The Ambo: Homilies for the Faithful

Mashed Potato Love 2/23/2014 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (note: today, the homily lasted about two minutes. following the homily, Deacon Rick, dressed in a chefs hat and apron, gave a live demonstration about love and unity using potatoes and his grandmother's cooking. It loses a lot in the translation, but areas in yellow are an attempt to describe what was going on) The original idea for this homily came from pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz, who preached a sermon on unity using the illustration of mashed potatoes. I have expanded the idea greatly, but wanted to give credit to my brother Juan Carlos Ortiz.  Today our readings have the theme of love and unity. In the first reading from the Book of Leviticus we read: “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Right there, in the book of Leviticus, we see a standard of love, tolerance, ...

     This talk is going to appear in longer form in the Coming Home Ministry newsletter, the one that Marcus Grody produces, so I won’t go into near the detail here. Most preachers have a watch; they normally give me a calendar, so I will try to be brief in the two hours I was given this afternoon.      How did I get, as the Parable of the Prodigal Son teaches—actually, it’s really, the parable of the Prodigal Father—whose love is extravagantly, irresponsibly, unceasingly, compellingly Prodigal in every regard—to the house of my Father, and return to Catholicism?      I was baptized and confirmed in a nominally Catholic home. My dad’s career in the U.S. military and in the diplomatic service led us overseas among many moves as our 6-child family grew up, spending years in Panama, Cuba, and Colombia. Despite a Jesuit education into high school, by the time we returned to Washington, D.C. in the late 196...

Trouble at the Gate August 25 , 2012 – 21 st Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Isaiah 66:18-21 Thus says the LORD: I know their works and their thoughts, and I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them; from them I will send fugitives to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations. They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their offering to the house of the LORD in clean vessels. Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the LORD. Gospel Luke 13:22-30 Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his...