Last Sunday I celebrated Mass on a kibbutz in northern Israel. What is our understanding of peace? Can peace be something deeper than a stalemate between warring forces?

We celebrated First Holy Communion today. We use "Here is the church, here is the steeple," to remind us that God the Shepherd wants to gather all of us in.

Embarrassment is often accompanied by irrational, exaggerated response. Here is an example from St. Peter.

Finally, several weeks after his election, a reflection on the startling and soothing presence of Pope Francis.

"Peter was amazed." The resurrection of Jesus is, for him and for all of us, the occasion for a complete overturning of the meaning of life.

On March 17 the homilist was taking some time off. The Palm Sunday scriptures proclaim the compassion of the Suffering Servant of humanity.

What do we expect from inheritance? Have we dedicated and opened ourselves to the ultimate inheritance of mercy and belonging?

In the middle of Lent, the Scriptures today lend themselves to contemplating the normal human experience of being "in the middle" of the vast enterprise of life, and feeling ourselves to be quite limited and creaturely.

There was a baptism at this Mass, so the child baptized entered the People of God during the pontificate of Benedict XVI -- just barely. Transfiguration is an occasion to ask: what's ordinary and what's extraordinary?

This time of papal transition moves us to a consideration of the title "Vicar of Christ" and the humility of the Christ who withstood temptation so as to carry out the ultimate act of love for humanity.