Deacon Speakin'

Season 7 Episode 183 Unsolved Mysteries What is it to these wonderful mysteries of our faith that we embrace as foundational ground stones of our belief, why would we continue to seek an understanding for something that has been deemed a mystery and accepted as a mystery for thousands and thousands of years? Why do we keep going back to the spring of knowledge and understanding when there are scores of others who cannot know, understand, or define?

Season 7 Epiosde 182 When the Music Stops and the Dance is Done You are dancing with your partner to your favorite song when the music stops and the dancefloor disappears. Does the dance make sense anymore? With no beat to synchronize your steps, is it a dance with meaning anymore? I'd say not. It becomes awkward movements to a song that doesn't exist and none of it matters: not the rhythm, the flow, the grand crescendo, nor the big dip at the end. When the world goes away, or our time in it – when the music stops and the dancefloor goes away – when you are faced with the heavenly notions of God, do you expect to be doing the same things you were doing on this earth?

Season 7 Episode 181 These Problems and the Pain they Cause There is a recurring problem in the world and its one that we don't particularly enjoy dealing with it and its as CS Lewis puts it: the problem of pain. Everywhere we look we see suffering and agonizing through the trials of life and we see folks who carry heavy, heavy loads – some that are so heavy we wonder how they are not crushed under the weight of it. Pain comes in many different shapes and sizes and it does not discriminate to whom or when it rears its ugly head, but come to us it does, often in such a way that it makes little sense of the who, what, when, where, or why of things.

Season 7 Episode 180 Mother's Love I want to begin by telling you about a woman I know who I was introduced to as a child and continue to have a wonderful relationship with her to this day. Her story is amazing and inspiring, and I share it with you in the spirit of this Mother's Day in the hope that it might inspire you too.

Season 7 Episode 178 Cease and Desist! There are many: MANY who would love to silence the Word of God in this world; who would like us – you and me – to not mention the name of Jesus, the promise of Salvation, the victory over death, or any of the amazing miracles of a life lived in Christ. Many who would have us tried and slapped with a mandate to cease and desist our Christian belief and practice. What is to become us?

Season 7 Episode 178 These Men - These Priests In an otherwise dark world, the priest is the light of Christ that cuts through the darkness, chasing the shadows and bathing the world in the truth and hope of Jesus. We must pray that they hear His call daily and stay the path and stay the course, lest he go astray – which is always a great tragedy when there is one less priest to afford us the blessed Eucharist. Pray for priest and pray for those discerning vocations.

Season 7 Episode 177 What Has God Done for You? "Do you realize what I have done for you?" That line says so much by asking all of us a big, big question. "Do you realize what I have done for you?" I think THAT is the question that should be in our hearts and on our minds when we awaken on Easter Morning. We should meditate on that and bake that into our prayers daily and then spend our lives answering that question – or trying to answer that question.

Many fall asleep in faith and many die. Still living, but spiritually and faithfully asleep. Going through the motions, not really sure and not really unsure of what it is their faith has in their life. Not completely engaged with their faith; going through the motions, existing. Those who die to their faith quit; as a dead man: unable to move; unable to be. Listless and without response. What does it take to awaken the sleeping and the dead.

Season 7 Episode 175 Throwing Rocks Who are we to judge? Who are we to be judged by the scribes and the Pharisees of our time? Do we find ourselves the unknown man in this story and know that we have sinned – have been caught red-handed in sin, and carry that sin like a yoke around our necks…never approaching Jesus in our sinful state with all the humility and shame that comes with it and never asking for that yoke to be removed from us. He is the only one who can remove the yoke and the burden and pain and the suffering of that yoke – He's the only one who can absolve you and forgive that sin; the only one who can free you from the imperfect and sinful creatures that we are and heal us.

Season 7 Episode 174 The Ghosts of the Monastery When I stepped onto the familiar grounds of the monastery, checked into my room, and began to tread the trodden trails of the monastery halls and places – I was immediately greeted by the ghosts. But not before running into my dear friend Steve who was parked upon a wooden bench, walking stick by his side, journaling as he has faithfully done for years. When I sat with him, we remembered Tony...

Season 7 Episode 173 Bickering and Complaining Bickering and Complaining is really a one-sided argument when not a means to resolution – a resonant noise; a clanging of cymbals; a resounding gong (to quote First Corinthians) and a lot of "hoo-ha" in some cases. We all have that right to complain, and I've been complained to, I have complained, and I have been complained about and it always begs the question: to what end?

