Posts

Image
  Saturday – Queenship of Mary Gospel – Matthew 23:1-12 Back to School My Classroom This has been back to school week, not just for our SRB parish grade school but also for Trinity and St. Patrick High School where I taught for almost 40 years.   Is it a little bittersweet for me?   You bet!   I miss setting up my classroom – all the brain-teasers on my desk, all the world religions ‘stuff’ on the tables and walls, the music playing in the background!   I miss creating my seating charts and wondering if anyone this year will figure out the pattern!   I miss that first day when they get their first dose of crazy projects and tests (and my sense of humor)!   I miss the ‘chair’ and those meditation journeys!   And, most importantly I miss my students (and my altar servers) and the sheer joy I get when I see that moment of enlightenment on their faces when they ‘get it’! There is one line in today’s Gospel that brings that whole teaching expe...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  Friday - 20 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 22:34-40 He Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Fields of Upper Galilee   Advice from An Old Farmer Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong. Keep skunks and bankers at a distance. Life is simpler when you plow around the stump. A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor. Words that soak into your ears are whispered… not yelled. Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight. Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads. Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you. It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge. You cannot unsay a cruel word. Every path has a few puddles. When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty. The best sermons are lived, not preached. Every day we are faced with choices!   Too often, I think, we make our decisions based on one simple premise – the lesser of 2 evils !   What can I get away with?   What will ...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  Thursday – St. Bernard Gospel – Matthew 22:1-14 Dress Code Wedding Feast (Garment) 1974   Years ago I remember going to a business lunch with a group of teachers in New York.   I didn’t realize there was a dress code (jackets) and I didn’t bring one.   The restaurant staff gave me one awful looking slightly smelly jacket that was available just for people like me.   It was embarrassing! We read in today’s Gospel about a wedding feast given by a rich man for his son.   All his friends and relatives were invited; and all refused to come.   They didn’t just forget; they made a deliberate choice not to attend.   Eventually the father invites in anyone/everyone he can find – the poor, the good, the bad.   But when the father comes in to greet all his guests, he sees someone not wearing a wedding garment. Now this is where I always had problems with the parable.   That poor man, how can you expect him to have a wedding garment; h...
Post a Comment
Read more