Readings: Amos 7: 12-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6: 7-13 Preacher: Susan K. Roll One wonderful result of the Second Vatican Council’s liturgical reforms is that Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants now share almost the same readings of the Word of God on the same Sunday, or at least the same Gospel. This Sunday is an exception though. The Gospel reading in… read more →
Readings: Acts 10: 34a, 37-43; Colossians 3: 1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5: 6b-8; John 20: 1-9 Preacher: Susan K. Roll My mother used to claim that early on Easter Sunday morning, the light shone through the stained-glass window in the sanctuary with a unique glow. We didn’t say much because, after all, Easter can fall anytime between March 22 and April… read more →
Readings: Proverbs 31: 10-13, 19-20, 30-31; I Thessalonians 5: 1-6; Matthew 25: 14-30 Preacher: Susan K. Roll On the first day of class in my seventh grade Home Economics class, the teacher went around and asked each girl in turn, “What does your father do?” and then, “What does your mother do?” Almost all of us could say what our father’s… read more →
Readings: 2 Kings 4: 8-11, 14-26a; Romans 6: 3-4, 8-11; Matthew 10: 37-42 Preacher: Susan K. Roll Pastoral ministry can be discouraging, whether lay or professional. Sometimes we set ourselves up for frustration. When I was teaching at a Roman Catholic seminary, I told seminarians, “You will be called to accompany people who are in pain, people who angrily question God,… read more →
Readings: Ezekiel 37:12-14; Romans 8: 8-11; John 11: 1-45 Preacher: Susan K. Roll It may have happened to you, or to someone you know. You miss your last chance to be present to someone you love before they die. When it happened to relatives of mine, they had just left their husband and father in the hospital after an unremarkable visit,… read more →
Readings: Malachi 3: 19-20a; 2 Thessalonians 3: 7-12; Luke 21: 5-19 Preacher: Susan K. Roll Several years ago, a group of concerned German Catholics sent a communication to Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich-Freising, at that time the Chair of the German Bishops’ Conference and the most prominent prelate in Germany. He was about to take part in a summit conference called… read more →
Readings: Isaiah 50: 4-7; Philippians 2: 6-11; Luke 22: 14-23:56 Preacher: Susan K. Roll Superheroes, fantasy figures, even children’s fairy tales love the idea that a person can change from one form into another. It might be Spiderman, transforming from the handsome Peter Parker into a web-spinning champion of justice at the first whiff of evil detected through his spider-sense. Or… read more →
Readings: 1 Samuel 26: 2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; 1 Corinthians 15: 45-49; Luke 6: 27-38 Preacher: Susan K. Roll Oh gee, could this be any more of a tall order? What was Jesus thinking? Does he even live in the real world? This Sunday’s Gospel picks up from last week’s and takes the “Sermon on the Level Place,” or Sermon on… read more →
Readings: Baruch 5: 1-9; Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11; Luke 3: 1-6Preacher: Susan K. Roll Close your eyes for a moment and think of the biggest, deepest, most unexpected, heart-pounding O.M.G. pothole you have ever driven over … or around … or into. My candidate for worst pothole came up unexpectedly on a highway in post-Soviet Lithuania. Fortunately my friend who was… read more →
Readings: 1 Kings 19:4-8; Ephesians 4:30-5:2; John 6: 41-51Click here to download a PDF of this homily.Preacher: Susan K. Roll Since the start of the pandemic, food insecurity has become nothing less than catastrophic. Early on, volunteer workers in food banks noticed that those coming for food included not only people who had close to nothing, but well-dressed families driving… read more →