Homily from the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Give the first fruits and gather the fragments.

We are given two commands in this weekend's readings: to give the first fruits and gather the fragments. Our temptation, however, is to do the opposite; to give the fragments and gather the first fruits. In order to have a heart like Christ, we must become givers.

John 6:1-15

Homily from the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

A person cannot be excellent without rest.

Human beings are made in God's image. We are also made for love, for labor, and for leisure. Since the Fall, these gifts have become distorted in our hearts and we have to fight for the ability to love well, to labor well, and even to leisure well. But we must strive to rest well if we are going to be the people God has made and redeemed us to be.

Mark 6:30-34

Homily from the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Does God have permission to say "I want it back?"

We are all living on borrowed time. And borrowed gifts...and borrowed strengths... Everything we have has been loaned to us from God. At some point, God will interrupt our lives and will ask for His gifts back. He will interrupt our lives and ask for us to return all that has been entrusted to us. Will we be free enough to say "Here it is. I hope that the way I used it glorified You."?

Mark 6:7-13