The Encouraging Thomist

Jesus Heals a Blind Man Icon I. There was a concert down at Verizon Arena in Little Rock that featured an incredibly prominent artist. And I don’t know if you have ever bought tickets to big-time musical events, but there is a delicate art to purchasing good tickets. And, as a native Arkansan who has been to many a monster truck show at both Verizon Arena and War Memorial Stadium, I knew my way around those stands and I knew where I could get some pretty decent seats. Well, I ended up getting a seat right in the middle of the crowd on the main stage floor smack in the middle of the stage view                       at about 8 rows back. Now, I’m just about 5’11” tall, give or take, so I’m not going to have trouble seeing over people                  in the 8 rows in front of me.                         My friends that came with me were near 6’, so I wasn’t worried. But, I didn’t realize that our seats         were directly b

The Apostles James and John, Sons of Zebedee Icon I. “Mom, can you do something for me?” asks Leslie. Her mom,      working at her computer on a presentation for work the next day,           raises her eyebrows and says,                “Uh… Whatcha want?” Leslie interjects,     “Okay, but you have to promise that you will actually do it, okay?” Her Mom,       even more skeptical than before responds sarcastically,             “That’s really going to depend                     on what you are asking for, miss.” “But Mom,        please please just promise?” Says Leslie. Mom sits there,       going through all of the possible things             that Leslie could possibly be asking for…. And with a little bit of a smirk, she says dryly,      “What do ya want?” Leslie shuffles her feet in excitement, and blurts out: “My friends are going to the big Trans Siberian Orchestra Winter Concert this weekend and you have have have to let me go too, because

Jesus and the Rich Young Man by Heinrich Hofmann (1889) I. Some of you already may know this, but I’ll go ahead and inform y’all if you don’t know already: I’m a huge fan of the art of translating language. Translation is one of the most interesting things about our world. Phrases spoken on one language, make absolutely no sense in another. “Bite the bullet”: great phrase! Colloquially, it is usually used to do something painful                or to make a difficult decision. But, at the plain words themselves, especially if you have English                         as a second language, this phrase makes next to no sense. And that is because, at least according to some sources, this phrase came from WWI when wounded soldiers had to be operated on without anesthetic and they literally used bullets to bite down on to deal with the pain that they endured. Another one: “Fly by the seat of their pants.” This is one of my favorite

Jesus's Divine Mercy Icon I. For those gathered here, please recognize that I am going to be talking about divorce this morning. And my prayer for all of us here is that not my words, but God’s Eternal Word speaks to us this morning giving us light and truth, grace and mercy, love and faithfulness. And because of this subject matter, I feel that it is necessary for all of us to take a deeper look into this thorny reality of life for many people. We can’t avoid it, and it is not good for us to gloss over this issue. We, as the church, have to be able to talk about hard stuff with gentleness, grace, and quiet spirits. Because if we can’t talk about painful issues, where else can we go? ----- With that said, there is a second Gospel passage that we need to hear today, because often the focus of the Good News is made so narrow that there is no room for nuance. It is from the Gospel of John, chapter 8:2-11. And it is the acc