I got me flowers to strew thy way;
I got me boughs off many a tree:
But thou wast up by break of day,
And brought’st thy sweets along with thee.The Sunne arising in the East.
Though he give light, and th’East perfume;
If they should offer to contest
With thy arising, they presume.Can there be any day but this,
Though many sunnes to shine endevour?
We count three hundred, but we misse:
There is but one, and that one ever.
Father Ed explores René Girard’s mimetic theory—how we unconsciously learn what to desire through imitation. Drawing on gospel examples like John the Baptist’s death and Pilate, he suggests Jesus repeatedly helps listeners recognize their unwitting participation in violence. This Sunday’s gospel shows Peter spectacularly illustrating this mimetic contagion. Father Ed invites us to examine how we’re unknowingly directed toward violence, subtle or overt.
Listen to the sermon preached by our intern Yunjeong McSeol on the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, August 23, 2026.