Month: October 2023

Long view

A homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 29, 2023

Ex 22:20-26, 1 Thes 1:5c-10, Mt 22:34-40

The long and the short of it — literally and figuratively — is that how we live our lives depends on our perspectives.

Every one of us is different, even identical siblings. Each of us was born at a different time, in a different place (even if your mom and mine were side-by-side in the maternity ward). We have different body types, in every way that can be possible. 

And through the sheer laws of physics, none of us can see and experience precisely what another of us sees and hears and feels because none of us can exist in the same space as somebody else simultaneously.

Eight billion of us today. Billions who came before us. And, God willing, billions and trillions yet to come after us.

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Capital

A homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 22, 2023

Is 45:1, 4-6, 1 Thes 1:1-5b, Mt 22:15-21

“What’s in your wallet?”

Every time I hear Samuel L. Jackson ask that in the credit card commercial, I actually stop and think and try to remember what’s in my wallet.

For the record, none of what I carry is that particular card.

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Rainout

My apologies: No online homily for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 15, 2023

Is 25:6-10a, Phil 4:12-14, 19-20, Mt 22:1-10

Occasionally — fortunately, rarely — my plate gets a little too full, and I needed to pause this weekend.

So, as did the king, I invite you to feast on the Word from today’s Scripture selections, and likewise I invite you to hear me preach in person next Sunday, October 22.

Or watch for the online version next weekend.

Thank you for reading.

Peace and blessings,
Bill

Acidic

A homily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 8, 2023

Is 5:1-7, Phil 4:6-9, Mt 21:33-43

John Steinbeck’s prizewinning book, The Grapes of Wrath, has come to symbolize everything that was — still is — wrong with tenant farming in the United States and elsewhere. Even the book’s title sparks passionate feelings in anyone who hears it, even if they have never read the novel or seen the movie or listened to Bruce Springsteen.

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