June 30, 2019

Homily: On Stupidity and Unfit Disciples (Lk 9:51-62)

Simone Weil, that eccentric and brilliant woman, said once, rather famously, that it was “more useful to contemplate our stupidity than our sin.” Contemplating sin risked pride, she said; admitting failure due to “sheer stupidity,” on the other hand, the bad results of our plain mediocrity: “No knowledge is more to be desired,” she wrote. Because […]
June 28, 2019

We Unfit Disciples

“Discipleship is not an offer man makes to Christ,” said Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And it’s the point of this Sunday’s passage from Luke, about being “fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:62).
June 21, 2019

Corpus Christi and the Nearness of Christ

Of course, the faith we share is not merely a collection of concepts. The faith we share is a person—Christ himself. We don’t merely talk about Jesus; we live in him. He is truly in us, and we are truly in him. This is the deep abiding truth of Catholicism, that Christ is not absent but […]
June 15, 2019

Homily: Trinity and the Loving Closeness of God (Jn 16:12-15)

Today we celebrate the most Holy Trinity, the Catholic dogma of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We must admit, though, it’s something of a troublesome dogma, difficult if not embarrassing for some. It’s always been so.
June 15, 2019

The Simple Significance of the Trinity

This weekend we celebrate the Trinity. That is, we celebrate the Catholic faith in substance, what the Catechism calls the “central mystery,” the dogma without which we are nothing, without which there is no salvation—our faith that there is “only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
June 8, 2019

Homily: Pentecost and Weird Christians (Jn 21:20-25)

I always think of Saint Philip Neri around Pentecost. You might’ve not heard of him; he’s less popular these days than he used to be.