Father Kevin A. Codd

Though tied together by today's liturgy, Peter and Paul were rather an odd couple. The differences between them were substantial in almost every way, and especially their approach to spreading the new faith in the Risen Jesus. One principally a pastor, the other a missionary. The church binds them together in today's feast as a way of saying we need both!

Homily for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. 

The magnificent passage from today's liturgy celebrating the profound mystery of the Holy Trinity, (Proverbs 8: 22-31), is worth paying close attention to. It reveals a God who creates our universe, our earth, and we ourselves as human beings filled with delight in doing so. The Wisdom tradition in the Jewish religion in the centuries before Christ, provide us with an alternate view of God the mighty and powerful judge, as well as what may be a sort of  advance look into the Christian understanding both of the Word in John's Gospel and the Holy Spirit. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.

"In the beginning..." Genesis tells us that when God created the first human being, he breathed life and spirit into him as an act of pure love. "Ruach" is the word in Hebrew for "breath", but also for "wind", and "spirit". It is this same "Ruach" that we hear about in the great Pentecost story of Acts and in John's Gospel as well. The Pentecost story is that of God doing again what he once did: creating us anew in love. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community of Cuenca, Ecuador. 

Though our Easter liturgies carry on, the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday has made the past week a time of grief and hope. We remember Francis for so many lovely gestures of mercy, compassion, and love. We pray that his successor will be a shepherd who brings all his sheep to the Church's Table. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador

"Happy Easter" is a fine greeting, but the word "happy" doesn't really communicate the depth of what we experience on this Easter morning. The risen Jesus offers his own "word" for his disciples and for us:  "Peace." 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador, (and wrapping up a long Holy Week, the homilist is a bit weary which seems manifest in his delivery!)

John's narrative of Jesus' passion, death, and burial includes the mention of many names. There is Jesus and Simon Peter, of course, but also Malchus, Annas and Caiphas, Pilate, and at the end, the noble Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. But there is also the name of Barabbas, the brigand, and that of Caesar; what significance might these two names hold in this deeply sad story?

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.

The Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. All of it...eighteen minutes of it, here told again as so many times before. A simple reflection follows: Jesus prays three times in this long story and each prayer is worthy of its own homily; each one shows us something deeply important about Jesus, his relationship to his Father, and his relationship to us. There is a fourth prayer here, too: that of the criminal crucified next to him. It is one that we keep in our own heart all the days of our lives, sin besmirched as they may be: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

The Passion proclaimed to the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. 

The horrific story given to us on this fifth Sunday of the Lenten season is so much more than a story about a woman "caught in the very act of adultery"; it is a story about that woman, of course, but also about the men carrying the stones in their hands ready to kill her in the name of Moses, and it is a story about Jesus...

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. 

The magnificent parable that Jesus tells in Luke 15 proves he is one of the great story-tellers of all time. It also is a spiritual revolution because it turns upside down the way most people have imagined God. Jesus pulls no punches in this story, which as it happens, is squarely directed at the religious leaders of his day. What is God like? For Jesus, God is this father who loves his sons so much that he will do anything to save them from themselves. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community of Cuenca, Ecuador. 

The magnificent story of Moses and the Burning Bush reveals to Moses (and to us!) a God who has the ears to hear the cries of a people enslaved, humiliated, and impoverished. That God would care with a burning passion for the sufferings of a small tribe of Hebrews trapped in Egypt teaches both Moses and us so much about the God at the heart of our faith. But there is more to this story worthy of our consideration. The voice of God emanating from that burning bush also demands that Moses draw no closer. "Stop right where you are!" This spiritual sense that we human beings can only get so close to God travels through the centuries. Distance from God is essential for he is God and we are not! And it is precisely this that Jesus turns upside down with his coming to us in flesh and blood. In him, we are invited into the burning bush that is God's presence.

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.