Father Kevin A. Codd

On April 6, 2017, Father Kevin shared three reflections on the parable of the Prodigal Son at a Day of Prayer at Immaculate Heart Retreat House in Spokane. This is the first of his reflections, based largely on the book by Kenneth E. Bailey, The Cross & The Prodigal: Luke 15 Through the Eyes of Middle Eastern Peasants, Intervarsity Press, 2005. Click here for a link to the book on Amazon: CLICK!

Three words: "And Jesus wept." Among the most important of the Gospels. They plunge us into the heart of the mystery of the Incarnation.  In Jesus, God weeps with us and for us as one of us. 

The Third Sunday of Lent in the "A" Cycle presents us with a terrific story...one that merits a sort of narrative analysis to see just how masterly Jesus brings the Living Water of salvation to a whole town. 

The Transfiguration featured in this gospel is yet another episode in the Lenten Adventures of Jesus of Nazareth. The meaning of Jesus' upcoming passion and death is not yet grasped by Peter, James and John. The Father's voice from heaven commands Jesus' disciples to shut up already and LISTEN to him... Good advice for all of us in this Lenten season!

The first Man and Woman were tempted to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, thus (they supposed) making themselves gods...with no need of GOD. 

Jesus was tempted in the desert to eat bread of his own divine making, throw himself from the parapet of the Temple without suffering consequences, and take the fast road to ruling the World...all temptations to presume upon his divinity so that he needn't be quite so human. 

How ironic! One is the temptation of humanity to make itself its own god...and the other for God to be not quite  human in all its lowliness, weakness, and exposure to injustice and death. 

A new trend in some Christian churches is to replace the ashes of Ash Wednesday with glitter. Hmmm. What might we be losing with the practice? 

As he continues his preaching from atop the Mount of Beatitudes, Jesus goes after the moral certainty that we must love our neighbor...meaning those who belong to OUR tribe...but remain free to fear, hate, and even kill those who are outsiders.

Jesus' first great sermon in Matthew's Gospel is a revolutionary restructuring of just who is on top and who is on the bottom of the social and religious hierarchy of his time...and our own. 

Father Kevin retells the Epiphany story with some creative license, but to make an important point or two about the real star that called them to Bethlehem. Father's experience as a pilgrim walking across France and Spain has influenced his retelling of this great and holy tale. 

The Christmas story warms our hearts year after year with nostalgia aplenty! But is nostalgia and warmth what the Evangelists want from this story for us? To find out, let's take a quick trip through Salvation History from the Big Bang to the Big Resurrection so that this story might be for us a new "Big Bang" of eyes opening to God-with-us!