Month: May 2025

Benched

No, I haven’t lost my preaching faculties, thank God and the Curia. Sorry for the deceptive clickbait title. I’ve merely benched myself for a little rest.

I’ll be off the grid this weekend as I catch up with my five younger brothers on a retreat of sorts, seeing a bit of America and absorbing some American history, accurately re-created and creatively reenacted.

Please be awestruck by the significance of the Ascension of Our Lord, even as you inch your way south on the Garden State Parkway. Everyone is a child of God, even if they have no idea how to drive.

Peace and blessings.

Meet and greet

A homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 25, 2025

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29, Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20, John 17:20-26

(proclaiming the second reading and Gospel from the Seventh Sunday of Easter)

Irish poet William Butler Yeats said, “There are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t yet met.”

And dozens, maybe thousands, of notable people have said the same thing, sometimes adding their own little twists to it.

If I may be so bold, here’s my little variation:

There are no strangers, only sisters and brothers we haven’t met yet.

Continue reading Meet and greet

Reciprocal

A homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 18, 2025

Acts 14:21-27, Revelation 21:1-5a, John 13:31-33a, 34-35

None of us can love ice cream, no matter how vigorously or energetically foot-stompingly any of us insists we absolutely do.

Not vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. Not cookie dough or coconut or fudge ripple or key lime pie. Not even chocolate chip mint!

None of us can love ice cream, though any and all of us can really, really like it.

We can’t love ice cream because ice cream can’t love us back.

Continue reading Reciprocal

Woolen

A homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 11, 2025

Acts 13:14, 43-52, Revelation 7:9, 14b-17, John 10:27-30

In the incredibly long-running BBC science fiction show “Doctor Who,” The Doctor’s space- and time-travel vessel is bigger on the inside than on the outside.

Yes, that’s a key plot point.

Today’s passage from John’s Gospel has that same characteristic. Its messages — and there are several — are far larger than the 62 words proclaimed. It’s bigger on the inside than on the outside. No alien technology required.

Continue reading Woolen

Context

A homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, May 4, 2025

Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41, Revelation 5:11-14, John 21:1-19 

Remember, back when we were in grammar school, especially back in the first, second or third grade, how weird it was to see a teacher away from the classroom? Remember how incredibly weird it was to see a Franciscan sister, or the whole convent, in the Acme Market?

Remember how we didn’t always recognize them right away because they were out of the classroom? That’s where they live all the time, right?

Continue reading Context