Thursday October 15, 2027

Luke 11:47-54

Alas for you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge! You have not gone in yourselves, and have prevented others going in who wanted to.’

This chapter 11 is an absolute torcher. Jesus means business and is calling out the hypocrisy of the lawyers, the Pharisees and Scribes. Here is a little teaching along the way for you. Be a master at recognizing and knowing that other people’s issues are not truly your issues. Some people have issues and they try to project that on others. These lawyers were miserable specimens and they tried to make others miserable. No sir, you keep that miserable spirit there and don’t make it part of the kingdom.

You know when I was in seminary in Africa, we had a seminarian sent back home because he was joking all the time. That guy was too happy and the priests thought he was not serious. Well what if Jesus had jokes too and would laugh out loud so much that his stomach hurt.

Today learn the art of saying “that is your issue father and not the kingdom of God issue. Heads might roll and you maybe out of the circle of love. Church is beautiful, life in the Kingdom is enjoyable.

Wednesday October 14, 2026

Luke 11:42-46

The Lord said to the Pharisees: ‘Alas for you Pharisees! You who pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and overlook justice and the love of God!

May I suggest that you take out your Bible and read this whole section. Our Lord was not happy at all. We would say in present day that he woke up on the wrong side. But did he? Something drastic had to be said to change course. Little corrections here and there don’t cut it sometimes. You have to stop and ask what in the world am I doing?

The Pharisees, the scribes, the lawyers these ministers had so distorted a beautiful religion such that the important things were completely left out. The structure was there but the beautiful spirit of God had been pushed out. This did not happen in a single day but year after year they got further and further from what the temple was supposed to be.

In your own life, is there something that is losing Spirit? Are you keeping a structure and it’s becoming heavier by the day? Today we are invited to stop and ask, what the point of it all is. I once met someone who told me that they stopped going to church because they would come out of church mad as heck every single Sunday. My response was… Marion county has so many churches, go to another parish where you will be fed!

May we all have the grace today to reevaluate our lives and make the needed changes.

Thursday October 8, 2026

Luke 11:5-11

So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him

I know I have told this story a thousand times so please indulge me one more time. A number of years ago I was at a restaurant In Bardstown Ky with Fr. Tuan Do. He had invited me to give a spiritual talk to the Students at Bethlehem High School. After the talk he wanted to treat me for lunch. So off we went into this restaurant. As we approached the restaurant I realized I had not taken my priest collar off. Almost everyone stared at us. Tuan said “take if off..” You see this was a time when every week there was a new story about the priest sexual abuse. Wearing the collar in those days was risky business if I can say. Anyway this woman sitting opposite us was staring at me intensely. After a while she got up and came towards me. No smile just a stare of death. She handed me a napkin that she had written on and stormed out.

I nervously opened the napkin and my heart dropped. In part it said “ … I am not a believer, my life and family are a mess… please pray for me I am at the end of my rope… just one minute of peace would be nice”

She was knocking the heavens for one minute of peace. Today our Lord says ask and it shall be given. I cannot tell you how many times I have prayed for her and wish I had gotten up from my chair to talk to her. What if Fr Do and I were an answer to her prayers that day. Yes she was not a believer but what if God was a believer in her. I like this thought, God is a believer of you!!!

Anyway ask then wait in faith.

Wednesday October 7, 2026

Luke 11:1-4

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’

So he did, he actually taught them how to pray. He gave them a prayer that I have enjoyed praying these last few years in Aramaic. I love the way it prays in the original language. Actually it is a beautiful thing to say the Lord’s Prayer in English and in the other languages that I have come to know. Let me share with you one line that changes meaning from culture to culture. In English we say “… your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” In Aramaic and in our African languages we say “..your will be done in heaven as it is on earth…” When I say this prayer I acknowledge that God’s will is being carried out so beautifully in my life and I pray that it be carried out too everywhere else. Debashmaya.. in Aramaic does not mean the skies.. Heaven it means in other lands and skies.

No matter how messy and unpredictable my life can be, God’s will is being done here. Just look at me lol. What are the odds as my American friends would say. What are the odds that Rabbouni would thrive? Anyway…

This might be scandalous on some level but I doubtful that you can teach someone how to pray. You can introduce someone to a beautiful relationship with God. You can help someone see how they are already in relationship with God and out of that relationship comes the prayer. One can say Amen and another can pray Amen. Seek relationship not a quick fix with God. Have you noticed how people in deep relationship can seat in silence and have a whole conversation?

Tuesday October 6, 2026

Luke 10:38-42

Jesus came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking.

