Wednesday's Wink from Above 08/12/2026 Homily Cycle A 8/02/2026 from [18th Sunday] - Offered at OLPH "Meaning - Why are we here?"

 

"Meaning - Why are we here?" 

Scripture Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080226.cfm

Jesus Blessed, Broke, & Gave food to those gathered.

Blessed – gave Thanks!

Broke – reminding us that all we have is a gift from God!

Gave – Jesus shared!

 

The Eucharist is simple yet profound -

simple yet a sacrament -

simple yet a mystery –

simple yet cosmic.

 

The Eucharist is a gift that is beyond us while being readily available to us, for us. In “Come Be My Life: The Private Writings of the ‘Saint of Calcutta’” We read, “… one of the great challenges of the darkness was this absence of a vivid sense of God’s presence in prayer; it was something she still longed for.” [p.270] Many of us experience the “absence of God’s presence” in prayer; in life.

 

This story may aid us with today’s readings & contemplating the true meaning for our lives, Two Hungers: One Little & One Big: “The Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert talk about two ‘hungers.’ There is the Great Hunger & there is the Little Hunger. The Little Hunger wants food for the belly; but the Great Hunger, the greatest hunger of all, is the hunger for meaning….” Meaning is to find out why are we here, where are we going? [Sir Laurens van der Post, South African cultural anthropologist, statesman, & author]

Our culture is increasingly secularized, & there is a danger that living our faith will become only private, “The church must advocate too for a public conscience, not just for the private conscience.”  [Ron Rolheiser, St. Louis University Sunday Website]

Today’s Scripture readings offer us light & meaning in the darkness for our lives. Isaiah invites us to “…come to the water …. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.”

Fr. John Foley’s beautiful hymn Come to the Water emphasizes today’s reading from Isaiah. “come to the water …. Come, without paying & without cost drink wine & milk.” Take a few minutes to listen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1gKmZBtoiI

And St. Paul reminds us that nothing can “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our …..”

The Gospel Verse teaches we do  “… not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” The Word of God that we heard from Matthew that Jesus is deeply saddened by the death of John the Baptist & He seeks quiet time to mourn, so He withdraws to a deserted place. But the crowd was hungry for meaning & they “followed Him.” When Jesus gets off the boat He sees “… the vast crowd [and] His heart was moved by pity for them.” St. Augustine wrote [Confessions], “You have made us for yourself & our heart is restless until they rest in You.”

Father prayed as we began Mass, “Draw near to your servants, O Lord, & answer their prayers with unceasing kindness…” [Collect] The vast crowd in today’s Gospel represents us - seeking meaning. 

A man walking in the desert heard a voice say, “Pick up stones & pebbles, put them in your pocket, & tomorrow you will be both sorry & happy.” The man listened, gathered a handful of stones & pebbles & put them in his pocket. The next morning, he reached into his pocket & instead of stones & pebbles, he found diamonds, rubies & emeralds. He was both sorry & happy—happy that he had taken some, but sad that he hadn’t picked up more.

As we walk through life God offers us the opportunity to pick up the stones/pebbles of Prayer, the Scripture, & the Sacraments. Jesus feeds us in unimaginable abundance, so we can Reprint His Gospel with our lives & become saints. Christ nourishes us for this life with the Eucharist, the preeminent gift of Himself. 

After W.W. II - W.H. Auden published a poem “The Age of Anxiety” about the search for identity, the age-old search that St. Augustine pointed to us.  As we search in our time & we need to TRUST that God will guide us & God’s answer us in God’s time.

The Lord calls us to strive to be saints, people who do the ordinary things of life for God. 

Jesus Blessed, Broke, & Gave food to those gathered;

Now for a few minutes, in silence, think about the ordinary things you do & offer them to God & then you will find meaning.

 

For a few minutes, in silence, think about the ordinary things you do & offer them to God & then you will find meaning.

 

May God Be Praised! 

 

   

Wednesday's Wink from Above - 08/05/2026 Homily Cycle A 07/05/2026 [14th Sunday] Offered at OLPH

A very proper Englishman flew into N.Y. City hailed a cab, driven by Shamus Walsh. Shamus said, “Where too? The Englishman said, “Christ’s Church.” Shamus took him to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The Englishmen said, “This isn’t Christ’s Church.” Shamus said, “If he’s in town, he’s in there.”

