“Please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord.”  Did you catch that last line in today’s first reading?  What a curious request: two mule-loads of earth.  Why would Naaman, who had just been miraculously cured of leprosy, want this pile of dirt?  The explanation is really very interesting.  Many of the people at that time believed in local gods.  They believed that local gods ruled over particular lands.  That’s why we […]

As our parish staff met last Wednesday, I got their attention when I reminded them that we were only three months away from Christmas Eve.  Can you imagine!?!   Three months from today, we’ll be in the middle of Christmas week.  In the meantime, we will soon be getting involved in our annual Adopt-a-Family and Christmas Food Baskets.  One of the many aspects of our parish that I have found so inspirational and edifying over the 14 years that I have been here is your tremendously generous response to all of […]

“You cannot serve both God and mammon.”  We all know who God is and how we are to serve him: by loving him and our neighbor.  But, what does it mean to serve mammon?  We first have to understand what mammon is.  If you look it up in the dictionary, you will see that it is simply riches or material wealth.  There is nothing wrong with material possessions.  But, striving for wealth above serving God leads us to the position where we hear Amos condemn some of his wealthy countrymen […]

THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS

You may wonder why we’re celebrating this feast – the Exaltation of the Holy Cross – on a Sunday in the middle of September.  Since it falls on a Sunday only every so many years – the last time was in 2014 – you may have forgotten that this is an ancient feast day, marking the discovery of the True Cross by St. Helena and the dedication of the basilica that Emperor Constantine, her son, built in Jerusalem over the spot of our Lord’s crucifixion.  […]

You’re all familiar with Psalm 23, I’m sure.  It starts out with “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.  In green pastures he makes me repose; he refreshes my soul.”  How comforting those words are.

They are a far cry from the words we hear in today’s Gospel, aren’t they?  Here, we hear Jesus declare: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”  That sounds really harsh, doesn’t […]

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

 31 August 2025

Those who know me know that one of my favorite forms of entertainment is getting together for dinner with my family or a few friends at someone’s home or at a fine restaurant.  My sister knows this well so when we got together for vacation last week in Myrtle Beach she took me out to Greg Norman’s Australian Grille.  One of their specials was one of my favorite meats:  venison.  And, it wasn’t a venison steak but a venison chop.  It was prepared in […]

I hope you have all had some time for rest and relaxation with family and friends this summer – or that it’s on the horizon.  September is only two weeks away!  I enjoyed a week in Virginia Beach in July with some longtime friends and am looking forward to another week in Myrtle Beach with one of my sisters next week.  I love the eastern shore for a number of reasons.  One of them is the opportunity to enjoy spectacular sunrises.  Every morning, I make sure to be on the […]

I hope you listened carefully to this evening’s first reading.  It recalls a very important event in the history of Israel.  King David has established Jerusalem as the new capital of this new nation, Israel.  And, he has ordered the construction of a tent to house the Ark of the Covenant.  Finally, their God would be in their midst.  You can imagine the festival that surrounded this event.  This evening’s reading speaks of chanters, harps, lyres and cymbals, all making “a loud sound of rejoicing.”  What an great image!

But, what […]

We are called to be a people of faith.  We are called to put our faith in God.  But, it is not a blind faith.  Rather, it is rooted in the experience of a God who loves and cares for us.  We see that throughout Salvation History, that is, the history of God saving us, his people.  First, there was Abraham, our Father in Faith.  The second reading today recalls his story.  God called him in his old age, promising a dramatic change in his life, a new season of […]

When God created all things in this world, and He called them all “good.”  We hear that very clearly in the Book of Genesis.  So material stuff is not evil in itself.  Jesus had some wealthy friends, owned an expensive garment, seamless and so nice his executioners drew lots for it rather than dividing it, and he lived a life that some of his critics called excessive with food and drink.  He was obviously not an aesthetic hermit, living a life of poverty to cleanse the soul.  The example that […]