Father Kevin A. Codd

Msgr Denis Carlin, a priest of the Diocese of Paisley, Scotland, introduces himself to our parish at the Sunday homily as we begin our parish Mission on Mercy.

Paul's brief letter to Philemon does not tackle slavery in the Roman Empire, but it does undercut the moral underpinnings of every kind of slavery, then and now. Once the "slave" becomes a "brother", it is impossible to treat him or her as a possession, pawn, or object in our lives. 

Having just returned from two weeks in the village of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán, in the highlands of Guatemala, where our diocese has been involved since the very early 1960's, I offer to my parishioners here in Spokane a bit of an explanation of why I go there and what I hope I bring back with me. 

As pilgrim veterans, prospective pilgrims, and pilgrims-at-heart gathered for the first time in the Spokane area to celebrate the Feast of Saint James, the Apostle ("Santiago"), Father Kevin offered this reflection on the pilgrim's Way both in Jesus' time and in our own. 

The biblical stories of Abraham welcoming the three strangers and Marty and Mary welcoming Jesus make clear that hospitality is not just an "add-on" to the Christian life, but an essential part of our living as God would have us live. In welcoming the stranger, we encounter God. 

Revolutionaries come in two flavors: the worldly/political revolutionary and the revolutionary of the heart. Jesus shows himself to be a master revolutionary of the heart in the extraordinary story of the compassionate and merciful Samaritan. 

This Gospel passage features three significant numbers, 72-2-0, each of which offers a fine metric by which to "grade" the quality of discipleship in our parish. 

In the wake of the horrific shootings at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, yet again we weep over the victims, our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, black, brown, or white, straight or gay. 

Following the powerful testimony of the sinful woman in washing Jesus' feet with her tears and drying them with her hair, as well as the prophetic words of Jesus himself, Simon the Pharisee faces a monumental decision: continued self-centered puffery or humble conversion of heart and life. 

Remembering the great events of the past and our heroes is part and parcel of being a human being. Remembering in the Jewish tradition is much more: a living anew of the foundational experience of God's grace. Jesus' call to remember him in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup is this kind of remembering: a living anew of the new Passover that is his death and resurrection.