Browsing Fr. Jasper's Homily

What If

Posted by Peg O'Donnell

 

It was sudden and dramatic. 

Television news aired the moment that a massive tree fell on top of a mid-size SUV stopped at a traffic light along a roadway in Kennett Square, Pa.  The car was obliterated from just beyond the driver-side door all the way to the ... Read More »

Shame No More

Posted by Peg O'Donnell

 

His father called him “Quad,” the fourth in a line of men who shared the same name and passed it down through the generations.  While in school, however, his teachers called Quad by his baptismal name, especially when he was in trouble – which happened to be quite ... Read More »

From Where I Stand

Posted by Peg O'Donnell

 

It may, in fact, be the most important question we ask ourselves this Lent: Where am I standing?

Am I in the sty?  In the field?  On the porch?

All three locations capture the heart of the spiritual journey, and all three have ramifications for accepting the grace ... Read More »

Let It Alone Challenge

Posted by Peg O'Donnell

 

The first time I remember consciously becoming aware of the question: “Why do good people seem to randomly suffer?” happened during the World Series Game between Oakland and San Francisco in October 1989.  At the start of Game 3 at 5 p.m., a 6.9 earthquake rocked the Bay ... Read More »

A Shore Thing

Posted by Peg O'Donnell

 

We were in a small group sitting on the beach, a motley crew of high school boys attending their senior retreat at the Jersey Shore: a couple of athletes, the lead of the school shows, one very quiet academic kid, and two boys that were hard to pigeonhole ... Read More »

Led by Love (UD homily)

Posted by Peg O'Donnell

 

Why would God do it?  Luke comes straight to the point at the beginning of the Gospel for this first Sunday of Lent: “The Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted.”  In other words, Love led God into the desert.  Nothing but Love.

The “desert experience” ... Read More »

My Heart Will Go On

Posted by Peg O'Donnell

 

Her story reads like a modern-day soap opera: well-to-do Philly girl marries a high-society Philly boy.  They begin raising a family; he feels called to become an Episcopal minister.  She follows him into the church, whereupon he rather quickly determines he wants to become a Catholic priest instead.  ... Read More »

Retaliate Through Love

Posted by Peg O'Donnell

 

“I know what you’re going to tell me, Father, but I don’t know if I can.  No … this is more honest: I don’t want to.”

The young husband who sat before me was broken and hurting.  Two nights before, his wife of five years cheated on him ... Read More »

Makarios

Posted by Peg O'Donnell

 

The word “Blessed” in the Beatitudes just doesn’t cut it, not really.

“Blessed” is overused.  Bland in some ways.  Safe and untouched.  Picture rosaries that are “blessed” – the image that comes to my mind is something brand-new and spotless, right out of the sealed plastic container.

That’s ... Read More »

Go Deep

Posted by Peg O'Donnell

 

The Note. The Knock.

Nearly nineteen years ago now, what Marie Roberts says she remembers most about that day in October 2006 were those two things: the note and the knock.

As she has told her story in the past, Marie had come home to find a message ... Read More »