The King's Corner

Thanks to one of our teens, I now have The Liturgy of the Hours (Breviary) app on my I Phone.  No need to make sure I have the right volume with me (There are four).  I know some priests have the parts of the Mass on their tablets and use that in celebrating Mass.  Don't think I will go that far!  But is is amazing to think how accessible the prayer of the church is.  Centuries ago, the hours were only available to monks.  Then came the printing press, making it available to all who could read.  Now there is an apt that allows one to pray any time and any place.  Amazing.  There is a terrific web site called Sacred Space . It is written by Irish Jesuits and helps lead you through daily prayer focusing on the gospel of the day.  It is heavily influenced by the Ignatian method of prayer.  Try it out! Msgr. Daniel Hoye

Reading for today's Homily While I’ve never had to go to one myself, I know there are places called The Wound Center.  You know folks who have gone.  They have a wound of some sort that just won’t heal, and specialists really help them along to recover. You can understand the image that Jeremiah has in today’s reading when he says, “Why is my pain continuous, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?”  Jeremiah’s imagery is quite depressed, even alienated from God.  But in the end, the reading says, “If I repent, then I am with you, to deliver and rescue you.  I will free you from the hand of the wicked, and rescue you from the grasp of the violent.” Maybe if we can take our wounds, not our physical wounds but our spiritual wounds, to the Lord, we will find a wound center behind all understanding.

Readings for Today's Homily Do you ever get angry at God?  I think all of us at one point in our lifetime said, “Why did this happen?  Why didn’t this happen?” Today we celebrate the Memorial of Martha; she was a strong woman, and she was a bit angry with Jesus.  Her brother had died, and she runs out to meet Jesus as He’s coming to visit her and says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  Jesus continues to talk to her and then says, “Do you believe that I am the resurrection and the life?”  Then she makes this profession of faith before the death and resurrection of the Lord, saying, “I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”  Only Peter makes the same declaration of faith before the events of the week that we call Holy. Perhaps we can ask this great woman today to help us maybe deal with our frustration with God, but also make a profession of faith that we believe that Christ is the one who

My grandmother would declare on July 4th that summer was over. I  understand what she meant: here in the northeast we look forward to summertime, especially after a tough winter like the one we just had.  But once summer arrives, it flies by.  Some of our college students return to school in a couple of weeks!  I guess it is a reminder to live in the present, to savor each day and not to waste time in reviewing the past or to spend too much time anticipating the future.  Enjoy the now. Msgr. Daniel Hoye

There’s one theory of public speaking that says you ought to tell the people what you’re going to say, then you say it, and then you tell them what you said.  In other words, it’s repetition and it might finally sink in. Maybe that’s behind the folks who selected our scripture readings…or maybe they just weren’t talking to each other!  The ones for Sunday have been from Matthew 13 for the last three weekends.  What do we read today?  Matthew 13!  Maybe they’re trying to have it sink in – what is the Kingdom of Heaven like?  Over and over again. Maybe we can just focus on the last one that we heard today – it’s like yeast that’s mixed in with white flour - the whole thing is leavened.  It creates a reaction that allows for the bread to rise.  Maybe you and I need to be open to the yeast, or the Kingdom of Heaven, that can transform us, that can lift us up, that can change us in ways that we can’t even dream of; that we will be able to help the Kingdom of Heaven be established upon Ear

Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings for today's Homily

Image Source Matthew 9.35-38.  We have a role. We have only to open our eyes to see the needs that are in our beautiful Cape Cod.  Just read the headlines in the newspaper.  Jesus had the same experience in His own time.  He met people and children who were ill, without direction and oppressed .  Like Jesus, many of us are moved with compassion for them.  We are asked to respond in the same way the disciples were instructed  by Jesus, don't be afraid to take care of those with the same needs. As disciples of Jesus, we are expected to teach, serve and respond to those in need, and to pray that our good works will bring others into faithful service as well. There are so many ways to respond. Keep in mind...."Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me" Matthew 25.3.    Deacon R. D. Lemay