We are not told how Jesus met Martha, Mary and Lazarus but they seemed to be folks that he knew rather well. On Monday of his final week he went up to Bethany with his disciples to visit the trio. This is the one place our Lord could go away from the crowds and he would sit down and say “you guys, you won’t believe what I saw today …. What in the world….” They provided a place where Jesus and his friends could simply be.

You probably have been doing the ministry of Martha, Mary and Lazarus your whole life. The ministry of being a friend. I am intrigued by folks who have not moved far from where they were born. There is certainly is a gift to end up in a place far from home but there is also a gift in growing up with people who you went to grade school with. People whose friendship comes naturally because you carry each others stories. I have mentioned still maintains a friend who she met in 2nd grade. How in the world do you do that. When those two get together, I get out of the way. Today call your long time friend and say thank you. Thank you for being family, thank you for being there when my world fell apart. Thank you for always showing up and thank you for being quiet when I know you wanted to kick me in the gut. You said you wanted to see God…. Hmmmmm.

Thursday October 1, 2026

Luke 10:1-12

The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit.

As I get older I sometimes think of how fast time seems to be slipping away. Heck if feels like this year just got started and yet here we are in October. Our Lord realized that his message had to reach many other people but he was limited with time and space. Today he sends out 72 other people who are not named to go announce to every person who needs to hear this beautiful message that God is right beside them even if they don’t see him. This message of the presence of God here and now has to reach every soul.

I thank God for the time we live in. Technology has given us means to announce goodness and understanding to so many with much ease. Maybe God is sending you today to be present to someone else. There is still someone who needs a miracle today and you could be that miracle.

Wednesday September 30, 2026

Luke 9:57-62

As Jesus and his disciples travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus answered, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’

I remember being in a formation house and later in seminary and moving from place to place. Yes I had left home and my sense of family and sometimes it felt like I had not arrived wherever I was going. We definitely had the most fan traveling from country to country and indeed the group of religious brothers became the closest thing to family that I knew for years.

What I hear from the Lord in today’s reading is an invitation to detachment. The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head may seem like a cry but it is an invitation not to be overly attached to anything. We are simply custodians of every thing we have for a brief period. I invite you today to practice detachment even from things that are so dear to you. This is an invitation to see everything as gift. Yes it is a gift to have a place to lay your head.

Friday 25, September 2026

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven:

A time for giving birth,

a time for dying;

a time for planting,

a time for uprooting what has been planted.

I thought we should hear from the Old Testament today. I just feel like asking you if you feel the universe asking you to pause and put things in perspective. What phase are you being presented with and can you work with the energy of this phase? Recently we lost a wonderful man in Loreta Kentucky. But there was something beautiful about his death. It felt light, peaceful, a true homecoming of some sort. His family was mourning but it was not without hope. The funeral home was filled with the many children he had couched through the years. The funeral worked with the energy it was presented.

So today flow with the phase God is leading you through. It may be a confusing time, a happy time or an energy draining time. Just remember, this too shall pass,

Yesterday I asked God to make this phase a little clear for me. Maybe clarity will come or maybe I will learn to live with the question.

Tuesday September 22, 2026

Luke 8:19-21

The mother and the brothers of Jesus came looking for him, but they could not get to him because of the crowd. He was told, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to see you.’ But he said in answer, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.’

Word had gotten to his mother and it troubled her heart deeply. They were saying he had gone mad. So she gathered her family and off they went to see him, maybe to support him, maybe to bring him home. You can feel the pain and the stress of it all in this passage. I will not try to make holy of it because it won’t preach for me. Raising a family is HARD. Some things are said that we cannot take back. Yes we have laughs but we also have tears. The holy family would not be truly human if they did not go through these very tough times of misunderstanding.

Look though who is at the foot of the cross in the end? His mama. Look who is on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection… his father’s brother Uncle Cleopas. This family was in this ministry together.

So the trials your family has are part of the journey. It all works out in the end.

Monday September 21, 2026

Matthew 9:9-13

As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

I absolutely love these vocation stories. Jesus goes around calling ordinary men to be his apostles. I wonder if in these early days he had everything planned out on how things will go for him and the chosen apostles. Hake we have all had plans at the beginning of our journeys then mother universe also had a say on our plans, then we made adjustments and either abandoned the original plan or made some changes to respond to what the universe brought into our paths. All along we kept listening to God as he whispers into our souls how we needed to adjust so that HIS will be done.

Matthew was a judged man by his contemporaries. He was a tax collector. A not so popular profession those days because of the abuses of a few of them. Yet Jesus approaches him. You too my brother Matthew can help. You can bring this story along. Matthew not knowing everything about this mission he set out with Jesus. Together they would grow, together they would figure it out.

