Episodes

Sunday Sep 08, 2024
Gospel Spit: 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (B), September 8, 2024
Sunday Sep 08, 2024
Sunday Sep 08, 2024
Jesus strangely uses spit to heal the deaf and mute man in the Gospel of Mark. Why spit? It is not so obvious to us in our times, but just maybe saliva had a primordial significance for Jesus. Coming from the mouth where both breath and word mingle, it may be that Jesus' spit carries with it his breath, his word, his spirit, his humanity and divinity both. In this intimate ritual of healing, Jesus gives his very being to the other.
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, EC.

Sunday Sep 01, 2024
Sunday Sep 01, 2024
The big boys from Jerusalem come to Jesus to complain about his disciples failure to follow the ways of their forefathers, more particularly, their failure to wash their hands before meals. It sounds at first like a reasonable complaint to us, but their intervention wasn't really about proper hygiene; it had much more to do with the measures they were using to judge how faithful to God one was. These cleanliness rules were really ritual purification rules and those who followed them faithfully were faithful to God and God to them. Jesus doesn't like this one bit: the externals are not the measure of a person's holiness or closeness to God; it is what is on the inside that counts!
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Sunday Aug 25, 2024
To Whom Shall We Go? 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time (B), August 25, 2024
Sunday Aug 25, 2024
Sunday Aug 25, 2024
As the 6th chapter of John's Gospel comes to an end this Sunday...as well as his lengthy teaching on the Bread of Life...there are no cheers nor gusty rounds of applause. To the contrary, most of his own disciples walk away from him, except the Twelve. It must surely have been a most discouraging moment for Jesus and a confusing one for Peter and the other eleven. At this nadir of his ministry, Jesus asks the few remaining with him, "Do you also want to leave me?" Peter's answer on behalf of the others is almost certainly deeply moving for Jesus. "Master, to whom shall we go? We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." Jesus' question is given to us as well and so each day in our prayer, we must answer.
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community of Cuenca, Ecuador. This day is also the 45th anniversary of Father Kevin Codd's ordination to the priesthood, which is reflected in his words today especially the final reflection.

Sunday Aug 18, 2024
Sunday Aug 18, 2024
Even after three Sundays worth of quarreling over Jesus' teaching on the Bread of Life, those Galileans who have followed Jesus to Capernaum are still at it. They just cant figure out what Jesus is going on about. There is a reason: they don't underestand his foundational teaching on who God is. They are stuck within an image of God as a powerful king, a severe judge, a great general. All this is far from what Jesus shares with them and others: God is first and foremost "Father" to us. Only in receiving this teaching can Jesus' further teaching about himself being the Bread of Life make any sense.
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community of Cuenca, Ecuador.

Sunday Aug 11, 2024
Sunday Aug 11, 2024
The spectacular story of the prophet, Elija, helps us understand more profoundly the proclamation of Jesus in the Gospel of John that he is the Bread of Life, the Bread Come Down from Heaven. In Elijah's story, the God of Israel gives him the bread he needs to continue on in his great prophetic mission. So Jesus is the Bread of Life given to us by his Father that nourishes us and strengthens us for our own mission in this world.
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. (This homily is also available in Spanish).

Sunday Aug 11, 2024
Elias y el Pan de Vida, 19o domingo ordinario (B), 11 de agosto de 20224
Sunday Aug 11, 2024
Sunday Aug 11, 2024
La historia del profeta Elías nos ayuda entender a Jesús cuando proclama que si mismo es el pan de vida en el evangelio de San Juan. El verdadero Dios de Israel no abandona a su profeta, sino le da el pan que necesita para seguir en su misión profética. Así es con Jesús: él es el pan que Dios, su Padre, da a nosotros para cumplir nuestras misiones en este mundo.
Homilía compartida con los feligreses de la Iglesia de Santa Teresita, Misicata, (Cuenca), Ecuador.

Sunday Aug 04, 2024
The Bread of Life, 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B), August 4, 2024
Sunday Aug 04, 2024
Sunday Aug 04, 2024
Those poor folks in the desert! Having just escaped the slavery of Egypt, now they must face the reality of not having bread for their journey towards the Promised Land! Their murmuring against both Moses and God is not without effect for God provides them with their daily bread because of his love for them. Jesus does much the same in his own time; last Sunday he provided a bounty of bread to a hungry crowd; but this week, he does more: he proclaims himself as the true bread come down from heaven, the very Bread of Life!
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Saturday Aug 03, 2024
Pan de Vida, 18o domingo ordinario (B), 4 de agosto de 2024
Saturday Aug 03, 2024
Saturday Aug 03, 2024
Los pobres hebreos en el desierto! Después de haber dejado atrás la esclavitud de egipcio, se encuentren sin pan y con hambre en el desierto de Sinaí. Se murmuran contra Moisés y contra Dios. Sin embargo, Dios les provee su “pan de cada día” por amor a ellos. Jesús hace lo mismo a los judíos de su tiempo; les da pan de harina de trigo (el domingo pasado) pero mas importante, les da pan que no se acaba, Pan de Vida, que es su ser.
Homilía compartida en la Iglesia de San Roque, Cuenca, Ecuador.

Sunday Jul 28, 2024
The World's Hungers: 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B), July 28, 2024
Sunday Jul 28, 2024
Sunday Jul 28, 2024
Our world has many hungers: Hunger of the body. Hunger of the spirit. Hunger for riches and power. Which of these merits the primary attention of the Christian? A case can be made for each of them. Jesus addresses all three as one in today's magnificent gospel story of the multiplacation of the loaves and fishes.
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community of Cuenca, Ecuador

Sunday Jul 28, 2024
El hambre de la tierra: 17o domingo ordinario (B), 28 de julio de 2024
Sunday Jul 28, 2024
Sunday Jul 28, 2024
Hay mucha hambre en esta tierra. Hambre del cuerpo. Hambre del espiritu. Hambre tambien para el poder y las riquezas. ?Cual de esas es la mas importante para los Cristianos? Para Jesus, todos a la vez. El milagro de los panes y pescados es mucho mas que una maravilla, es un momento de formar de las multitudes un Pueblo de Dios compartiendo el Pan de la Vida.
Homilia compartida en la Iglesia de San Roque, Cuenca, Ecuador.