Readings for today's Homily John Powell, a spiritual writer, in one of his books says, “There’s an old Christian tradition that God sends each person into this world with a special message to deliver, with a special song to sing for others, with a special act of love to bestow. No one can speak my message, or sing my song, or offer my act of love.  These are entrusted to me.” As we heard in the First Reading, Jeremiah wants to make an excuse that he can’t sing his song or give his act of love because “I’m too young” he says.  God says, “Don’t say that you’re too young, whatever I have commanded to you, please fulfill.” So we have to ask ourselves, do I make excuses?  Do I say that I’m too young or too old, or not having the talents to do things?  There is a song to be sung, there is an act of love to be made. How is that we hear God speaking to us this day?

Tuesday,  July 22, 2014 at 7:00 PM ~ Father Timothy Radcliffe O.P., “Being the Body of Christ Today” People need to meet Christ today. An abstract message is not enough. We are bodily beings. How can we be His ears, His face, His presence in a world that hungers for God? Timothy Radcliffe, O.P.  (1945, London-) is a Catholic priest and Dominican friar of the English Province, and former Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992 – 2001. He is the only member of the English Province of Dominicans to have held the office since the Order’s foundation in 1216. Before Radcliffe became Master of the Dominican Order, he had been the Prior Provincial of the Dominicans in England. He is a member of the Dominican Priory at Blackfriars, Oxford and a renowned and highly sought after speaker. Radcliffe has taught, and studied, and continues to live at the Blackfriars in Oxford; but his career hasn’t been spent in an ivory tower. The descendant of English wealth and privilege is deeply commi

Readings for today's Homily Today the Church marks the memorial of one of the key actors in the life of Christ, Mary Magdalene.  Sometimes mistakenly identified with the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet and dried His feet with her hair, but there are just too many Mary’s in the New Testament…they all get mixed up! What she is known for is her fidelity, her perseverance, and her announcing the good news of the Resurrection.  Mary Magdalene was one of the few who stayed at the foot of the Cross, she was present for the burial, and then she stayed for a long time at the tomb – and she really is the first witness to the Resurrection.  She sometimes is called the Apostle to the Apostles, because she went from the tomb back to the Apostles to announce that Jesus had risen. As we mark her feast today, perhaps we can ask for the grace to be faithful, to be persistent, and to share the good news of the Gospel.

I wonder if Jesus is responsible for the sayings of the three wise monkeys: see no evil; hear no evil; speak no evil.  In today’s Gospel he says: “…they look, but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.” Monkey #1 has its hands over its eyes.  It chooses not to see evil, much like many of us with evil acts before us, but we do nothing.   We see a husband strike his wife, but we see nothing.   We see a bully harass and hurt someone weaker or smaller, and we see nothing. Monkey #2 has its hands over its ears.  It chooses not to hear evil, much like many of us who hear damaging gossip and false accusations, but we hear nothing.  We choose not to understand our politicians’ spinning of lies into “truths” for their personal gain and prestige.

Readings from today's Homily Do you ever find yourself asking, “What does God want from me?” Take a look at Micah 6, it’s very clear what Micah says that the Lord wants. He wants us to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with God.” Sometimes it translates to do justice as well, but to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. It sounds easy, but it’s a little challenging. Just look at yourself today – when you’re in different situations, different exchanges with other folks. Can I do the right? Can I love to do good? Can I walk humbly with God?

