Homilies - Fr. Brendan
Standing on the Other Side
In Fall of 2008, an ordinary high school football game
was transformed into something extraordinary
-not so much by the actions of those on the field
as much as the actions of those off the field and in the stands.
The two teams that were playing were Gainesville State School
and Grapevine Faith Christian School.
The Christian school was a private Christian school
and they had an unbeaten season.
They had not lost a game yet and they did not lose this game either.
The other team was the state penitentiary for juvenile offenders
where they had 280 of the hardest juvenile criminals in the state;
they had not won a single game yet and they did not win this game either.
But what happened transformed not only the state penitentiary
but also the town around it.More...
Pray and Know God is With Us
Today's first reading from the Book of Job grapples
with the question that seems to be the perennial question for humanity,
"Why do bad things happen to good people?"
Job himself is struggling with this question on a personal level
because now he has not only lost all his animals,
all his homes and he has even lost his children.
He is living on the city dump.
In the midst of this darkness and depression,
he wonders whether it will all end with hopelessness.More...
Saying Yes to the Lord and His Internal Presence
When we hear in today's gospel how the people are astonished
at what they have witnessed in this miracle
not only in his teaching but in the miracle of casting out the demons,
we wonder why is it that all the people who witnessed
hearing Christ and seeing his miracles
did not repent and turn away from sin and follow Christ?
I mean they were first-hand witnesses of him
casting out demons and healing the sick.
They heard his eloquent words and even in today's gospel said they were:
"astonished and amazed" at what happened.More...
Fishers We Are
I have often wondered why did Jesus use the metaphor of "fishers"
to illustrate discipleship in his way.
He could have chosen builders;
he could have chosen farmers,
he could have chosen bakers;
he could have chosen carpenters like his father.
Each of these metaphors have elements valuable to illustrate discipleship.
I often wondered why, why the profession of fishing!
One could conclude that the disciples he chose were fishermen
but they were not all fishermen.
Yet Jesus and the evangelists constantly refer to
the metaphor of being "fishers."
If we are called to be disciples
then it would behoove us to look at what the actual metaphor
that Jesus sets before us;
to understand what he wants us to model.[i]More...
Speak Lord. Your Servant is Listening.
I was recently talking with a colleague and
we were discussing a subject of disagreement.
He said one thing and then I went to say something
but when I began to speak, he stopped me with,
"No. No. It doesn't make any difference. I'm not listening."
I said, "But, but!"
"No. No. No. No. No. No. I'm not listening to you." He repeated.
I said, "But." I couldn't get any word in.
He said, "No. No. No. I disagree with you."
I said, "But I haven't said anything yet. How can you disagree with me?"
But he interrupted again, "No. You're wrong.
I won't agree with you.
I don't want to agree with you."
And I say, "But I could be agreeing with you."
He closed the discussion with,
"It doesn't make any difference. You are still wrong."More...
Going Back a Different Way
"And they parted for their country by another way."
Some time ago, I was having dinner with a friend of mine and
I didn't know any of the group other than him.
It was kind of a weird dinner to be honest.
When he told a joke, everybody laughed excessively
and I'm thinking, "Gee, it wasn't that funny."
But they laughed even louder the next time.
When he was talking seriously about something they went,
"Oh, yeah, uh huh, uh huh, yeah, uh huh."
And when he disagreed with something, they went,
"Oh, yeah, absolutely, terrible."
I'm thinking there is something really weird going on here.
So when he went to the restroom, I asked,
"So how do you know Jonathan?"
"Oh, he's our boss."
"Okay. Now I get it."
Count Your Blessings
The context for today's first reading from Book of Numbers,
has the Israelites just about to enter into the Promised Land
after 40 years in the desert.
We hear how God speaks to Moses about how
Aaron, his brother who will take them into the Promised Land,
is to ask God for continued blessings on the people
and to shine his face upon them as a blessing.More...
Baby Child Jesus
At the beginning of the service tonight when I processed in,
I held a little baby who is just a few weeks old.
A smile that came over all your faces because he was alive!
You were expecting a statute of some sort, but this baby was alive.
Yes Christ is alive. Christ is alive in you and in me.
But today we celebrate that he comes among as a baby child;
vulnerable, defenseless just like that little baby child
I held up a couple of moments ago.
If I were to take that little baby and shake it around like a rag doll,
all of you would be horrified and
rightly so because nobody, nobody treats a child like that.
Even the toughest man or woman, when given a child,
will cradle the child ever so tenderly and gently in his or her arms
holding and knowing that this child just needs tender loving care.
It is completely, completely vulnerable and dependent on our care.More...
Interruptions Are God's Ministry
Over this last year or so, I've been reading this book called
"Getting Things Done" by David Allen.
As the title suggests, it is about increasing your productivity
and getting things done in an effective and efficient manner.
It is a very popular book and it has some great stuff in it
about how to be effective with your time.
It has really helped me with my multiple jobs and many things.
It should really be called "Getting the Right Things Done"
because it is all about prioritization and
making sure you attend to the most important things first.More...
God Gazes Upon Us and Waits For Us
Imagine for a moment, you are sitting on a park bench
reading a book or maybe writing in a journal.
You know that somebody is watching you.
You cannot clearly see their face in the bushes and trees
but you know they are there;
you can see a shadow but you cannot see the face per se.
There are two common reactions to that scene.
If we do not know who the person
then it causes a certain amount of anxiety maybe even fear
of what it is this person wants;
who is it; what do they want and why.[i] More...
