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  11 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 9:36 – 10:8 Answering the Call Basilica of the Annunciation If you’re like me, your cellphone is permanently attached at the hip and you never go anywhere without it.   It’s our calendar, our camera, our documents and apps; it’s our email lifeline to the world. But in all its complexity, it is still plain and simple - a phone.    And every day it presents us with choices/decisions –do we recognize the number, do we answer the phone! It’s a process we are all familiar with.   The phone rings; is the number familiar?   If it isn’t, I regularly ignore and decline the call.   If I recognize the number, then it’s more complicated.   I can choose to answer it or I can deliberately decide I don’t want to talk to this person.   A simple call but so many options! Aah, it was so much simpler decades ago. All we had was a landline, a home phone – no cells, no caller ID!   If the phone rang...
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  Saturday – 10 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 5: 33-37 Yes or No! St. Peter in Gallicantu (Cock Crowing) Church, Jerusalem Especially when we were little, we all had that experience of getting caught with our hands in the cookie jar or chocolate all over our face.   The broken vase is on the floor, and we are standing right there.   The wall is covered with child-like drawings, and the crayon is in our hand.   Caught red-handed!   And yet, when mom or dad asked, “did you do this”, we quickly answered “Nope, not me!”   Denial!   Complete and utter denial!   Nope, nope!   It must have been the wind (even though the windows are closed)! Why is it so hard to admit our sins?   Why is it so easy to be dishonest?   Even when the evidence is plain as day, we refuse to admit to our mistakes.   Jesus keeps it simple and direct in today’s Gospel: let your yes mean yes and your no mean no.   Be honest!   Be h...
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  Friday – Solemnity of Sacred Heart of Jesus Gospel – Matthew 11:25-30 Out of the Mouths of Children! Walking the Streets of Jerusalem   Many years ago, when our daughter was barely 2 or 3 years old, we went to visit my Papa who was very sick.   We knew it was probably the last time we would have the chance to see him before he passed.   What amazed me during our visit was that Jaime seemed to go out of her way to get Great Papa to help her – get her dressed, tie her shoes, that sort of thing.   It was something that I hadn’t seen her do before.   It was like she was building up memories (for her, for him?, who knows).   A few months later he passed away and, after we returned home from the funeral, I spent many a sleepless night grieving his loss.   One night, as I sat there wide awake and teary-eyed, Jaime came in and climbed into my lap.   She asked me why I was crying and I told her – I miss Papa.   She looked at me and ...
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