Today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 12:38-42) is about Jonah and Jesus’ reply to “some of the scribes and Pharisees.”  Jesus said, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign…” This remark from Jesus fits quite well with two Boston Globe articles today.  The first is “Sexual assault and a culture unmoored” by James Carroll.  He said, “…Everywhere one looks in today’s US society, a profound loss of ethical awareness shows itself…Social justice, in sum, has been pushed to the margin of American public discourse.  But is that surprising?  Today’s young people have grown up without religion as a credible source of moral instruction – with, especially, the hollowing out of Roman Catholic integrity through the church’s own sexual assault crisis…Sexual nihilism among the young, in other words, is the tip of the iceberg, betraying a vast culture of amorality.  When sex is wholly impersonal, an offense is committed against the core value of human life.  Love and empathy can be lost.  That i

Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings for today's Homily

There’s an old tale about an unusual tree – called the giving tree – that grew outside the gates of a desert city.  It was an ancient tree, a landmark, as a matter of fact.  It seemed to have been touched by the finger of God, because despite its old age, its limbs always bore fruit – year round.  Hundreds of passersby refreshed themselves from the tree because it never failed to give freely of its fruit. But then a greedy merchant purchased the property on which the tree grew.  He saw hundreds of travelers picking the fruit from his tree, so he built a high fence around it.  Travelers pleaded and pleaded with the new owner, “Please share the fruit with us.” The miserly merchant scoffed, “It’s my tree, my fruit, and bought with my money.”

I lost my friend Paul on July 4th. We had been friends for 30 years, more spiritual friends than social friends. We both had gone on a Cu rsillo weekend, a Spanish term that means “a short course in Christianity”. Cursillo focuses on showing Christian lay people how to become effective Christian leaders over the course of a three-day weekend. The weekend includes fifteen talks, some given by priests and some by lay people. The major emphasis of the weekend is to ask participants to take what they have learned back into the world on what is called the "fourth day". The method stresses personal spiritual development enhanced by weekly group reunion. It was at that weekly group reunion that we met. Each week for several years, four or five of us would meet and dialogue on the spirituality of our week. The concept was based on a triad of Piety (Holiness), Study (Formation), and Action (Evangelization). In Piety we would talk about spiritual aids that helped us to grow spiritu

Readings for today's homily “Shall he who shaped the ear not hear?  Or he who formed the eye not see?” That’s part of Psalm 94, which is an affirmation of our belief that God always cares for us, for as we prayed, “The Lord will not abandon his people.” He who shaped us, He who created us watches over us, and for that, we must always be grateful.

Readings for today's Homily Perhaps the last sentence from the first reading from Isaiah can give us food for meditation today, “Unless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm!”  If we turn it to the affirmative, “If your faith is firm, you will be firm!” Faith is a gift, and it’s a gift that we need to receive and cultivate.  Perhaps today we can take a moment just to thank God for the gift of faith, and realize that in that faith is firm, the best foundation that can withstand all sorts of challenges, all sorts of difficulties that come in our lives. “If your faith is firm, you will be firm!”

My Dad is Catholic and my Mother is Protestant. They were married in 1946 when interfaith marriages were not that common. They are still married some 68 years later, each still faithful to their own Churches. I remember growing up and the whole family (2 brothers and 2 sisters) going to church together on Sundays. My Mother believed very strongly that we should go to church as a family but she still wanted to maintain her own roots of faith. So she would go with us to the Catholic Church one Sunday and to her own on the next. It made for a strong faith filled family all of whom still are very involved in their churches (2 Protestant and 3 Catholic). There were several families near our Minnesota farm and neighboring towns that we visited on Friday or Saturday nights. Most of them were Protestant but I do remember playing church with them with me using Neccos as communion wafers to distribute to our Protestant friends. As a result I was very comfortable being involved ecumenically

Today is the Memorial of Algonquin-Mohawk Kateri Tekakwitha who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.  Living from 1656-1680 she survived small pox; was baptized as a Roman Catholic; subsequently was shunned by her tribe; and lived the last years of her life south of Montreal.  She was known as the Lily of the Mohawks perhaps because she professed a vow of chastity.  The Mohawks were one of the nations that made up the Iroquois Six Nations, including the Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas.  The Mohawks were the eastern-most tribe. Little appreciated by most Americans transplanted from other nations as immigrants seeking religious and political freedom (as well as profit), the Iroquois helped shape our nation’s democracy.  According to Bruce Johansen in his 1982 book Forgotten Founders, “…We must be ready to acknowledge that American Indian societies were as thoughtfully constructed and historically significant to our present

Homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings for today's Homily

Fr. Kevin MacDonald, C.SsR. will be returning to Christ the King Parish to offer a Mission as he did in 2012. The theme of this year’s Mission is "Speak, Lord, your servant is Listening".  It will focus on the Eucharist. Fr. Kevin will speak at all the Masses the weekend of September 6-7.  He will also preach at the 8:30 AM Mass on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  The evening service will last from 7 PM to 8 PM.  Mass will only be celebrated on Wednesday evening.  You are invited to one or both of the daily sessions, or come on the days you are able. Unlike most Parish Missions, this one will give us the opportunity to both hear Fr. Kevin and to spend time in silent reflection, listening to the Lord.  On Monday and Tuesday evenings the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed on the altar. This Mission is meant for everyone:  youth, middle aged and the elderly.  The Lord is inviting us all to come and spend some quality time with Him.

Jack and the Beanstalk is the tale of a young boy who trades his mother’s milk cow to an old man for magic beans.  His mother, angry at the foolish trade, throws the beans to the ground, and sends Jack to bed.  The beans grow into a gigantic beanstalk overnight; Jack climbs the stalk high into the sky; at three different time he steals from a giant a bag of gold coins, a goose that laid golden eggs, and a harp; and he escapes down the stalk and chops it down with the giant falling to his death.  The giant is best remembered for his: “Fee-fi-fo-fum!  I smell the blood of an Englishman.  Be he alive, or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread.”  All that drama and excitement caused by some bean seeds!  And, why not?  Seeds of any kind are nothing less than miracles contained in very tiny containers awaiting transformation into roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and so much more, such as fruits and vegetables on which we all depend. Seeds and what they produce (such as fru

I love the game of chess.   Playing since Junior High School and off-and-on since then, I’ve graduated to computer chess.  I lose most of the time unless I choose “easy play.”  I’m especially fond of the chess quizzes found in the The Boston Globe.   Sometimes I will read: “Black to play – Hint: Force checkmate.  If life’s choices only were accompanied with such hints.  For example: Your play – Hint: Remember to show someone hospitality today.  In other words: Be hospitable.  Most of the time we all forget to make that play.  It’s a choice we fail to make, but it’s one we must make and often. We’re reminded by Robin Meyers, minister of the United Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, of the importance of hospitality.  He said in his 2012 book The Underground Church: Reclaiming the Subversive Way of Jesus, “Although these days when we speak of hospitality, we think more easily of Martha Stewart than of Jesus…The first followers of Jesus defined morality as welcoming the stranger...As

Would you say that Pope Francis is on to something when he said we are in a special time (kiros). Meaning a special moment in time when God acts.  The Pope's expression of having mercy and not judging seems to be pretty much in tune to the Gospel of  Matthew 9:14-17 .  In order to have peace, we all need to repent, meaning, we need to change our way of thinking, and looking at things differently.  We may have to look at the new wine skins as being you and me.  Age has nothing to do with it.  We need to be active in changing our attitudes regarding how we get caught up in all the negativity that surrounds us.  For example, how we hear and how we feel about accepting immigrants, whether or not the information is true.  How we feel about forgiveness and getting revenge for harm done to us.  There are just too many issues to mention right now.    Our hearts need to act like God is present in everyone and to think and act accordingly.  Then we as wine skins will burst, not because

Jesus said to his Apostles: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.  But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans…Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved…” I’ve always been uncomfortable with this passage from Matthew (10:16-23).   First of all, why  must I be sent into the midst of wolves?  I have images of the wolves in the 2009 movie “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.”  Nasty beasts!   It sounds like Jesus is sending us to have more than our wool sheared off.   And I don’t think being shrewd as serpents is going to overcome the wolves’ appetite.   Being as simple as doves seems more like havi

