There’s an instinct to idealize the saints as entirely different from the rest of us, off in another league at some unattainable level of holiness and favor with God.
McKenna
Stumbling Along ‘The Way’ (Mark 10:35-45)
Most of us know the image backing the word “scandalize;” i.e., somebody tripping over a stone in the road.
The Big Hearted (Micah 6:6-8; Rev 14:13; Lk 8:4-15)
This homily was preached at a recent anniversary Mass for Fr. Joseph Daly, C.M. — a Vincentian priest beloved of many,
Belief Under Pressure
Belief Under Pressure (2 Maccabees, 7; Luke 20: 38) One of the things that has sharpened inside me on my journey into the senior years is a sense of time passing (where did it go?), and an accompanying wonderment about what happens when it does pass. What’s on the...
Lost and Found
Lost and Found (Luke 19:1-10; Wisdom 11) Throughout Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells a good number of “lost and found” parables and incidents. There’s the lost and found coin, the lost-found pearl and earlier on the lost-found tax collector, Levi. And last Sunday we come...
Unchain The Word Through Memory
Unchaining The Word Through Memory One short sentence in Paul’s letter to Timothy (2 Tim 2: 10) caught my attention right off, “The word of God is not chained.” Paul himself is in chains, and it’s the contrast here that’s striking him. The Word of God is the opposite...
Prayer and Management
Prayer and Management (Luke 6:12-19) In this section of Luke, we find Jesus continuing a ministry that’s spreading out further into the society, and in the process selecting 12 people from the group around him to be his “apostles”, i.e., the sent-out ones. You might...
Three Takes on Being a Mystic: #3
Yesterday we examined the second of "three takes" on the idea of Vincent as a "mystic of charity." Now it's time to look at the third. Don't have the letter at hand? Click here for lots of versions, or click the image that follows for the recently published...
Looking Out Through New Eyes
Looking Out Through New Eyes (Philemon 9-10, 12-17) Some weeks ago, Mother Teresa was raised to the status of a canonized Saint. And though there are many aspects of her life and spirituality to admire and try to imitate, I pick up on one that comes through in this...
Badgering God
Badgering God (Mt 15: 21-28) Recently I came across an interesting take on this incident of the Canaanite woman not letting Jesus up in an argument. I read their interchange as “badgering God for the future.” From many indications it’s clear that in their time, both...
Ozanam’s Tactical Wisdom For Today’s Consumer Society
It is interesting to look at how our Vincentian practices can serve to turn around the negative impact of a hyper-consumer culture.
Formation’s Scratchy Side
Formation’s Scratchy Side (Isaiah 66:18-21; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13) All of us entering this Vincentian Family have to go through what is known as “formation.” Formation: people being formed, shaped, molded – maybe better, being re-molded, re-shaped, and maybe even...
