(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Mass-Blog-for-the-Eleventh-Sunday-in-Ordinary-Time-2023.mp3) As the Godly mission to save humanity from itself is depicted throughout the Bible, it almost reads like “mission creep.” That’s a military term defined as “the gradual or incremental expansion of an intervention, project or mission, beyond its original scope, focus or goals, a […]

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Mass-Blog-for-the-Solemnity-of-the-Body-and-Blood-of-Christ-2023-1.mp3) This is the central question for anyone trying to understand the solemnity of Christ’s body and blood. But trying to answer it unwisely can soon get silly. “Am I eating a piece of his hand or his foot? And is it the same hand and […]

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mass-Blog-for-Holy-Trinity-Sunday-2023.mp3) For more than a half-century now, this Sunday’s gospel reading has appeared in stadiums across the U.S. Posted on placards as simply, “John 3:16,”curious fans looked it up to discover: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who […]

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mass-Blog-for-Pentecost-Sunday-2023-1.mp3) “Resurrection” is another word for change, particularly positive change—which too often we tend to recognize only in the long run, once we look back at the lives we’ve lived. In the short runs of our lives, known as journeys, we savor many joys and endure […]

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mass-Blog-for-the-Seventh-Sunday-of-Easter-2023.mp3) We moderns share the same challenge Christ’s disciples faced after watching their Master rise and disappear from sight. What now? Where do we go from here? If we believe ascension is only about Jesus leaving this earth’s grasp and rising above it all, we’re thinking […]

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mass-Blog-for-the-Sixth-Sunday-of-Easter-2023.mp3) A Psychology Today article says God-believers and non-believers use their brains differently. Non-believers apparently use higher-order brain networks. For them, seeing is believing, and believing is supported through reasoning. This is called “top-down processing.” God-believers are more likely to interpret what they see more emotionally. […]

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Mass-Blog-Movie-Review-Extra-George-Foreman.mp3) I took the family to see “Big George Foreman,” a biopic about this man’s boxing career. By the end it tells us about more than that. There are good lessons for any of us battling rage and ego throughout our lives. All of us, in […]

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: http://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Mass-Blog-for-the-Fifth-Sunday-of-Easter-2023.mp3) During the Fridays of Lent leading up to Easter, the priests of our parish did their best NOT to imitate the way Jesus’ apostles reacted to the news they received as reported in this Sunday’s first reading (Acts 6:1-7). In the account from Acts we […]

This Sunday’s readings are all about selecting, raising and protecting prize-winning sheep. It’s both an art and a science. Protection is key, because sheep are easily lost or stolen. So why not just keep sheep in their pens, away from the outside world? Because they need exercise if they’re to be strong enough for judgment. […]