On June 28 The Boston Globe’s lead article was: “State drops flawed marijuana applicants – Mass. Health officials toughen up on sales by self-described caregivers.”  An accompanying article was: “Half of dispensaries accused of hiding profits or misleading claims.”  According to The Globe, “After second review, Mass. drops 9 dispensary applicants.”  One notable applicant dropped from consideration was former Massachusetts Congressman William Delahunt’s Medical Marijuana of Massachusetts with proposed locations in Taunton, Plymouth, and Mashpee.   Marijuana for medical use certainly presents some real challenges for its administration and for dealing with potential abuse. [See July 6 The Boston Globe editorial "Mass. must be far more vigilant in vetting marijuana companies."] Speaking of abuse, I refer to a column (“Clearing the air around marijuana use”) in The Anchor by Father Tad Pacholczyk who has a doctorate in neuroscience from Yale with post-doctoral work at Har

Reading for today's Homily Hosea today condemns the people for building altars and pillars.  We might not immediately recognize what he’s talking about, but altars and pillars were part of a Pagan culture – that they were worshiping false gods.  He concludes by telling people “It is time to seek the Lord.” We may not build altars and pillars, but we may have false gods in our lives that determine our attention span or attention to giving.  Maybe we need to hear Hosea speaking to us this morning, “It is time to seek the Lord.”

The Commonwealth’s Division of Marine Fisheries, working with other state agencies and using funds from the state’s recreational fishing permit, recently completed a saltwater fishing pier in Oak Bluffs.  Being close to the ferry terminal, the pier gives recreational fishermen easy access to deeper water without having to make herculean casts from the shore.  It’s well-spent permit money. Our Christ the King Church is a fishing pier of sorts from which we fish hoping to catch that which we spend so much time pursuing.  Being in Church to worship God – giving thanks, praising, and seeking forgiveness – provides opportunities to cast or drop our lines into deeper waters where we hope to hook something.  We hope to find something in the dark of the waters and then bring it up to the light.  From within the darkness of our lives, we fish for the light of encouragement, communion, peace, and love.  Even if no fish takes our bait, we still have the right setting for calming our souls a

Readings for today's Homily “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” That’s often used for vocation posters, and it is a good thing for all of us to pray for vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life.  But in another direction, this is a statement to be addressed to all of us – all of us who are baptized have to labor for the harvest.  To work for the fruit that is apparent or available, or maybe it means someone to encourage us. Maybe this day you and I can look for an opportunity to be laborers for the harvest, to make Christ present to another.  Make Christ present in another in our encouragement, our forgiveness, our companionship, our love.

Being a marine biologist and one who manages saltwater fisheries as part of my responsibilities with the Commonwealth’s Division of Marine Fisheries, I place fish at the top of my animal kingdom.   Be it a tuna slashing through the water; a great white shark slashing through herds of seals for a quick meal; or bass slashed with horizontal stripes making it one of the most sought-after sport fish on Cape Cod, there’s nothing like these underwater denizens living in a world that we can only visit through SCUBA or underwater vehicles, like the research submarine Nereus, recently lost by WHOI in six-mile deep Pacific waters.  Therefore, I’m quick to note that for three centuries the symbol of the Jesus movement – the people of The Way – was the fish.    The other symbol was the Good Shepherd.   My wife and I own a Pembroke Welsh corgi – a breed famous for herding sheep, cattle, and Welsh ponies – even geese.  I guess that makes me a shepherd of sorts, although our corgi is best at unsu

Readings for today's Homily Last week our first reading was from the Prophet Amos, next week we will read from Isaiah, and this week we read from Hosea.  Not much is known about Hosea except for the fact that he was married to Gomer (as in Gomer Pyle), but this is a woman. What Hosea does is use his willingness to forgive Gomer over and over again for her infidelities - as an example of how God is willing to give the Israelian people the tribe – one of the last tribes at this point that was still standing.  As we hear Hosea through the week, we can perhaps celebrate the fact God is always willing to forgive us from our infidelities, not necessarily marital infidelities, but our infidelities and ways that we tried or failed to live out the Christian message. We heard in the reading today, “On that day, says the LORD, she shall call me “My husband,” and never again “My baal.”  I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy.”