Season 7 Epsiode 172 The View from the Top It is a common belief that mountains have much significance as places where people can connect with God. A high place depicting a closeness to God, not to mention the challenge to ascend to that high place. Great things seem to happen on the mount, but I tend to only focus on the end-result: the blessing or the event at the top. What I tend to lose track of is the effort it takes to ascend to a height. When folks say things like "it's an uphill battle," it is to suggest that the battle itself is more difficult due to the greater challenge of the hill. I've also heard it said that the best view comes after the hardest climb.

Season 7 Episode 171 Let's All Go to the Desert! The desert is humbling for certain, taking the best and the strongest and reducing them to simplest form. You all remember the guy on TV in any given desert with his ripped and torn clothes, his burnt skin with sweat popping off his head, crawling on his belly in the hot sand and sun begging in a raspy voice, "water…water…water." Well, that's kinda like Lent.

Season 7 Episode 170 How to Grow a Good Garden The seeds that you plant, and tend, and care to, one day turn into something much bigger and that look much different than what you began with – maybe even bigger, better, and more fragrant than you even expected. Families plant the little seeds and grow the little flowers that glorify God's garden.

Season 7 Episode 169 Weaning the Calves While I was writing this homily, I called a dear friend of mine who I could rely on to tell me how the weaning process works on a farm and she gave me some keen insight to the baulking, complaining, and protesting as dairy calves and beef calves are separated on the farm from their mothers – sometimes right away. She mentioned how very common it is to hear them bawl for their mothers throughout the night because they are hungry and scared. I have read that "there is no event we impose on these calves more stressful than weaning." But, in the end, the calf is removed from its dependence on its mother and is fed elsewhere for its betterment and well-being.

Season 7 Episode 168 A State of Utmost Bliss For those of us who have raised kids, you will attest that there are probably more times than not when the same message must be repeated a few times in hopes that it will stick. And, often in order for that message to stick, you need to make eye contact to get your point across. I see Jesus on the Plains as a parent, getting down to a child's level, looking them in the eye, and being very clear on a familiar lesson of obvious importance to the disciples, as if to say, "In case you didn't catch this from the hilltop, I will give it to you again down here where you live.

Season 7 Episode 167 The Path to Truth So, John the Apostle saw someone who does not follow the path that Jesus has put the Apostles on and here they are "driving out demons in the name of Christ." Mincing words here, but they were not trying to drive out demons, he says they were driving out demons in the name of Jesus and they weren't even on the same path that the Apostles were on. How do you suppose Jesus respinds to this? How do you respond? Have a listen to Episode 167 Now Playing!

Season 7 Episode 166: Hocus Pocus The words 'hocus pocus,' were often chanted during tricks involving sleight of hand and would entertain and draw the crowd into a veil of mystery. The words had become familiar in our vocabulary for over 400 years now and has perhaps lost the impact that it once had, but is still used nonetheless to refer to an impossible or unbelievable feat. The term has its origins in the Latin blessing from our Catholic Mass. Observers and those less informed in the Catholic faith or perhaps not versed in Latin would hear the Priest say during the Consecration portion of the Mass: Hoc est corpus meum (mayum) Which means - "This is my body" To the misinformed and unaware; hapless onlookers of the Mass were told of the great miracle of transubstantiation at the altar and heard the words Hoc est corpus…and explained what they did not fully understand as Catholic hocus pocus – changing wine and bread into another substance, as if magically.

Season 7 Episode 165 A Hometown Welcome When I go back to my hometown, everyone knows me as Tommy – that's a pretty clear indicator of people who knew me growing up. But it's not only that. For me, my family is tied to Tommy – my parents and my brother and sister; the friends I kept; the good and the bad decisions; all the bones. And you are held to that. Jesus was held to that as a child who grew up in Nazareth. "This is Josephs boy," and not anything beyond that except everything connected with his upbringing as a boy in Nazareth. They had to wonder what he was alluding to with his bold assertion of the fulfillment of a 700 year old prophecy.

Season 7 Episode 164 I believe that we can all look at moments in our lives when we have grown, and flourished, and when we have been stalled and been pruned, and I am sure we can recognize times in our lives when we have gone to seed and seem to start over. When appropriate in the course of our lives, in all of its ebbs and flows, and all the anticipation of growing into something useful and beautiful; the Gardener will nick the shell to encourage good growth in us.