A Positively Poetic Priest

I love Christmas movies as much as the next person, though I do like to wait until at least after Thanksgiving to start watching them. And I continue watching them during the whole 12 days of Christmas.  But one unfortunate thing about Christmas movies is that they all end perfectly. The ham is nice and brown (not black or under-cooked) the tree is decorated and pretty  (not an ugly conglomeration  of children's handmade items disguised as ornaments) everyone ends up happy  even with the presents they receive and all is right in the world.  But we all know,  that isn't how real life goes. Many times in our real lives we go from mess to mess and nothing ever comes out looking perfectly there's always at least one gift to be returned, and at the end, not everyone ends up happy, and sometimes by the end, you don't even care if everyone's happy anymore. We live in a messy, messy world. Physical, emotional, spiritu...

Today. We don't have a king. We threw off the monarchy in 1776 here in the United States. There have been jokes over the years about some of our presidents acting like kings. But we don't have one. There are countries who do have monarchs, kings or queens. But our understanding of what makes a kingdom has changed over the centuries. Today. we have come to the last Sunday of the liturgical calendar. We have come to what is known as Christ the King Sunday. Where the focus of the gospel passages is always Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection in some way. Why do we get the end of the story on the last Sunday of the church year?  Why do we go from Christ the King to Advent where we are waiting for Christ?  We know the story and we have to remember where it is going, we have to remember what will be at the end why the story of the baby in the manger is important because Jesus is the one who dies for us, the eternal king of kings and p...

"So make up your minds NOT to prepare your defense in advance;  for I will give you words and a wisdom  that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict."  (Luke 21:5-19) I'll let you into one of my nightmares, because that is exactly what you want right this minute. I am an introvert  and the idea of getting up before a crowd, a judge, even standing here now, without anything prepared to say, is terrifying to me. Down right terrifying. When I was in high school I was terrified of public speaking.  I remember my first public speaking class,  when I wasn't able to complete a short speech  because I thought I was going to throw up.  At the time I knew I wanted to become a priest  and I knew from watching the priests of the church I went to,  that I was going to have to speak in public someday  and that I needed to work on it.  I asked God for help  and God pro...

Teacher, "In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be?" Why do they need to know whose wife this poor woman will be? Hasn't she gone through enough hassle already? Seven husbands??? Give the poor woman a break! Jesus was such a storyteller its not often we hear him going through the paces with  legal logistical argumentative proofs. However, if you remember your ancient Greek rhetoric at all (which I totally understand if you don't...) you'll notice what the Sadducees are doing  and how Jesus responds in kind. The Sadducees who speak to Jesus are using a case study to prove that there is no resurrection. The Sadducees were a group who didn't believe in resurrection, they didn't believe in an afterlife. Yet, they know Jesus does believe in resurrection, he keeps teaching and preaching about the kingdom of God. So they decide to take him on in some old style debating.  They offer a proof that ...

I want you to picture in your mind our local drug dealer. Every town has one or two and by the way the local news talks about the drug crises we have more than one or two in Franklin. I want you to try to picture our local drug dealer, wandering down Buffalo Street, thinking about his business, when he stops and looks up at St. John's doors. For some reason, he decides to walk in and say a prayer. He says, Hey God, to you, I'm messed up. Forgive me, will ya? Also in the church at that time is one of our long time faithful regulars, praying. This long time member is giving thanks for something going really well in their life. Then Jesus walks in with a bunch of people and points to the two people praying. He says that the drug dealer is in better standing with God at that moment than the long time faithful member. What? Its a confusing and shocking and harsh parable. What can Jesus possibly mean? Interestingly, this parable only...