We are celebrating the 250^th Anniversary of our Declaration of Independence and our Bishops led us in Consecrating our nation and ourselves to the Scared Heart of Jesus. Archbishop Lori in his homily celebrating that Consecration said, this was a “… moment of grace” that we are privileged celebrate, to consecrate, to entrust, the Church in the United States and our entire nation to the Sacred Heart. We do this because our “… history is not simply the story of what human beings accomplish; it is the story of God’s faithful love at work in the world.”

 

In our Gospel Jesus invites us to come to Him and take His Yoke and Learn from Him, because His yoke is easy and His burden light. There is a beautiful story, The Yoke-Maker Legend, that Jesus, a craftsman, was an expert in hand-carving wooden yokes for oxen.  Farmers would bring their ox-teams to his shop, and Jesus would custom-fit and carve the wood so that it [the yoke] rested perfectly on their shoulders & their shoulders wouldn’t get sore. The "Yoke" Christ offers us is custom-tailored to our lives, and He walks beside us to share the weight of the burdens we carry. “Easy” in Greek meant “well-fitting” and “yokes” were designed for two; Jesus and you; Jesus and me. Zechariah means “The Lord remembers,” he instructs us to “Rejoice heartily … shout for joy.”

For a people who have been saved, we sometimes neglect to live joyously, grateful for the gift of life – grateful for the gift of salvation. Zechariah tells us that our savior will be “meek” – not weak. “There is nothing so strong as true gentleness & nothing so gentle as true strength.” [de Sales]

We have been chosen [you & I] to follow Jesus in humility & in gentleness. In Psalm we pray, “I will praise your name forever, my king and my God …. I will praise your name forever.”

How do you praise God’s name? Do your Actions, Deeds, Words, Life – reflect that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ? St. Paul tells us, “… you are in the spirit, if only the Son of God dwells in you.”

Living in the spirit enables us to live our vocation, to fulfill our God-given purpose here on earth. Jesus shows us how to live as His children, doing His work & following  His teachings. St. Matthew said that what is important in life is not esoteric; in fact, it is available to all, even the “little ones.” Jesus reminds us that He knows that life is difficult, demanding, stressed-filled & if we live His Gospel, our life will be joy-filled. Jesus wants us to embrace our faith in Him, our faith in God, like little children, with openness, trust and hope.

Maybe this story can illuminate the meaning of “My Yoke is easy …” A nurse served faithfully in an isolated clinic in the mountains of West Virginia - a physician from the nearest city would visit there once a week. He noticed how the nurse gave far more of herself than anyone could expect and how low her salary was. He said "… why don't you leave this  isolated community and go where you can earn a good salary? God knows you are worth it." She answered kindly, "If God knows I'm worth it, that's what really matters to me." [If God Knows I'm Worth It, Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, Sermons.com]

 

As we continue to celebrate our Anniversary as a Nation let’s renew our Trust and Hope in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and live as His child, God, knows our worth.

May God Be Praised.

 

Wednesday’s Wink from Above 07/29/2026

 

A Prayer of Gratitude for our family vacation, St. Julian of Norwich, wrote, “The goodness of God is the highest object of prayer, and it reaches down to our lowest need. It quickens our soul and gives it life, and makes it grow in grace and virtue.”

The Kelly Family Vacation was a beautiful prayer and our lives were enriched as we thanked God for our time together.

                                    Below is our 2026 Sunset, N.C. Family Photo

This Homily Cycle II 07/27/2026 Offered at OPLH was titled, “Strange to our ears.”

Jeremiah’s instructions seem strange to our ears, and the parable of the mustard seed would have confounded the farmers who were listening to Jesus. The mustard seed was considered a weed so to sow it and let it grow would seem foolish to His listeners.

God calls us to be Open to His Word, strange or not, and in our secularized world & culture Jesus’ Gospel seems foolish and unrealistic. But you and I are called to be Open to The Word with humility and to live The Word as fools in the eyes of the world.

May God Be Praised.