrated four baptisms, and in the afternoon the wedding of one…
Read MoreI. At a gathering some years ago, a woman, clearly distraught, approached now-deceased Archbishop Harry Flynn. Someone who witnessed the encounter said that the woman began to tell the archbishop the story of an abortion she had had a few…
Read MoreI. Growing up, I was a good boy. I was Mommy’s boy, and Grandma’s boy. I was straight-A smart, every teacher’s pet, chief of the Junior Fire League in fifth grade and captain of the School Safety Patrol in sixth.
Read MoreI. Habakkuk, the exasperated prophet, roars today, How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not intervene. Why do…
Read MoreI. I find myself pulling out this quote and sharing it with you about once a year. It seems timely again. From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period was…
Read MoreI. In São Paulo, Brazil, a minister who worked with children living on the street introduced them to Bible stories and helped them to reflect on them. One day she told them today’s story of the prodigal son. She stopped…
Read MoreI. The Italian language (like Italians themselves) is expressive and florid. But it can also be precise, even blunt. When, for example, Italians are posed a question, they may respond so lyrically that the listener is overcome by the sheer…
Read MoreI. Social convention dictates who sits where and with whom at dinner parties. The table is a miniature model for rules of association. Of course, we like to sit with people we know – our own kind. Jesus’ table arrangements…
Read MoreI. For most of his life, St. Óscar Romero, the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador was a respectable, hard-working, church-going man. Everything changed on March 12, 1977, when his friend, Father Rutilio Grande was assassinated by rich landowners for his…
Read MoreI. When Antonio Basco’s wife, Margie, was killed in the El Paso shooting two weeks ago, he lost his only relative. Worried that he might have to bury her alone, Mr. Basco asked the funeral home to invite the public…
Read MoreIn order to discern the direction of his future ministry, a priest went to work at Mother Teresa’s home for the dying in Calcutta. When Mother greeted him, she asked, “What can I do for you?” He asked…
Read MoreI. A couple of days ago I spoke with a young woman who lived for two gut-wrenching years at a Christian mission in Bangladesh. She prayed all the time, with all her heart, for the children: that they be freed…
Read MoreI. When it came to feeding people, my Polish mother followed the dictum, “Whatever’s worth doing, is worth overdoing.” Abraham and Sarah may have been Polish. In today’s first reading, Abraham says to his guests, “Let me bring you a…
Read MoreI. It’s a nice story with a nice moral. Typically, a “Good Samaritan” is the guy who stops to help someone whose car has broken down. Or the one who shovels snow for their elderly neighbor. It’s good to be…
Read MoreI. “Do I have to draw you a picture?” These days, if you’re putting together a piece of furniture, technology, or toy, the assembly instructions are not given in words, but pictures. Usually, I find the drawings entirely clear. Sometimes,…
Read MoreI. The Fourth of July celebrates, of course, the independence and freedom on which this country was founded. Our First Amendment rights guarantee freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, and the freedom to…
Read MoreI. On Thursday’s drive home from the Priests’ Assembly in Rochester, I took a detour through Mankato, where I stopped at the motherhouse of the School Sisters of Notre Dame to have lunch with Sister Mary Benno, my first-grade teacher.
Read MoreI. Twice now, I’ve been to Mexico for month-long visits to study Spanish. I’ve stayed in Cuernavaca, at the home of Silvano and Lucy Velasco. They are people of modest means: I know they stretched their budget to house me,…
Read MoreI. A year after his conversion, St. Francis was praying before a large cross in Assisi’s Church of San Damiano, when he heard Christ say to him, “Francis, repair my house.” Being rather literal-minded, Francis took up the task of…
Read MoreI. After she was sexually abused at the age of seven, the poet and activist, Maya Angelou, was unable to speak for nearly ten years. Out of that silence and devastation, Dr. Angelou rose to become a woman of rare…
Read MoreI. Of the infinite memories I have of my mother, one is among my most cherished. It is a conversation that came at the end of a three-week hospitalization when she’d received two serious diagnoses. Being the strong-willed, single-minded Pole…
Read MoreI. Jean Vanier died on Tuesday at the age of 90. He was the founder of L’Arche – “The Ark,” in French, as in “Noah’s Ark.” L’Arche is a network of faith communities where people with and without developmental disabilities…
Read MoreI. Some questions make me squirm, like, “How’s that diet going?” or, “Are you saved?” Or, “Do you love me?” Jesus poses that last awkward one to Peter not once, but three times – not because of insecurity on Jesus’…
Read MoreI. Essayist Andre Dubus, writes, …At seven-fifteen the priest elevated the host, then the chalice, and spoke the words of the ritual, and the bread became flesh, the wine became blood, and minutes later I placed on my tongue the…
Read MoreI. “Explain Resurrection.” Google that, and you’ll get 27,300,000 attempts to describe the greatest mystery in the history of the world, even though it seems that we don’t have much to gao on. We have that empty tomb, and Mary…
Read More“Trust the down,” Richard Rohr writes, “and God will take care of the up.” We hear today in the letter to the Philippians an ancient Christian hymn that sings of Jesus’ descent from his divine platform: being born in human…
Read MoreI. I spent a few hours yesterday with a couple of friends who are helping me to declutter my condo: a spring purging. These women are ruthless. It’s so hard letting go of all that stuff, all those things that…
