COMING SOON

A COLLECTION OF SATURDAY BLOG POSTS FOR 2025

DEDICATION

To Fergal Redmond, my good friend from Ireland and fellow-missionary volunteer in the Caribbean country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with whom I have enjoyed many good laughs, several memorable successes, a few mishaps and lots of gin and tonics.

A Companion To My 2018 Humor Collection 

I JUST HAD TO LAUGH: available already from Amazon Books

use this link 

ronknottbooks.com 

EXTRAVAGANT LOVE

 

Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil

made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed

the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair.

John 12:1-11

Jesus had a large circle of friends, both men and women. On the fifth Sunday of Lent, we got an inside glimpse at three of those friends: Martha, her sister Mary and their brother Lazarus from the little town of Bethany, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It was that special place in the life of Jesus where he and his disciples could stop in, get some rest, enjoy a good meal and then go on their way!

If you pay attention to the details of John’s gospel story about Martha, Mary and Lazarus, you soon realize just how close Jesus was to these people. Martha was the famous extrovert who complained from her kitchen about getting some help. Mary was that famous introvert who would rather sit in the living room with the men and listen to Jesus talking. It was this Mary, in today’s gospel, who kissed Jesus’ feet in public, rubbing them with perfumed oil and drying them with her hair. You must be pretty close to do that, not to mention a woman doing that in public!

Sunday before last, we read down the text and saw how John underlined, again and again, just how intimate these friends were with Jesus. Here’s what it says: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus very much.” “See how much he loved him!” They are even so close that both of these women can “chew him out” and get away with it: “Lord, if you had been here, (meaning if you had not dilly-dallied around so long) my brother would never have died!” Remember the text told us that Jesus had delayed two days after he heard that Lazarus was sick!  And finally, seeing Mary weep, we are told that “Jesus began to weep,” too.  What we have here is a continuation of that story of intense love colliding with intense stinginess.

Mary may not have been a good cook or a hopeless extrovert like her sister Martha. Mary may not have been the head of the household or the subject of a great miracle like her brother Lazarus, but her dramatic all-in gestures of love for Jesus were breath-taking! Let’s compare her full-throated gestures of love with the narrow minded and self-serving reactions of Judas and the religious authorities. 

First, we see Mary’s extravagant love. She gave the most precious thing she owned – a vial of very expensive ointment. Second, we see her humility. It would have been a great honor to anoint the head of Jesus, but out of humility, she anointed his feet. Third, we see a total lack of self-consciousness. After anointing them with perfumed oil, she dries them with her own hair. At the time of Jesus, no respectable woman would appear in public with her hair unbound. It was the sign of being an immoral woman. Mary loved Jesus so much that she did not care, or even notice, what others thought about it.

Then we have Judas. Judas ungraciously questioned her action as sheer waste and then hiding his flawed self-serving nature behind the excuse that it “could have been given to the poor” while he himself was guilty of regularly stealing from the poor. Jesus probably knew at this point that his days were numbered. He accepted Mary’s lovely other-focused gesture of generous love. He exposed the hypocrisy of Judas who turned this loving gesture into a story about his own greediness!

Finally, for the religious leaders who were there, it was a chance to “check out both Jesus and Lazarus.” From there they plotted not only to kill Lazarus, but also Jesus, because they were drawing followers from their ranks. Like Judas, they were filled with self-serving stinginess, while Mary was filled with other-serving love. 

 

 

 

 

 

PALM SUNDAY

 

Picture it! Jerusalem 32AD! Things were crowded and tense in Jerusalem when Jesus arrived for the Passover. It was worse than Derby Day in Louisville the year cruising was outlawed on Broadway! Jesus; popularity with the masses had reached fever pitch. The jealousy of religious leaders had reached the boiling point! The government’s worry bordered on paranoid.  The whole city was on edge that year! 

Everyone in authority, as well as Jesus himself, knew that his arrival in the city under these circumstances smacked of a showdown. Everybody seemed to know that the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem during the Passover could set off a riot!

When the great crowd that had come to the feast

heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they

took palm branches and went out to meet him,

throwing their coats on the road.

Palm waving and the throwing of coats on the road was not just some spontaneous gesture of welcome. These two actions had serious political overtones. People threw their coats on the road when a new king arrived to ascend his throne and palm waving was a symbol of Jewish nationalism akin to a rebel flag.  Even though the people had tried to make Jesus a king, in hopes that he would be the one to throw the hated Romans out of their land, Jesus had said “no” on more than one occasion to being the political revolutionary they wanted.  This was one of the temptations presented to Jesus in the desert even before he began his ministry. With the crowds in that frame of mind, no wonder the Roman authorities were nervous about the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem that day!

In response to the people’s misguided reception as some kind of political revolutionary, Jesus deliberately came into the city, not in a chariot pulled by white horses, but on the back of a jackass. By choosing that kind of animal, the animal of the poor, Jesus made the statement that he did not come with political power, but with spiritual power! The people just didn’t want to hear it. They wanted a powerful Jewish king and so this symbol of humility simply went over their heads!

Palm Sunday has a lot to teach the Church, even today! My friends, our power is not to be found in political power, no matter how many preachers still try to snuggle up to politicians even today. Our power is even more powerful than political power. Empires and kingdoms have come and gone, but Christianity is still around. We have spiritual power – the power of Jesus himself! Now we only need to own it and unleash it for the good of the world!  We have Pope Francis leading us there! The less worldly power he claims, the more powerful he becomes!  

"YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP" 2025 #15

HOW VICIOUS RUMORS GET STARTED

Back in the days when we were remodeling the Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville, we had to dig under the foundation on the back corner to stabilize the walls do that we could add a sacristy, a chapel and a dining room for the homeless, we had a horrible crack develop that almost brought down the whole building in a pile of rubble. 

I remember standing on Muhammad Ali Street watching little puffs of smoke coming from the brick wall as it cracked around the big window of the Assumption. It started at the top, went around the side and under the window and all the way to the ground before it stopped. Along with the puffs of smoke coming from the cracking brick work, there was that low crunching sound that remined me of the sound of a dentist pulling a tooth! 

It took the whole city, practically, to the rescue the situation and hold the building together with steel beam bracing and quickly poured concrete. They ended up having to take down over 22,000 home-made bricks around the window and relay them. That left a huge hole in the wall around the big window. You could stand in the center isle of the church and see several high rises behind it all at one time! 

During all this, one of our local radio comedians, had a sketch on his morning program entitled, "I hear they are doing "crack" behind the Cathedral on Fifth Street!" ("Crack," of course, is also a free base form of cocaine that can be smoked!) I was not offended by his humor. It actually broke the fever of so much stress that had been building around the "cracked wall!"    

THE SIN OF PROJECTION

 

                            GIVEN AT LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR HOME 4-7-2027

When the old men saw her enter every day for her walk, they began to lust for her. They suppressed their consciences; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven, and did not keep in mind just judgments.

Daniel 13: 1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62

Projection, in a psychological sense, refers to the act of attributing one's own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another person. In a biblical context, projection can be understood as a form of self-deception or misjudgment, where individuals may ascribe their own faults or intentions to others, often leading to misunderstanding and conflict.

While the Bible does not explicitly use the term "projection," the concept can be seen in various narratives and teachings. One notable example is found in our first reading today. Two old men, who were officially judges of other people, used to visit the house of the rich man Joakim and his wife Susanna. They noticed that Susanna liked to walk in the garden alone every day. After lusting after her and her refusal to give into them, they project their own sins onto her and accuse her of adultery. The story ends with them being trapped in their own lies.

Projection can lead to false judgments and accusations, which are cautioned against in Scripture. Jesus teaches about the dangers of judging others without self-reflection: "Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3). This teaching underscores the importance of self-awareness and humility, encouraging believers to examine their own hearts before casting judgment on others.

Projection is closely related to self-deception, where individuals fail to recognize their own faults. Jeremiah 17:9 states, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" This verse highlights the human tendency to deceive oneself, which can manifest as projection.

Projection often leads to hypocrisy, where individuals criticize others for faults they themselves possess. Jesus warns against this behavior, particularly among religious leaders, as seen in Matthew 23:27-28 : "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity."

While the Bible does not directly address the modern psychological concept of projection, its teachings on self-awareness, judgment, and humility provide a framework for understanding and overcoming this tendency. Through introspection and reliance on God's wisdom, believers can strive to align their perceptions and actions with biblical truth.

some ideas borrowed from BIBLE HUB

LIVING ALONE AND LOVING IT

I love being "with people," but I love "being alone" as well.  I always laugh to myself when people let me know, sometimes not so subtly, that they feel sorry for me for "never having married" or "having to live alone!" I chalk it up to them never having experienced what I experience, so I just laugh to myself and let it slide!  I do know one thing for sure. I could never write homilies or publish a blog if I had to live in a noisy house! I have also learned that I need to be "away from people" so as to be able to enjoy "being with people." I guess you would say that I am a true "introvert," one who gains the strength he needs to be "with people" by withdrawing for a while "from people." 

I know there are priests who fear living alone and want and need to live with other priests. Personally, I have known for a long time that I do not want to end up living in a house with other old priests! There is nothing wrong with wanting that, but personally it sounds too much like "seminary warmed over" to me! 

One can never know just how one will "end up," but I have tried to plan as best as I can for my senior years since I was first ordained. I bought my first house in 1975. It cost $6,500.00. I had $2,500.00 in Christmas Club money that I had saved over five years and borrowed the rest. I remember being so worried about how I was going to pay off a $4,000.00 loan. My salary back then was $90.00 a month with room and board. My long-term goal was to fix-up and flip houses until I owned a house in which I could retire. I reached my goal a few years ago. I have flipped seven houses over the last forty years and ended up in a paid-off two-level condo. 

The people who sold my condo to me called the downstairs level a "mother-in-law suite." One of their mother's lived separately downstairs. It has it's own kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, large living room, walk-in closets and a deck.  I bought it precisely because it was actually two small condos connected. I wanted to anticipate the day I would need a caretaker close, but not sharing the same space with me.  I had even bought an in-home health care policy when I was fifty to pay my care-taker who would be living downstairs.  

In my experience, extroverts seem to pity introverts while introverts seem to pity extroverts.  However, "One size does not fit all!" Rather than force everyone into one type of living arrangement, we just need to have several options. As far as priests go, if that is to happen new priests will have to plan for it and work for it starting when they are first ordained or else inherit it or win the lottery! When I was teaching soon-to-be priests at St. Meinrad, every year I would give each of them $100 to open an IRA to start saving for retirement with the this warning. "Do not trust the Church to take care of you in your old age! It is "supposed to," but what if it has so little money that it "can't? Give yourself some options!" 

One can never know just how one will "end up," but I have done some home-work and I hope that I can use the options I have prepared or at least be able to adapt to unforeseen changes as they come!