Matthew 20:1-16, 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Many years ago I was a student in a class called “Homiletics.” Maybe you can’t tell, but people training to be priests take a class to learn how to preach. Our final examination for that class is an actual homily that we deliver before our professor. I had very…
Category: Author: Johnny Go, SJ
My Favorite Horror Movie – Johnny Go, SJ
Matthew 16:21-27, 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time A few years ago, I watched a film called “The Exorcism of Emily Rose.” I expected a full-blown horror movie in the tradition of other Exorcist movies, complete with all the scary special effects like 360-degree head turns, shaking beds, and lots of vomiting. Instead, to my disappointment,…
Sounds like Pentecost – Johnny Go, SJ
John 20:19-23; Feast of the Pentecost Based on the Gospel account, the very first Pentecost was quite a dramatic and extraordinary event. It was a huge production number. It had all the works: Fire, thunder, and a powerful gust of wind! What I would do to have such a Pentecost! Looking back over the past days, however,…
WFH – Johnny Go, SJ
Matthew 28:16-20, The Ascension of our Lord Working from home has been tricky. Of course there’s something to be said about not having to commute, not having to wear office attire, not having to be stuck at work from 9 to 5? What’s not to love about working from home? You’re comfortably attired (sometimes too…
The Gift of Emmaus – Johnny Go, SJ
Luke 24:13-35, 3rd Sunday of Easter “We had hoped….” We can hear the disappointment in the two disciples’ voices as they spoke to the stranger on the road. “We had hoped…” In other words, they no longer did. What’s striking, however, is that these two had already heard of the empty tomb found not only by the…
Miraculous Pool – Johnny Go, SJ
John 9:1-41, 4th Sunday of Lent The healing stories in the Gospel take on new meaning in times like this! Our Lord’s healing of the blind man in today’s Gospel story offers us a much-needed message. This healing miracle, unlike others, did not happen instantaneously. While the other healings of our Lord were achieved with…
How Are You Today – Johnny Go, SJ
Luke 19:1-10, 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time The encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus has got to be one of the strangest–and funniest–scenes in the Gospel. So we’re told our Lord is, as usual, on his way somewhere, followed by the usual massive crowd. Then without any warning, he stops in his tracks, looks up–and, we…
The Lingering Easter Moon – Johnny Go, SJ
John 20:1-9; Easter Sunday I love Easter mornings. I find it a very consoling time after the frenzy of retreat-giving during Holy Week every year. I’ve been giving a Lenten retreat every year for the past twelve years–both face-to-face and online–because, among other reasons, I need it, and it’s good for my soul. This morning I caught…
Will You Come to My Stoning – Johnny Go, SJ
John 8:1-11; Fifth Sunday of Lent Today’s Gospel recounts the story of the woman accused of adultery. She would have been stoned to death had our Lord not confronted her accusers about their sins. The story invites us to put ourselves in her place and appreciate God’s boundless mercy. Given the digital world today, however, it should…
Social Media Envy – Johnny Go, SJ
Luke 15:1-32; Fourth Sunday of Lent The 2017 McCann study called “Truth about the Youth” surveyed over 30,000 respondents all over the world, and found that one out of two young people today feel worse about themselves when they see the posts of their friends. This rising phenomenon has been called “social media envy.” In…
A Dose of Astonishment – Johnny Go, SJ
Luke 9:28-36, Second Sunday of Lent It’s not every day during his earthly life that you see our Lord bathed in heavenly light. In fact, such displays of divinity are quite few and far between. Unless my memory fails me, this so-called Transfiguration of the Lord is probably the only recorded one aside from the…
Burnout – Johnny Go, SJ
Luke 5:1-11, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time I suspect very few people knew it then, but in the last two years that I was running a school, I was also running on empty. For several reasons, I found myself precariously on the brink of a burnout. I had worked too hard and cared too little…
One Lost Sheep 