A Positively Poetic Priest

Merry Christmas! Today is the last day of the twelve days of Christmas. Have you all seen the Home Alone movie? The movie focuses on Kevin, the youngest of the family and the cousins who gets left home by accident. The family was going to Paris for Christmas to visit relatives and there was an accident and the parent's alarm didn't go off. They were woken up by the doorbell ringing with the bus pick up service. Kevin, asleep on the third floor, after being sent there as punishment the night before doesn't hear the hustle and bustle when they all run to the buses to get to the airport to go on their vacation. The oldest of the kids is told to do a headcount, but she comes up with the right number because she accidentally counts the neighbor boy who has come to see them off. It's not until they are on the plane over the ocean does his mother realize they don't have Kevin with them. She screams his name and passes out. I can imagine...

Proper 28 B Eternal God, heavenly Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, grant us grace to see death as an opportunity for resurrection and transformation, grant us courage to face the tearing down of walls and foundations and buildings. Help us to build anew that which sings your praises. Amen. Did you hear what the disciple said at the start of the gospel passage this morning?  "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!" After a long day of sitting in the Temple, listening to the scriptures and the teachings of the priests and Jesus, this is the intellectual brilliance that is chosen to be recorded. Look at the huge stones! Having been to Jerusalem last year, I cannot deny that they are huge stones. They are described in the Old Testament as being 8 to 10 cubits long - putting them between 12-15 ft long. And they were all quarried, moved, built together without any of today's technology. No cranes, no trucks, no lifts. They formed the foundation...