I had a discussion recently with a group of people, after a Sunday mass, and they were trying to decide how long the season of Lent is. The obvious, traditional answer is 40 days. But is that exactly right? Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, and concludes with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. So Good Friday and Holy Saturday are not part … Continue reading How Long is Lent?
I have to say, just between you and me, that I sometimes have a problem with the people that get all up in arms about the secularization and commercialization of Christmas. You know the ones I’m talking about: the folks who get all worked up over “Xmas”, despite the fact that it’s been used for centuries because the Greek letter chi is the initial for … Continue reading Christmas Homily 2011
2nd Advent “B” / 5 I’ve always been fascinated by the character of John the Baptist. In the Gospels he’s depicted as a sort of primitive: coming out of the desert, wearing camel hair and leather, eating what he can scavenge. These are all the marks of a prophet, and John is very much cut from the mold of the ancient Hebrews, like the author … Continue reading Homily for 2nd Sunday of Advent, December 3, 2011
A quick show of hands: How many of you work for a company or organization that has a Mission Statement? OK, now, how many of you could tell me what it says? Not many! The Mission Statement is the greatest invention of the management consulting industry of the 1980’s. Great fortunes were made by consultants who hired themselves out to help organizations generate Mission Statements, … Continue reading Homily for October 23, 2011 St. Philip Neri Parish, Portland OR
One of the things critical to understanding Catholicism is that ours is an embodied and sacramental faith. Our Christianity isn’t just a head trip, or some intellectual construct; it permeates our physical reality, our world, and our own bodies. In our best moments, this challenges us to integrate body, mind, and spirit, and to put all of those in God’s service. But over 2000 years … Continue reading Feast of St. Januarius
Our property on Lake George is teeming with wildlife. I’ve had several encounters with deer, a coyote, bats, and thousands of chipmunks. This Barred Owl is the coolest fauna yet. He he nests near our chapel, and just after dusk comes out to hunt. That should help the chipmunk problem! Continue reading Barred Owl
It’s hard to believe that my dad passed into eternal life two years ago today. The memory of his final week is such a stark, vivid recollection, and the intervening two years have gone by so quickly, with so many changes! They say that you never really finish grieving the loss of a parent (or a child or spouse, for that matter). Mostly, I’m fine. … Continue reading +Clifton C. Rice, Two Years Ago Today.
Every year on January 25th, the Church commemorates the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. This is a particularly important day for us Paulists, and we generally treat it as our primary feast day of the year. We see ourselves as successors of St. Paul, bringing the Gospel to those outside the Church, and using the best contemporary tools of communication to do that. … Continue reading Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
Wheels off the Wagon Originally uploaded by lrice I spent a little time this afternoon with my friend John Remy. We occasionally wander off into the rural Ohio countryside looking for ruined barns, farm equipments, or bits of rural decay to shoot. This was my best shot of the day, taken kinda off-handedly where we parked to car, on the way to shoot something up … Continue reading Wheels off the Wagon
Last week, for the Thanksgiving weekend, I stayed with my brother and sister-in-law in Syracuse, NY. It was a glorious weekend, filled with family, fun, food, and an abundance of gluten-free pastry. On Sunday afternoon I departed, and began the drive to Washington DC, for the Paulist General Council meeting. Unfortunately, my iPad stayed behind in Syracuse. Honestly, it’s rare that I don’t visit my … Continue reading The Tale of the Traveling iPad
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