Father Kevin A. Codd

Today's parable could have been snatched from any one of our homes as we were growing up: two brothers...one says yes but does nothing, the other says no but does get to work. The impact of the parable on the priests and elders to who Jesus directs it must have been hard-hitting to say the least once he explains it to them. It is also a pointed reminder to us that when it comes to the Gospel, we, too, have to "walk the talk." 

Homily delivered to the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, EC.

The sudden death of Katherine Hampton came as a shock to her family and all of us. The ensuing week of grief had been difficult, especially for her mother, Sue, and brother, Taylor. As that week culminated in a beautiful funeral Mass in the Iglesia de San Francisco in Cuenca, Ecuador.  Katherine's spirit was entrusted into God's hands. Consoling all present was Jesus' beautiful teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. In the Beatitudes he gives us insight into how God sees and values human beings. If Katherine had been in the midst of that crowd on the mountainside, she would have understood well just what Jesus was teaching; she would have loved this Jesus teaching her. If they had met following the teaching, their conversation would have been marked by reassurance and welcome into God's Kingdom. 

As happens in every church community, death unexpectedly intervenes in our daily and weekly life. Early Saturday morning, one of the young members of our church family, Katherine, suddenly died. It moved me from working on a homily based on the day's great parable of the workers in the field (Matthew 20:1-16a) to a reflection on this Sunday's reading from Paul's Letter to the Philippians (1:20c-24), which gives us insight into his attitude to both death and life, an attitude founded in his deeply intimate relationship to Jesus, the Risen One. 

Our memories of Katherine are sweet and they shall remain so. We embrace her family in our prayers and love. We entrust her gentle spirit into the hands of the gentle Lord. 

Saint Francis Catholic Community, Cuenca, Ecuador

In a culture of super-individualism, Jesus' preference for "gatherings" is easily obscured. His great promise to "be there" wherever two or three gather in his name is a call to take seriously the importance of "gathering" in the Christian life and the life of the world. 

Homily shared at the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. 

Today's passage from Jeremiah the Prophet opens a window into the complicated heart of the prophet. Beginning with the words, "You duped me, O God...!" Jeremiah lets us know both how powerful is the prophetic vocation and and how hard it is. Hard though it is, he carries on; he cannot not preach God's word to Israel! And so it was for Jesus; his own prophetic ministry had plenty of hard knocks, too. The temptation to back off and go the easy way must have been strong for him, witness his reaction to the bumbling Peter: "Get behind me, SATAN!" Yet, Jesus perseveres to the end. And so it is as well for us as his disciples...

Homily delivered to the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Jesus asks the fundamental question: "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answers, correctly for a change, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." And for his prize, poor Peter receives way more responsibility than he ever bargained for! Rocks and keys and loosenings and bindings! As do we!

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.

La mujer Canaanita que encontramos hoy en el Evangelio de San Mateo nos inspira por su persistencia en sus esfuerzos de encontrar a Jesus y pide de él lo que quiere para su hija, poseída por un demonio. Se pone en contraste grande a los "hombres de fe" que nunca piden nada de Jesús. Es claro cual de estos personajes es para nosotros un ejemplo verdadero de fe. 

 

Homilía predicada en la Iglesia de San Francisco de Cuenca, Ecuador.

The Canaanite woman in today's reading from Matthew's Gospel is astounding for her persistence in getting to Jesus and making her plea to him for deliverance for her daughter. This pagan woman stands in contrast to the "men of faith" who are just beyond the edges of this story, the leaders of the Jewish religion who poke, prod, test, and eventually persecute Jesus. What makes the difference between her and them? 

Storms are part and parcel of life...not just the climactic ones, but the challenges we face as human beings throughout our lives. The image of Jesus walking on water in today's Gospel oftentimes gets treated as just one more "trick" pulled out of Jesus' Son of God hat. In reality, it is a powerful lesson to us during the storms of our lives for it teaches us WHO Jesus is and WHY he does what he does for us. 

This homily was delivered to the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. 

We live in a loud world these days where most everyone feels a need to holler, bellow, and even scream. It is perhaps only natural then, that we should presume that when God is talking to us, he too bellows. Our imaginations revert to the image of his voice coming from the heavens as a rumbling thunder that shakes the earth to its core. Yet, today's Gospel story of the Transfiguration of Jesus in an intimate, tender, and mystery-laded story from beginning to end. Is it not more likely that God is whispering here? And Jesus as well? 

Homily delivered to the Saint Francis Catholic Community of Cuenca, Ecuador.