Read MoreI. As kids, my brothers and I played Wiffle ball in front of our garage door, despite my dad’s continued warnings. There were four windows across the top of that door – a hazard for a pitcher, since our plastic…
Read MoreI. A few weeks ago, I sat in a courtroom at Fort Snelling for an immigration hearing of the 28-year-old son of one of our parishioners: his name, we’ll say, is Pedro. The room was sterile, silent and tense. Pedro…
Read MoreI. The desert is a place I’d rather not go: I sweat too much. Especially in the desert of Lent. The 40-day stay there requires that we travel without our usual props – no sunscreen, no tequila, no painkillers. Just…
Read MoreI. I was in the Phoenix airport Friday, waiting out a three-hour flight delay, when I realized that I’d better get going on this weekend’s homily. So, I started. But while meditating on the scriptures, I also made trips to…
Read MoreI. Traveling while pregnant is not for wimps. I know this not from personal experience, but from a reliable female source. Traveling while pregnant is especially difficult on a donkey. But Mary went “in haste” to see Elizabeth, whom she…
Read MoreI. Back when I was growing up, it seemed that we had one, two, three, seven feet of snow every Christmas, and we didn’t complain—because Dad did all the driving and shoveling. The snow always made for a dizzying Christmas…
Read MoreI. What do you want Christmas to look like? That question was posed to kids at a California Boys and Girls Club. One little girl said she wanted Santa to have a blue beard. Another thought the reindeer should have…
Read MoreI. A well-known Native American legend goes something like this: A Cherokee elder said to his young grandchild, “My child, a battle goes on inside everyone. The battle is between two wolves. One is the wolf of anger, envy,…
Read MoreI. You’ve heard it said that, here in Minnesota, we have two seasons: winter and road construction. But this winter, you’ll still find blocked roadways, detours, and orange cones—and John the Baptist, building his highway. Juan eases our passage by…
Read MoreI. I drove to a conference in Chicago this week: seven hours of uninterrupted alone time in my car. It was ample time to navel-gaze, while keeping my eyes on the road: time to review my relationships, ponder family problems…
Read MoreI. Last Monday, someone looked me square in the eye and told me to, (quote) “Cheer up.” There is no phrase in the English language less likely to cheer me up than that. I’m not quite sure what I might…
Read MoreI. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! This weekend’s scripture readings lead us into the end times, so I was led to revisit and revise a file on my computer titled, “In Case of My Death.” I’ve planned the music, the…
Read MoreI. They say that, “Death comes in threes.” At least, that’s what my Grandma said. Of course, it does happen—all we need to do is wait for the third death to happen. But death doesn’t only come in threes: it…
Read MoreI. When someone who was considering becoming a Jew asked the great first-century rabbi, Hillel the Elder, for a concise summary of Judaism, Hillel told him, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is…
Read MoreIn a 1959 letter to a friend known only as “A,” Flannery O’Connor wrote, My cousin’s husband [became a Catholic] last week. He had been going to Mass…but never showed any interest. We asked how he got interested and…
Read MoreI. More than once, I’ve heard someone say that getting cancer, or losing a job, or the loss of a love, was the best thing that ever happened to them, a blessing, that they’d never been better than after having…
Read MoreI. Marriage isn’t for wimps. That may explain why I’m unmarried. Yet, I have the audacity to preach about marriage. At hundreds and hundreds of weddings in my celibate career. And today. So here goes… First, some historical context.
Read MoreI. As many of you know, I spent my seminary years, five of them, in Rome, spitting distance from the Vatican. I will always be grateful for the countless times I was privileged to stand in St. Peter’s Basilica, built…
Read MoreI. One of my favorite YouTube videos comes from a Philadelphia Phillies game. A fan leans over a railing and nabs a foul ball. He was thrilled. He hands the ball to his three-year-old daughter. To his amazement, the little…
Read MoreI. I spent October of 1991 on Unit 6-A of St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul. I was hospitalized for depression. I was embarrassed to be there, especially because the others who were there were obviously in much worse shape…
Read MoreI. An “impediment” is, literally, something that gets in the way of our feet—our “pedi,” in Latin (pedal, pedestrian, pedicure). Jesus poked, spat, and groaned to heal the man with hearing and speech impediments. Back in the olden days, when…
Read MoreI. I was on retreat last week at St. Mary’s Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Morristown, New Jersey—safely tucked away when the clergy sex abuse scandal in this country became an even sorrier spectacle with the Pennsylvania revelations, the discoveries…
Read MoreI. Some years ago, a group of American sisters traveled to Guatemala to begin work as missionaries there. Upon arriving, they were overwhelmed by the poverty and the violence that they encountered. Its effect on them was apparent to those…
Read MoreA few years ago, on the backroads of San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala, I witnessed the women of that town, with their babies bundled on their backs, go to the mission’s pick-up truck to collect a sack of grain. Occasionally, a…
Read MoreI. It’s called “Glamour Shots.” You’ve seen them in malls: portrait photography, as their website states, of, “you being the best version of yourself”—“you” with chicer clothes, bigger hair, and more makeup than you’ve ever imagined—with some digital touchups. They…
Read MoreI. Frederick Buechner writes, Compassion is the sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what it’s like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there…
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