Points to ponder

A homily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 20, 2026

Isaiah 55:6-9, Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a, Matthew 20:1-16a

We’re not always great at reading people’s minds. We miss the cues: the body language, the facial expressions, the eye contact or lack thereof, the tone of voice.

Sometimes someone has to flat-out say it: “Read my lips. No new taxes.” And even then, the message doesn’t always sink in.

All of us are unique, and that means each of us sees and understands life through a unique lens, a unique perspective, filtered through unique memories and experiences that shape that point of view. We may have much in common, but not everything.

Some of us have nothing in common. That’s a fact of life on this big blue marble we call Earth.

So we spend our lives trying to fathom everything around us and within us, and straining to help others to tune into what we see, feel, and think. Our success rates vary.

Then there’s the Mind of God.

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Rage

A homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 13, 2026

Sirach 27:30—28:7, Romans 14:7-9, Matthew 18:21-35

Please also see my reflections on 25 years after 9/11/2001

Today’s Scripture passages prove there are no coincidences with God. If ever the three-year cycle of readings just happened to mesh perfectly with world or national events, this is it.

Today, we hear of unity as children of God, and of the power of and necessity for forgiveness.

Forgiveness…

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Ground Zero

A homily for September 11, 2026 (the 25th anniversary)

1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22b-27, Luke 6:39-42

Do you remember where you were when it happened?

We ask each other this question all the time about the life-changing events we’ve experienced … and, often, which we’ve shared.

What did you think and feel when Kennedy was assassinated? When Armstrong walked on the Moon? When the Challenger blew up?

On 9/11?

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Face the wind

A homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 30, 2026

Jeremiah 20:7-9, Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 16:21-27

A little bit of Muppets music, for us to hear in our memories and not for me to warble from the pulpit (praise the Lord).

It’s not that easy being green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold —
or something much more colorful like that.

It’s not easy being green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
And people tend to pass you over ’cause you’re not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water —
or stars in the sky.

But green’s the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree.
When green is all there is to be

It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
Wonder, I am green and it’ll do fine, it’s beautiful!
And I think it’s what I want to be.

Kermit the Frog

Jim Henson’s greatest character lamented blending in, being invisible, being ignored in and by a hurlyburly world. Fortunately for us, and for everyone everywhere, Kermit became vividly visible.

Our challenge in being green, or purple, or Black, or White, or any rainbow hue, is that our lives, lived as Christ commands us, will — and should — attract attention amid that same Earthly chaos. We’re not supposed to blend in.

And it’s not that easy.

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Families we choose

No homily for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 23, 2026

Isaiah 22:19-23, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

When I was in formation to become a deacon, our mentors repeated early and often that, after God, family comes first. The families we’re born into, and the families we assemble as we journey through this life and the next.

This weekend, my family has come first.

Today’s passages from Scripture, fortunately, are profound, with self-evident messages.

I’ll be back next week (is that a promise or a threat?).

Family, a Prayer

A homily (sort of) for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 16, 2026

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7, Romans 11:13-15, 29-32, Matthew 15:21-28

I have a confession to make. Two, actually.

First, this may qualify more as a sermon or as a ponderance or as a freestanding prayer than as a homily for this weekend. I’m sharing what I remember of what I hope was a meaningful contribution to an ecumenical Day of Prayer, and these words may not be directly reflective of the Scripture passages cited in the links above.

Second confession: I failed Show and Tell.

Kindergarten, first grade, second … either I had an interesting item to show the class but no great story to tell, or I tried to hype a dull item with a fantastic story. I never found the balance way back then, which is why I never use props when I preach or lead prayers.

Except for today. Today, at the Tinton Falls Community Day of Prayer, I used a prop.

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Upright

A homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 9, 2026

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a, Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:22-33

There’s a point in all children’s lives when they transform, butterfly-like, from babies to toddlers.

They haul themselves up, stand wobbily, and then … toddle. They walk. Not well at first, and not far, but they walk. They tumble, sometimes cry, then hoist themselves and set off again. And again.

And…

Again…

Walking evolves into running. Running morphs into dancing.

All this frenetic movement leads to exhausted, but proud, parents.

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Crumbs

A homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 2, 2026

Isaiah 55:1-3, Romans 8:35, 37-39, Matthew 14:13-21

Almost 100 years ago (holy cow!), The New Yorker magazine published a cartoon in which a fussy eater’s mother tells her, “It’s broccoli, dear.” The young girl famously snaps back, “I say it’s spinach, and I say the hell with it.”

In most households of the 1920s, and probably right up to the present, the mom’s next line might be, “There are starving children in [XYZ land],” and the zippy retort to that usually is, “Fine; they can have my stupid broccoli.”

The tragedy is, they can’t. Though they’d love to.

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Gray matter

A homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 26, 2026

1 Kings 3:5, 7-12, Romans 8:28-30, Matthew 13:44-52

If we count all the noses in the world, we discover that there are 8.3 billion-with-a-B people on Earth. Here in the USA, we make up almost 350 million members of our human family. We’re quite a crowd.

Every one of the 8.3 billion of us — North and South Americans, Africans, Europeans, Asians, Australians and even Antarcticans — has a brain. It’s been that way for tens of thousands of years, maybe even millions.

That’s quite a gift. Thank you, God!

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Stew

A homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 19, 2026

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19, Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 13:24-43

Some people can be fussy about what they eat and how. Some picky eaters insist that certain foods cannot touch other items on their plates. No gravy near their peas and carrots, no syrup near their eggs. And no pickles, ever.

Semi-fussy folks may eat one item at a time, clearing away the broccoli before the beef, even when they’ve been wokked together.

And there’s a good argument to be made for this: Individual flavors and textures deserve to be savored, remembered for their uniqueness.

But we also know that great chefs devote immense and intense time and skill to craft recipes that pair complementary or contrasting ingredients to create something new, fascinating and even more memorable than Harvard beets. A concoction to be experienced in its entirety, a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

God is the greatest chef of all.

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