Catching Up on Sermons in a Bottle

Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God.  "Born of a woman, born under the law."

I never had a formal course in Mariology in all my seminary studies.  And, truth be told, I never used to have much devotion to Mary.  (My piety was drawn to her spouse, Joseph the woodworker of Nazareth, and a lot of apostles of charity and justice.)  But one thing I did learn.  All healthy devotion to Mary leads to her son, Jesus the Christ.  If it does not, it is in vain.  Amen.



The Epiphany of the Lord.  "The stewardship of God's grace."

Catholics love the magi.  These royal Matthean visitors from the East stand proudly next to Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus in every creche, alongside the humble Lucan shepherds and the animals.  The magi have the same job as the shepherds:  Receive the revelation of our savior, honor him, and share the story with those who haven't yet met the son of God.  This is indeed good news to be shared.  May we do the same. 



Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, B.  "Rabbi, where are you staying?"

Father Charles Bober told me he once wrote and delivered a week's worth of retreat talks for priests, based only on the questions people poised to Jesus in the gospels.  Sound adult learning.  The question signals interest, curiosity, openness to the new.  Andrew's question to Jesus began a lifetime of loving discipleship (and lead to martyrdom) for him, his brother, and who knows how many more souls.



Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, B.  "After John had been arrested."

Some biblical scholars speculate that before Jesus began his own ministry of healing and teaching, he was a disciple of John the Baptizer for a time.  Only after John was arrested and imprisoned, the thinking goes, was Jesus moved by the Spirit to strike out on his own, recruiting his own band of followers.  We can never be sure when "the timing is right" for us, or for any prospective believer.  But we are sure that "the reign of God is at hand."



Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, B.  "What is this?  A new teaching with authority."

For children religion is a world of rules and laws, seemingly coming out of nowhere.  Part of the passage to adult religious belief is the transition from the language of rules and the emotion of fear, to the language of relationship and the emotion of love.  Jesus teaches in a new way, fulfilling the law and the prophets, because he embodied a loving relationship with all who have ears to hear.  When we adopt the language of relationship, authority changes from power to service.