Look at your own life. How many little surprises have come your way? Sometimes you slowed down and yet sometimes you have been called to find a strength that you never knew you had. Today we say yes to our callings and we trust that with God’s help, we will help find a way to make his kingdom a reality. Celebrate your calling today. You can do difficult things!!!

Friday September 19, 2026

Luke 8:1-3

Jesus made his way through towns and villages preaching, and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources.

How many of us pause the tv to read the names of all the people who were involved in the production of a movie? I have to admit, their names and work have gone unnoticed by me. For this Kingdom of God to grow there were women in particular who did the heavy lifting. We will never know just how many much they did because at some point they became less than supporting characters. I heard Mary of Magdala even wrote a gospel but it did not make the cut. These women were courageous. They were there at the foot of the cross and even after his burial they showed up. Feminine energy can get you in very difficult spaces but with it, so much can be done. I think of the courage it took to go to the guarded tomb. Using their gentle and beautiful feminine energy the ladies went were masculine energy could not go.

Whoever you are, today may be the moment we want to lean into what others thought of weakness. You have an edge, use it for the kingdom.

Thursday September 17, 2026

Luke 7:36-50

One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to a meal. When he arrived at the Pharisee’s house and took his place at table, a woman came in, who had a bad name in the town.

Does it add up to you? Hmmm she had a bad name and she just wondered into the same room Jesus was in. Does Jesus have a security detail to keep such people away. He certainly does these days. Some people are forbidden to receive communion these days by the guards. It seems in the scriptures that anyone and everyone has access to the Lord.

Maybe they planted her there to see what he would do. But if he was not from there then how would he know she had a bad name? Or maybe she was a terrible specimen of a human being. But standing there before one who understands everything he probably asked the questions that Fr Chibundi was taught to ask. Is what the say about you kind? Is it true? Is it necessary? And do they have the full story?

These questions have brought me many times to a place of compassion.

She was there, maybe embarrassed but asking him to accept her in her brokenness. She poured oil on his feet and with her hair she wiped it. Jesus saw her whole story. Please never let the opinions of others stop you from bringing your whole life story to the Lord. He not only waits for you, he comes to you seeking to find you and your broken pieces.

Wednesday 16 September 2026

Luke 7:31-35

For John the Baptist comes, not eating bread, not drinking wine, and you say, “He is possessed.” The Son of Man comes, eating and drinking, and you say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”

In today’s reading Jesus wonders about the men of his generation. Even when the hand of God is ever so clear in their sight, they don’t see it. They ask for a clearer sign which will leave no doubt. But Jesus realizes that there is no pleasing or convincing of these men of his generation. They have shut their senses to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

What about you my friend? Are we any different to those who would not see the hand of God in Jesus life? To bring it even closer we need to ask if we see God at work in us. Every morning when I say the Lord’s Prayer I pause after this line “… Your will be done everywhere as it is done here in my life…” I say the Aramaic version of the prayer. You probably say “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”

The Son of Man comes to us in the most ordinary of ways but sometimes we miss his presence because our eyes are looking into the skies. Look around, God is present.

Tuesday September 15, 2026

John 19:25-27 Feast of the of Sorrows

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.

Scripture scholars have remarked that if we only had the gospel of John, we would never know His mother’s name. Yes Mary is never mentioned by name in this gospel. She is always “his mother” or “the mother”. Remember the gospel of John is a High Christology gospel. The emphasis here is his pre-existence. High Christology is great but something is lost in the process according to me. I think we miss out on the humanity of it all. And it is this humanity that we connect with and it preaches to us.

What mother or father has not stayed up all night worried about their child? We know that these things take a toll on our mothers. Mary sat there helpless and crushed. She could fix many things but this one… this one was a tough one. What do you do? What do you pray for when your baby is crucified. Crucified literally and for many of us figuratively. Mother standing helplessly as the world’s brutality meets her child. Today please say a prayer for the caretakers, the parents, the siblings who have to be by the bedside praying for it to hurry up and end now coz the longer it goes on the more unbearable it becomes. Be the support to a mother in sorrow.

Thursday September 10, 2026

Luke 6:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.

It takes a lot of discipline to be a follower of the Lord. All these things he mentions above single themselves into our lives for one purpose. They want to derail you from answering God’s call. The moment you start fighting with your enemies, you find yourself spending too much time and energy on useless stuff. Even when you are winning with your enemies, you are ultimately derailed. Jesus says “ain’t nobody got time for foolishness..” You get on with your God given program and let the noise not disturb you.

Our Lord wants us to be focused on spreading the Kingdom of God. Ours is the task of revealing to the world that God is among us. What I have learned in my long life is this: God takes care of the noise when we let him.

But sometimes I got something to say ……

Monday September 7, 2026

Luke 6:6-11

On the sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see if he would cure a man on the sabbath, hoping to find something to use against him.

