Month: June 2026

Surround sound

A homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 28, 2026

2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a, Romans 6:3-4, 8-11, Matthew 10:37-42

A half-century ago, more or less, the music industry had what they thought was a genius idea: quadraphonic stereo. Their engineers devised a way to embed not one but two soundtracks into each side of a vinyl record groove: a main one, intended to be heard from the front speakers, and another, for more depth or richness, to be piped through a set of rear speakers.

Four unique sounds blending harmoniously in our heads.

Critics, or, more accurately, cynics, saw this technology as a scam to sell more amplifiers, speakers and higher-priced albums.

We have only two ears, they argued. Why do we need four channels of sound through four speakers?

After a while, however, consumers like us — led by musicians and filmmakers — couldn’t imagine not having front and rear speakers and subwoofers and headphones and earbuds, with far-off timpani or coyotes howling.

Ah, depth and richness. A spatial experience. From an artist — a source — we embrace, even cherish.

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Nite lite

A homily for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 21, 2026

Jeremiah 20:10-13, Romans 5:12-15, Matthew 10:26-33

There’s an interesting — some say controversial — new bedtime routine for parents of little-little ones. Among other names, it’s called “dark rooming,” and some moms and dads are tucking in their babies and toddlers in soundproof, pitch-black rooms.

Absolute silence. Absolutely lightproof. Isolation tanks, without the warm saltwater.

The dark-room believers say this sensory deprivation guarantees a deeper, sounder, dream-filled sleep and teaches their children not to fear the dark.

Perhaps.

Then again, many of us still sleep with night lights. (I raise my hand.)

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Almost there

A homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 14, 2026

Exodus 19:2-6a, Romans 5:6-11, Matthew 9:36—10:8

The other day, a motorcyclist was doing laps around a traffic circle on an older highway that crosses New Jersey’s waist like a belt. He — of course it was a he — zipped around the roundabout at least three times as I approached, and then he zoomed east through a small business district.

I caught up with him about a mile farther as he was lapping another circle. After these jumbo doughnuts, he headed west, as young men are advised to go.

The list of possible reasons for this biker’s Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is long and indeed wild. A real head-scratcher. What I take away, though, is that his journey was at least as important as his destination. If not more so.

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To have and to hold

A homily for The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), June 7, 2026

Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, John 6:51-58

We are tactile people. When we say, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” whatever “it” turns out to be, what we really mean is we’ll use all of our available senses to determine if something is real.

All five senses, if we’re so blessed, and a little bit of imagination, too.

That’s why, in the early days of Amazon.com and other online shops, many of us would visit traditional brick-and-mortar stores first to check out this item or that. To hold it, shake it, listen to it, smell it, maybe try it on for size. And then we’d whip out our smartphones or head home to our computers and order the item for delivery tomorrow for 30 percent less than the other guys were charging.

Because we saw it and felt it, we believed.

Which is why the Eucharist is such an extraordinary gift.

Continue reading To have and to hold