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.

Prayer Reflection Wednesday’s Wink from Above 07-15-2026

 

 

 

Incline my heart according to Your Will, O God and grant me the fortitude to follow Your Will. If I do that Your peace will file me and Your Light will guide me, and I will join Julian of  Norwich in thanksgiving believing that “All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” 

 

 

 

Lord God, Grant me the Courage to Listen to Your voice and follow You. Open my heart to praise Your holy name, cleanse me from any worthless thoughts.  You are my refuge and my hope; I turn to You and beg for Your intercession. Send Your light to guide me as I wander in the darkness of this world and grant me the solace of Your eternal love. Amen.

  

No matter how we fold or raise our hands in prayer, may our hearts always on our knees. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May God Be Praised.  [Deacon George Kelly]

 

 

N.B. I will be on vacation with my family therefore My blog, "Wednesday's Wink from Above" will not be posted on Wednesday July 22, 2026 but will return on Wednesday July 29, 2026.

Wednesday’s Wink from Above 07/08/2026 Homily Cycle A 12th Sunday 06/21/2026 – Ordinary Time – Offered at OLPH.

 

A Sunday school teacher was quizzing her students after teaching them about God's omnipotence. At the end of her lesson she asked: "Is there anything God can't do?"

There was silence. Finally, one boy held up his hand. The teacher asked: "Well, what is it that God can't do?" The boy replied: "He can't please everybody." [Sermons.com, Gary W. Houston, “What God Can't Do” Cowherding Christians, CSS Publishing Company]

God offers us total love and that will please everybody, BUT we must choose to accept God’s love. Today’s Gospel urges us to acknowledge Christ without fear. Jeremiah follows the Lord despite this enemies plotting against him. St. Paul reminds us that death came through Adam yet Grace through Jesus Christ. And Jesus instructs His Apostles [& us] not to fear, in His Divine Providence He is watching over us.

Bette Midler’s hit song “From a distance” [1990] is a powerful & beautiful song. Some of the lyrics are: “From a distance the world looks blue & green … the ocean meets the stream… the eagle takes to flight… there is harmony. And it echoes through the land,  It's the voice of hope, the voice of peace… the voice of every [one]. God is watching us, God is watching us, God is watching us From a distance.”

Although it’s a beautiful song, it gets one thing wrong, very wrong God is not watching us from a distance, God is with us in our waking and sleeping. Our God walks with us, talks with us in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist He will enter into us, into our very being.

The Biblical meaning of “the Fear of God” points us to a deep sense of God’s otherness, it leads us to wonder and awe. It leads us to abide in God who loves us & believes we are worth far more than many sparrows. It leads us to Joyful Hope for the Coming of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah experienced persecution, mockery and intense pressure yet he believed the Lord was with him.

Do you believe the Lord is with you?

In the darkness of our times, most of the attacks on our faith are subtle, in whispers to distract our minds and hearts from focusing our lives on God. Jesus teaches the Twelve and us to “Fear no one” and courageously proclaim the Good News with our lives.

Pope Leo XIV urges us in “Magnifica Humanitas” [“Magnificent Humanity”] “… to look at the ways we communicate the Gospel to a world deeply in need of it. At its heart, that communication is the sharing of Jesus Christ, the Word.” [“Priests: Please don’t let A.I. write your homilies for you,” America Magazine, Louis Cameli, 06/10/2026]

The famous Jesuit poet and writer, Daniel Berrigan said, “If you want follow Jesus, you’d better look good on wood.” We will have many splinters and crosses to deal with BUT True Hope, real Hope can only be found in Jesus Christ, the hope that the world offers is fleeting. Our world, our nation desperately need Hope today, we need Hope.

In the December of 1941 after Pearl Harbor was bombed, President Franklin Roosevelt told the nation, “There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.” We have been Baptized in Faith and in the Hope of our Savior Jesus Christ. We are in Ordinary Time in the Church liturgical calendar, St. Teresa of Calcutta said, “Saints are people who do ordinary things extraordinarily well.”

We do a lot of ordinary things to do in our lives, so start now and offer them up to our heavenly Father. Take some time [today] and think about how you will offer up your Ordinary actions and thoughts to God.

May God Be Praised.