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Father Kevin A. Codd, recently retired, is a priest of the Diocese of Spokane, WA. He is now serving the Catholic Expat community in Cuenca, Ecuador. Here he shares his Sunday homilies and other occasional reflections.
Episodes
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
It is curious how many names the central characters of today's feast bear: are they kings, astrologers, wise men, or magi? Each gives a different feel to the story of their visit to Bethlehem. Yet it is also curious the name that is missing: "The Three Strangers...or Outsiders...or Unbelievers", yet that is what they are and that is good news for us!
Homily delivered to the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. This homily is a revision of one delivered in Sacred Heart Church in Spokane in January 2018.
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
The remarkable story of Abraham and Sarah found in Genesis teaches us that out of "irregular" or "shameful" families, God brings blessings and great fruit. The pattern is found often in the Scriptures: a barren or aged woman is blessed by God with a child who will in turn be a great blessing to Israel. The same happens in the Gospel's Nativity stories with Elizabeth and Mary. In our times, it is a vitally important lesson: God takes imperfect families, blesses them, and brings great blessings to others through them.
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador
Monday Dec 25, 2023
Monday Dec 25, 2023
The grand Pesebre or Nativity scene set up in our church of San Francisco in Cuenca is lovely, soft, and sweet. There is, however, a darker side to these Nativity images, that is made clear in Luke's Gospel. They point directly forward to Jesus' ministry, his death, and his resurrection.
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.
Sunday Dec 24, 2023
Sunday Dec 24, 2023
What does it take to make a house a home? In today's readings, both houses and homes become the center of our spiritual attention. God's work of making himself a home among us over millennia, with David, and especially in the story of Mary is one that invites us to welcome God into our own spiritual homes.
Homily shared wth the Saint Francis Catholic Community, Cuenca, Ecuador
Sunday Dec 17, 2023
Sunday Dec 17, 2023
John the Evangelist begins his Gospel account of Jesus with a mystical hymn to the Creator and the Word, echoing the opening words of Genesis: "In the beginning...." But then he interrupts it twice with the story of John the Baptist. What is he up to here? Is this just a case of bad editing or does the Fourth Evangelist see something essential in weaving together this cosmic hymn and the prosaic story of the Baptist?
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.
Sunday Dec 10, 2023
Sunday Dec 10, 2023
Our usual image of John the Baptist, at least in Western art, is often a soft and tender one. In Byzantine iconography, he is depicted as wild and fearsome, which is closer to how we find him the Gospels. Yet, he is profoundly attractive to the people of Judea and Jerusalem and they come to him in great numbers. His humility and self-abnegation before God is a powerful Advent image even today.
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
As this "new year" begins the characteristics of Advent are highlighted in this day's scripture readings: humility, peacefulness, and attentiveness to what is doing among us.
Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.
Sunday Nov 26, 2023
Sunday Nov 26, 2023
Jesus' image of sheep, goats, and the great king who separates them for distinct destinies seems simple enough up front, but once he adds the troublesome criteria of how they are to be "judged", things get much more complicate...and worrisome. His emphasis on the corporal works of mercy rather than typical piety challenges us to examine our consciences with some justified trembling. That trembling may be calmed by the fact that before he was a "king" this Jesus was a shepherd.
Homily delivered to the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
The Thanksgiving tradition of recounting particular blessings at the dinner table is a wonderful one. Each gift or grace that is mentioned comes with a string attached: the responsibility to use that gift for the benefit of others. The image of the servant who buries his one talent, not allowing it to grow or bless others, is a powerful one that encourages us to not follow his example. Gifts shared are not expended, they are expanded!
Homily delivered to the Catholic Community of Saint Francis, Cuenca, Ecuador.
Sunday Nov 12, 2023
Sunday Nov 12, 2023
Wisdom, as understood in the Hebrew Scriptures in the centuries before Jesus, was imagined as a living and gracious feminine presence, seeking out souls open to its blessings. It was seen as an expression of God's presence among his people. This kind of Wisdom was alive and present especially in Jesus, his words and works. It is close to, if not the same reality, his disciples later came to understand as the Holy Spirit. This Holy Wisdom, "Hagia Sophia" in Greek, is what the world needs now...
Homily delivered to the Saint Francis Catholic Community, Cuenca, Ecuador