Yet another parable to consider! This time, Jesus is speaking directly to a group of religious big-shots and this parable of the unnamed rich man and the poor, hungry Lazarus is for them. As we get deeper into the story, Jesus pulls the old gospel switcheroo of the " the first shall be last and the last shall be first" type. By the end of the parable, it is clear that this is a story about himself and them. His final words: "even if one should rise from the dead, they still would not believe," are some of the most potent in all of Jesus' parables. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. 

Today's parable is a most head-scratching one! And the commentaries by Jesus that follow the story itself don't help any. What to make of this strange story in which at first sight Jesus seems to approve of a sketchy steward who plays fast and easy with his boss's money? Maybe this is one of those stories that needs some "creative color" added to it so it makes sense to us in our times. That "creative color" may come to us from its twin reading from the Prophet Amos in which the prophet decries the rich and mighty who have gained their privileged status by trampling upon the poor and defenseless. Let's see if we can make this story less head-scratching! 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Today's feast of the Holy Cross preempts the ordinary Sunday, giving us an opportunity to take a good look at this "gibbet of shame" that has become the preeminent symbol of Christianity. Though we now love our crosses, in the time of Jesus, they were anything but lovely; they were the great sign of Roman cruelty towards those who threatened their empire. It is only in understanding this that we can today exalt the Cross as the sign of our salvation in Jesus. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, EC. 

Paul has a problem! His lead pastor among the Colossians, Philemon, has a slave, Onesimus. Onesimus does something to offend his master and flees. Where does he flee to? Well, to Paul who is presently imprisoned in Rome. This is Paul's problem: does he keep Onesimus with him, who he now loves greatly and who has become a Christian...or does he send him back to Philemon, as the rules of Rome dictate? Paul wisely sends Onesimus back, but with a deeply personal letter (written in his own hand!), and requests that Philemon take Onesimus back, no longer as a slave, but as a brother in Christ. In this letter, Paul begins the extremely slow process of kicking the spiritual foundations out from under the practice of slavery. He also issues a call to all of us to consider how we might "use" people as so much chattle in our lives. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. 

"Old Greedy Guts" was one of the worst things someone could say about us when we were kids. When, indeed, we were greedy, the epithet stung because it was true. Most of us learned to be generous most of the time, but some never did and really did grow up to become very much "greedy guts." The opposite of being a greedy person is not just simple "niceness" or even just generosity; for a Christian, the oppositite is to be a Eucharistic Person: humble, self-sacrificial, and an agent of communion. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. 

The ancient story of Sodom and Gomorrah, particulalry Abraham's role as intrcessor on behalf of these depraved cities, is our starting point today. The story teaches us two foundational things about God as revealed in the Hebrew scriptures: God feels and God listens. Those two characteristics of God clearly find their way into Jesus' own teaching to his disciples on how to pray. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. 

Las figuras bíblicas de Abraham en el libro de Genesis y la de Marta en el evangelio de San Lucas son muy distintas en su manera de vivir la virtud de hospitalidad. Una comparación de los dos nos ensena mucho sobre el valor de hospitalidad en nuestras propias vidas. 

Homilia compartido a los feligreses de la Iglesia de San Francisco en Cuenca, Ecuador. 

On the one hand, the figure of Abraham as he joyfully receives and cares for his three guests at the Terebinth of Mamre and on the other, Jesus' dear friend, Martha, as she slaves in the kitchen while her sister, Mary does nothing, could not be further from one another. Yet they are bound together in today's Liturgy of the Word, and dealing with them both offers us a deeply personal challenge as we strive to serve the Lord and his people. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador. 

A doctor of the Law approaches Jesus with a question. How do I gain everlasting life? Jesus bats the question back to him...he's the doctor of the Law after all. The doctor of the law responds with the fundamental commandment to love God...and our neighbor, but presses the issue by asking Jesus then, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus offers him a very challenging parable: "A man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and along the way he was attacked by robbers..." Who is the true neighbor to this poor fellow, as Jesus tells the story, is a moral and spiritual revolution. Our "neighbor" is not defined by class, color, nationality, religion, or...dare we say it: by those with papers or those without. Few parables of Jesus are as pointed as this one to the contemporary concerns of many about dividing God's sons and daughters into "us" and "thems." 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Un maestro de la ley se acerca a Jesús con una pregunta importante: ¿Como puedo alcanzar la vida eterna? Jesús le dirige contestarla por su propia cuenta porque el es el maestro de la ley. El responde bien por citar la ley fundamental de Moisés: que ame a Dios con todo su corazón…y ame también a su prójimo. El maestro de la ley sigue con otra pregunta de inmensa importancia: ¿Quién es mi prójimo? Y con eso, Jesús relata una parábola que explota la idea que nuestro prójimo es uno de nuestra familia, religión o tribu.

Homilía compartida a los fieles de la Iglesia de San Francisco, Cuenca Ecuador.