Don’t you just hate toxic places and toxic people. I sometimes wonder what fuels such negative vibes especially in a place where compassion should flourish. I once mentioned a Jesuit friend of mine who works at the highest level in a certain diocese at home, he once said referring to some priests “sometimes I wonder if these men are baptized at all?”

Listen I understand on this forum we don’t throw stones at others. I bring this up to pull out what our Lord did when the place of prayer became toxic. He refused to be drawn into the drama and stayed the course. He healed the man with the withered hand and let God take care of the rest.

Today you may be the healer or you may be the one with the withered hand or withering life. May we all not buy into the toxicity but stay focused on our mission. God has you here for a reason. Let that reason find you.

Wednesday September 2, 2026

Luke 4:38-44

Leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever and they asked him to do something for her.

Usually after communion while the choir is singing the meditation song or we are experiencing a bit of holy silence, I often wonder what conversations with the Lord after communion. Jesus has entered our houses, do we now tell him what is truly going on in our lives. Peter and his family could have kept the fever a little family secret. They could have closed the door to that room and not allow the Lord in. But they opened up every room including the troubled room.

Today as you sit in prayer, I invite you to allow God’s grace into every area of your life. Only he can truly clean up some messes that we have found ourselves in. Letting the Lord in might mean talking to a counselor or therapist or sibling. We do not have to do life by ourselves. There is help!!!

Love you

Monday August 31, 2026

Luke 4:16-30

Jesus came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day as he usually did.

This beautiful passage reminds me of going home and revisiting the places that made me. Recently a friend of mine remarked after 26 years in America that home has become a little complicated. Home for him is Poland where he was brought up and there is a little bit of home in every place he has lived. Those of us who have been blessed with the experience of going home know the feeling of hitting our favorite spots. The gym, the church, the tavern. We go back to those places because they hold dear memories and maybe a little secret here and there that went into creating the persons we have become.

Jesus went home and visited his favorite spots. The people at the synagogue wondered about him. Isn’t this the son of Joseph they asked. And they could not bring themselves to accept him as a Rabbi. There was something about being the son of Joseph that infuriated people or made them dismiss and deny Jesus.

Sometimes we think we have to deny something about ourselves for the cool kids to accept us. The truth is if you have to change something about your upbringing in order to be accepted maybe you are not in good company. Your upbringing, no matter how awesome it was is sacred ground. The people of Nazara would not accept Jesus because of his father, some may not accept you because of whatever… hold your head high and answer the call of God. He accepts and understands every bit of you.

Thursday August 27, 2026

Matthew 24:42-51

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming.

Do you know what it means to be awakened? In the 6th and 5th century BCE (563 BCE) there lived a man who was later called the Buddha. A story is told that a contingent of men were sent to him to ask him a question as he was meditating under a tree. He had created quite a speculation and so people wanted to know who he was. They asked “Who are you?” “Are you a god?” He answered “NO.” They asked if he was a man, his answer was a simple …no. A third time they asked if he was a sorcerer, again he simply answered no. So in frustration they asked “What are you then so we can bring back an answer!!” He looked up and gave the answer that started a movement. “ I am awake!!”

600 years later after Gautama Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth shows up on scene and exhausts his disciples to ‘stay awake’ or stay alert’.

The kingdom of God belongs to those who choose to see and be awakened to the promptings of God in there life today. It is not for those who dream of a life with God someday when they die. Let us stop postponing our full experience of the divine to our afterlife. How about seeing the blessings today. I know some days are unbearable. I have had thousands of those days but I can look back now and sometimes wish God had been more obvious of his presence but truly I can say he has been with me through it all.

Today I pray you awaken to his loving embrace. Don’t you know this early morning I looked at this beautiful moon and said, thank you for letting me notice her. We say in the old country that when you start noticing the moon and all, you have become rich. Yup I think I have become …

Tuesday August 25, 2026

Matthew 23:13-23

Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who pay your tithe of mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law – justice, mercy, good faith! These you should have practised,

I always find myself cheering Jesus on as he rips into the Pharisees and Scribes, those hypocrites. But then I am reminded that we do not read scripture so we become experts at seeing how others fail. We read scripture so we grow in faith and correct what needs correction in our own lives. Today I look at how I in my ministry have put the focus on the unimportant things in the spiritual lives. Pope Francis worried that seminaries are producing little monsters not caring priests. I think we can all use a little reminding. Maybe I need to be reminded that the focus should be on family and not too much work. Maybe someone needs to be reminded to be content with what they have instead of chasing the dream house or relationship.

What little and unimportant things in your life have become the big things and in the process have you lost sight of your calling?