Thursday, July 16, 2015

Names signify: Daily Mass Homily--Wednesday, July 15th, 2015


(Listen to this homily here).

            I want to thank you and Fr. Carlson for your hospitality and welcome to your parish.  I am tempted to share some stories about Fr. Carlson from our time in seminary together, but he is the presider and would get the last word.  So I’ll let what happened in seminary stay in seminary!
            I want to speak a bit this morning about names.  You know, names tell what something is.  Yesterday our group was in Valleyfair and the names of the rides we went on said a lot.  One of our bravest members went on the Rip Cord—a really high bungee type ride.  You get dragged up backwards and then have to rip the cord to enter a free fall.  Perhaps a better name for this would be Fall to Your Death.  Or my favorite ride—the Lazy River.  This is also self-explanatory.  You sit on an inter tube in a chlorinated river and do nothing until you have gone the whole way around.  It’s awesome.
            As we are introduced to the book of Exodus, we will hear about God’s name.  The reading I have in mind will come tomorrow, in which God tells Moses, “I am who am”—God’s name reveals that He is pure being, pure existence.  His name signifies Who God is.
For today, remember how powerful this experience was for Moses and how powerful God’s name is.  We live in a society in which God’s name is taken in vain, mocked and denigrated.  Respect God’s name today!

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