Martin Luther King's famous speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial repeated over and over the refrain: "I have a dream..." In  a very real, he and the prophet Isaiah shared the vision of a better future rooted in justice and human fraternity so eloquently expressed in the words, "I have a dream..." In Isaiah's case, the dream was founded in the hope that the living God would come to save his people from their own arrogance, idolotry, and lack of trust in God's guidance of his own beloved people. John the Baptist also has a dream, but it is one that is unfolding even as he spoke and baptized in the desert: the messiah is close, he is near, he is already bringing his Kingdom to us! 

This homily was prepared for delivery to the Saint Francis Catholic Community for the Second Sunday of Advent, but unfortunately, yours truly, was afflicted with a fairly bad cold and could not make it to church. So this is a recording at home of what that homily might have been. Preaching only to oneself rather than a community loses a lot, but at least the hard work that went into preparing the homily is not completely lost. 

Our usual experience of the passing of time is like a straight line moving from creation to the present moment. The biblical experience of time is formed by an understanding that with God, there is no past, present or future: all of it remains present. Time is not a straight line so much as a revolving series of ovals! On this First Sunday of Advent, the notion of "time" comes up often in the readings of the Liturgy of the Word and understanding these references in the biblical manner is revelatory. 

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

La imagen de Jesús crucificado y la de los reyes de este mundo con sus riquezas, ejércitos, y poder absoluto no se combinan bien. ¿Entonces, porque celebramos hoy un rey humillado, sin poder ni riquezas, muriendo en desgracia? ¿En que sentido es este Jesús un rey? Vamos a ver…

Homilia compartida en la Iglesia de San Francisco, Cuenca, Ecuador.

The image of Jesus dying on the cross and that of our worldly kings seem to be polar opposites, yet this day we proclaim this humble, defeated, and dying man a king. How is this possible? 

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

Al acabar el año litúrgico, las lecturas de las misas dominicales se enfocan más y más en cómo se acaban las cosas hecho por las manos humanas, y lo más importante, la esperanza que Jesús nos ofrece en medio de las tribulaciones de los últimos días. 

Esta homilía es un poco improvisa porque Padre Kevin no tuve la oportunidad de prepararla con anticipación. 

Homilía compartida en la Iglesia de San Francisco, Cuenca, Ecuador. 

As the Church year draws to a close, our Sunday readings become ever more preocupied with the end of things. Today, the great Temple of Jerusalem offers a starting point in understanding Jesus' pragmatic understanding of just how fragile are the things made of human hands...and his great hope in God's promises of eventual victory over all that is evil. 

Homily shared with the Saint Francis Catholic Community, Cuenca, Ecudador

On a feast-day dedicated to Christianity's first great church, the Roman cathedral of Saint John Lateran, we pause to reflect on why we love our churches and what The Church most truly is. 

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

Even the best of prayers, perfect in form and eloquent in speech, can be perverted from the inside out by human hubris and spiritual pride. Arrogance and judgementalism are the enemies of true prayer, as Jesus teaches in today's parable of the two men who went up to the temple to pray: one a tax-collector and the other a Pharisee. 

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

The "message" in today's parable is easy to grasp...no head scratching required: pray persistently! Nevertheless, the final words of Jesus in this reading are more perplexing: "But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" So what does this have to do with the parable he just told about the persistent widow and the hard-hearted judge? Maybe Jesus is applying the principle of persistent prayer to much more than us just asking God to tend to our own needs? 

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

The very word "leper" for most of human history would have evoked revulsion in most people. The disease had terrible consequences for those who contracted it almost everyone deeply feared it. Somewhat the same, the word "Samaritan" would have evoked among many Jewish people in the 1st century a similar reaction of deep disdain. Both words play prominent roles in today's gospel story and give this event in Jesus' life many levels of meaning. All of it touches our own consciences deeply.

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