Father Kevin A. Codd

Jesus didn't "need" to make that much water into that much wine; he did it for the joy of it. In doing so, he was only following the way of the Creator in the lavishly generous manner in which the universe and the earth and we ourselves were created. 

Matthew's final Nativity story is a complicated drama with an abundance of characters, good and bad. One "character" worthy of special attention is that extraordinary Star that leads the Magi to Bethlehem. What manner of Star is this? It is, when all is said and done, a Holy Spirit Star...

On the Sunday following Christmas, the Church is inspired by the image of the Holy Family, one that may not always be so close to the realities of our own families with all their tensions, troubles, and "dysfunctions". Jesus himself only once holds up a family as "holy" in his teaching, and it is doozy! The story of the loving father and his two sons found in Luke 15 does show us what it takes to make a family "holy". 

Luke's version of the Nativity story has the angel announcing the Savior's birth to shepherds, but why not announce to the priests of the Temple, those who had spent their lives studying the Scriptures to determine when and how the Savior might come. Luke pinpoints the shepherds in this story looking ahead to the stories of Jesus' adult life. 

A few words in Spanish added at the end...

Mary's pregnancy almost surely gave others plenty of reason to be suspicious and gossipy of the young girl. Derision and perhaps even a bit of persecution came her way. All the more important and beautiful is Elizabeth's welcome and affirmation that God is at work in this! 

This homily was recorded in the Iglesia San Francisco in Cuenca, Ecuador. The audio is not the greatest because of the echo in the church and that Father Kevin is masked...and trying to project at 8,500 feet above sea level! 

The blindness of Bartimaeus calls us to ponder our own blindness, not of the eyes, but of the heart.

This homily was delivered at Saint Therese Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 24, 2021. 

Setting aside the rather gruesome imagery of today's gospel passage, cutting off hands and plucking out eyes, Father Kevin instead shares some final reflections with Sacred Heart parishioners in his final homily before retirement. 

Unsaid in this homily is the happy reality that, God willing, he will continue preaching and pastoring in new places and new ways. Next up: a brief visit to Albuquerque, then on to Cuenca, Ecuador for five months!

On this 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, (cycle B), the dramatic device of telling a story in three acts is a useful tool for following today's gospel passage in which Jesus must clarify for his disciples the manner of cross he...and they...are about to bear.