Month: July 2022

Two worlds

A homily for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 31, 2022

Ecc 1:2; 2:21-23, Col 3:1-5, 9-11, Lk 12:13-21

Remember when we were young and boisterous and our parents admonished us to use our “inside” voices?

Remember going to a fancy place for a special dinner and being told we were on our best behavior, that we had to use “country club” manners?

Remember having to change clothes from too casual to dressy?

We could never be fully ourselves. Not really fully, not just plain us.

Our lives were sliced up, boxed up, compartmentalized. School life. Play life. Sports life. Home life.

Continue reading Two worlds

Not to be missed

A homily for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 17, 2022

Gn 18:1-10a, Col 1:24-28, Lk 10:38-42

This is not a rant about people (especially motorists) whose faces are buried in their phones and digital devices nonstop (although it could be).

This is more of an observation about what they’re missing.

Continue reading Not to be missed

Pocket change

A homily for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 10, 2022

Dt 30:10-14, Col1:15-20, Lk 10:25-37

What’s in your pocket?

If this were a TV commercial, you’d answer one way.

If this were “Let’s Make A Deal,” you’d answer another.

If you were being frisked, your answer would be something else entirely.

But this is none of those situations.

What’s in your pocket?

Continue reading Pocket change

Get going!

A homily for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 3, 2022

Is 66:10-14c, Gal 6:14-18, Lk 10:1-12, 17-20 

In my Boy Scout days — back when I wore the uniform and attended meetings, not my current ongoing demeanor — Lincroft Troop 110 would spend two weeks each summer at Forestburg Scout Camp, somewhere in New York state between Port Jervis and Monticello, as I recall.

The younger scouts would stay in cabin tents at Central Camp, famed or infamous for its dining hall, Army-style chow and “bug juice,” a Kool-Aid knockoff usually lukewarm and red.

More experienced scouts bunked at the Dan Beard Camp (I never looked up who Mr. Beard was and I still haven’t), where small groups of us did our own cooking and cleaning. We still had bug juice to drink.

The rain-soaked highlight/lowlight of each week was the overnight hike, where everyone was supposed to rough it, with only a blanket and poncho and a basic mess kit to spend the night. 

Packing light, in other words. 

Continue reading Get going!