Father Kevin A. Codd

Jesus climbs a mountain in Galilee and there initiates a revolution. With his opening words to the crowd of the humble and poor, he upsets the usual value system of who's favored by God and who's not. "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." 

Luke's version of the Christmas story is made particularly touching by one line concerning Mary as she experiences the events in Nazareth and Bethlehem: "And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." This contemplative Mary is a profound image for us as we begin a new year; like Mary, the events of our lives, both great and small, painful and joyful, are to be savored as God events in our lives.

This homily was shared at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Spokane. 

The image of the desert held a powerful hold on the spiritual imaginations of the Jewish people. Their passage through the desert from the slavery of Egypt to the joy of the Promised Land forged their identity as a people...a people of God. It is no great surprise, then, that it is in the desert that John the Baptist prepares his people for a new chapter in this great story. From the desert, he calls God's People to prepare for God to save them anew, in a deeper, fuller way even than before. The desert shall bloom, the lame will walk,, the blind will see, and the poor shall have the good news proclaimed to them!

This homily was preached at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Spokane, Washington.

Some Sadducees, who did not really believe in life after death present to Jesus a story of a wife who marries seven brothers, one after the other. Its meant to make Jesus and his teaching about life after death look silly. Jesus turns the table on them and makes them the silly ones. In doing so, he answers one of the great questions of all humanity: what happens after we die? 

(Homily shared at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Spokane, WA)

Zacchaeus, chief tax collector for the Romans in Jericho, is the worst of the worst when it comes to sinners. Yet he wants to at least see Jesus...even climbing a sycamore tree to do so. As things turn out, it is Jesus who sees Zacchaeus and invites himself into his home, to his table, into his heart and restores this sinner of all sinners to life, joy, and discipleship. 

Homily shared at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Spokane WA

Yet another profound, if complicated, parable from the teaching Jesus! It is a "mercy parable" that reveals to us the very heart of God, as Pope Francis has so often reminded us: "The very name of God is mercy." 

This homily was shared at Sacred Heart Church in Othello, Washington.

Father Kevin was honored to preside and preach at the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist for the Class of 1971 Gonzaga Prep, Spokane, WA.

As we look ahead to the remainder of our lives, most of us now approaching our 70th birthdays, a perplexing parable about a clever steward, when imagined with new details, can guide us forward in how we live our lives: perhaps our "mission" in the last years of our lives is to lighten others' burdens, reduce their debts, lighten their loads...

In one of Jesus' most perfect and profound parables, he shows us an extraordinary image of God's mercy and love...without hesitation, limitations, or preconditions. 

This homily was shared at Saint Rose of Lima Church in Cheney, Washington. 

Jesus was an equal-opportunity diner, it seems. He ate with tax-collectors and sinners...and even with a Pharisee from time to time. He takes the opportunity at the Pharisee's table to teach a lesson about humility to his fellow guests, but then goes much deeper as he turns to his host and drives home the way of God's Kingdom when it comes to with whom we share our table.

This homily was shared at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Spokane, Washington

The question asked of Jesus in today's passage from Luke's gospel almost assuredly was posed by one of the "leaders of the people". The presumption behind the question almost certainly one that included the questioner among those few. 

Jesus response is not what was expected...

(This homily was shared at Sacred Heart Church, in Brewster, Washington)