“Amos is central to the Bible and Jesus.”   This is one of the convictions of Marcus Borg listed in his 2014 book, “Convictions: How I learned what matters most.”  Until Borg mentioned this prophet, I very seldom thought of this man who was a shepherd living during the reign of Jeroboam II from 786-746 B.C.  The Book of Amos is sandwiched between the Books of Joel and Obadiah and gets little attention compared to prophets like Ezekiel or Jeremiah.  Borg suggests we all read it to hear Amos’ judgment of nations, words and woes for Israel, and symbolic visions of threats and promises that speak to all of us about 2,800 years later.  Unlike bell bottom pants, his words have not gone out of style.  According to Borg, “Amos was about God’s passion, God’s desire, God’s dream, and God’s yearning for the transformation of this world to a world of greater economic justice.”  Amos lambasted everyone especially the corrupt leaders of Israel.  For example, speaking on behalf of God, he said:

Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings for today's Homily

Summer has just arrived and none too soon.   It has been a long wait made even longer for me by rose buds tightly closed and refusing to open.   It had been nothing but green buds with aphids and fungus and with my patience running thin as I waited for the beauty of pink rose clusters lining my driveway on bushes I’ve babied for many years.   Finally, with the help of a little spray, water, and fertilizer, I’ve got an ocean of sweet-smelling flowers.  All those buds spending weeks in a sleep-like mode with nothing visibly happening reminded me of how most of us spend much of our lives the same way.  We appear dormant and plain, but with much happening within – inside the bud, so to speak, where we all reside until something makes us bloom to reveal the beauty we all possess, but many of us refuse to recognize and reveal. We all have it.  We all have the ability to transform by opening our closed hearts to love and by allowing ourselves to be loved.   It happens through the transf

Today, my normally quiet waterfront neighborhood is alive again with summer and year-’round folks celebrating a (rain-delayed) Independence Day with friends and family.  This is a day when concerns over high gas prices, rainy-windy weather, lousy bosses, jam-packed schedules, and that terrible Cape traffic all seem to evaporate.  Instead we have great company, great food, and drink; plenty to be thankful for.  This lead me to a piece I want to share with you. I came across this parable about a year ago and saved it for a day like today.  One afternoon a shopper at the local mall felt the need for a coffee break.  She bought herself a little bag of cookies and put them in her shopping bag.  She then got in line for coffee, found a place to sit at one of the crowded tables, and then taking the lid off her coffee and taking out a magazine she began to sip her coffee and read.  Across the table from her a man sat reading a newspaper.

2014 Christian Leadership Institute "Leadership occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality…" -James MacGregor Burns, 1978  The Christian Leadership Institute (CLI) is a six-day long leadership training experience for high school age youth. CLI seeks to foster the leadership potential of our young Church by heightening each person's gifts and talents for various ministerial roles and responsibilities in their parishes, schools and greater communities.-http://www.fallriverfaithformation.org

How fitting that today’s Gospel from Mark tells of the Apostles out on the sea as a sudden violent storm challenges their faith.  As the boat was swamped by tremendous waves, Jesus lies sleeping. On Monday, in a 5 to 4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Hobby Lobby and other similar employers cannot be forced to comply with the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) contraception mandate against their religious beliefs.  The court ruled that the Federal Government had failed to prove that the mandate was the least restrictive means of advancing its goal of providing free birth control to women.

Readings for today's Homily   I suspect all of us can identify with the disciples in the boat.  Maybe in our little ship of life, the waves are crashing over us, and we think we’re going to perish so we yell to the Lord, “Save us!  Save us!” and he does. While we might want to identify with those disciples, we might also hear the rebuke, “Oh ye of little faith.”  Maybe as we travel on this ship of life and are in some storms, we might exercise a sense of trust, a sense of belief that God is with us no matter how rocky it is getting, and to believe that really nothing is impossible with God.  It’s hard to believe that He was asleep in the boat that was so bad, but He was still in a tune with their needs.  May we be as such ourselves.