I’ve thought long and hard about giving this homily. I prayed about it. There was a part of me that thought of not giving it. But that didn’t feel right. It felt like I was backing down from something I’m called to speak to. So, here goes. Like we heard in the story...

Jesus tells stories that sometime seem pretty far-fetched. Like the one we just heard today. There’s a landowner who goes out of town. So he sends his right-hand people to collect his profits. But his farm hands beat up two of them and send the third running. So, the...

In the story that Jesus tells, the first son says no, but then changes his mind and does what his father has asked. The second son says yes to what his father asked, but never gets around to it. If you're like me, I’ve done both.   What about the son who at first says...

Last week at Mass, I spoke briefly about my experience at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. We were there to serve and learn from the traditions of the Lakota Indians. For much of the week we were out in the field doing work projects. The first day out, the work boss...

The Canaanite woman It’s hard to figure this story out. A woman is hurting and Jesus is uncharacteristically dismissive of her. At first, he ignores her. He won’t even speak to her. Was he having a bad day? A little background can help. The Canaanite woman belonged to...

As a kid I was good at baseball. The problem was I wasn’t that good at. I had a weak arm and was even weaker at the plate. When I was at bat they used to move the outfielders in so if I happened to bloop one over the second baseman’s head they could throw me out at...

A story you may be familiar with. A monastery had fallen on hard times. Its numbers had dwindled. There were only five monks left in the monastery, the Abbot and four others. All were over seventy. Clearly it was a dying order. A Rabbi from town occasionally visited a...

Fr. Bob - Moving Away from a Fear Based Religion The first two words of the profession of faith we say at every mass after the homily are “I believe”. Two interesting words. I believe what? I believe that we’re going to get a lot of snow next winter. Can you blame me....

I had this conversation with my dad when I was kid. As a 5th grade altar boy, I remember talking to my dad about how scared I was of Fr. Driscoll. Fr. Driscoll was our pastor at Christ the King in south Minneapolis.At the end of the conversation, Dad reminded me “Bob,...

As we heard in today’s Gospel from John 3:16 “God the Father so loved the world that he sent his only Son”. God becoming one of us, we know that at Christmas.   Crank the calendar ahead. Last weekend we heard about the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We know that...