Author: Bill Zapcic

Husband. Father. Brother. Friend. Journalist and consultant. Roman Catholic deacon. Lover of humanity. Weekly homilist and occasional photographer. Theme images courtesy of Unsplash.com.

Terrestrial, but extra

A homily for the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 16, 2025

Malachi 3:19-20a, 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12, Luke 21:5-19

In one of Hollywood’s greatest tear-jerking farewell sequences, E.T. admonishes young Gertie, “Be good.” Then, in his raspy, almost robotic voice, the little alien botanist points to Elliott’s forehead and says, “I’ll be right here.”

The spaceship ascends to the heavens, and the Extra-Terrestrial lives on in the hearts and minds of the people whose lives he’s touched.

And in those of movie fans worldwide.

Continue reading Terrestrial, but extra

Here and there

A (belated and brief) homily for the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, November 9, 2025

Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12, 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17, John 2:13-22

In every city and village worldwide, we’ll find houses of worship: temples, synagogues, mosques, churches, and more. Even storefronts and basements and tents and, yes, caves serve as gathering places for members of the human family to acknowledge in their culturally and religiously appropriate way that somebody somewhere loves us enough to give us our little blue marble in the sky.

To give us our own lives.

To give us our own unique lives, with our own unique abundance of gifts.

Continue reading Here and there

What’s Next?

A homily for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed:
All Souls, November 2, 2025

Wisdom 3:1-9, Romans 5:5-11, John 6:37-40

Please forgive me if I’ve recounted this before…

When I was 12, three of my classmates’ fathers died in a fairly rapid sequence, including the dad of my best friend. Mr. M was in his mid-30s, a rugged National Guard officer, and his abrupt death seemed to come as far more of a shock than the other two. Those gents were older and ill, though all losses are sad.

The three deaths terrified me, but I wasn’t afraid that my father would be next. No: I was convinced that my time was almost up.

Continue reading What’s Next?

Avoiding a fall

A homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 26, 2025

Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18, Luke 18:9-14

About 600 years before Jesus called out the Pharisees and other leaders of the people as hypocrites, the Greek moralist Aesop told a fable about a frog and an ox.

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Tabby Truth

A homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 19, 2025

Exodus 17:8-13, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2, Luke 18:1-8

It doesn’t take long for any of us to realize why cat videos — and especially kitten reels — constitute about half the content on mainstream (fuddy-duddy) social media.

Cats are crazy.

Which qualifies cat people like my family and me as being a bit loony, too.

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Grazie

A homily for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 12, 2025

2 Kings 5:14-17, 2 Timothy 2:8-13, Luke 17:11-19

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”
― Meister Eckhart

The German theologian and mystic Eckhart von Hochheim wrote plainly, simply, yet profoundly, and his writings on many topics that link the everyday with the spiritual have been translated for centuries. His statement on gratitude is among the most-quoted.

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Faith in Faith

A homily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 5, 2025

Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4, 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14, Luke 17:5-10

We’re slowly edging into autumn. It’s more than a month old, meteorologically, and a little over a week old astronomically. The trees are starting to show their fall colors (though this looks like a dull season), and not long from now the leaves of brown will come tumblin’ down (to steal some lyrics).

It’s the annual cycle of seasons here in the Northeast.

It’s the circle of life, to borrow some other lyrics.

And because all life on God’s Green Earth is interconnected, because every singular aspect of life — our lives — contributes to the whole of Creation, there’s a spiritual aspect to the very physical cycle of death and rebirth. A metaphor.

As witnessed by all the plants we refer to as deciduous or annuals.

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Sez who?

A homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 28, 2025

Amos 6:1a, 4-7, 1 Timothy 6:11-16, Luke 16:19-31

George Booth was a cartoonist, mostly for The New Yorker magazine, and he was famous for his detailed line drawings of wacky people and their even-wackier pets. His trademark character was a skittish bull terrier, and he once drew a cartoon with 86 cats and 74 dogs, along with a bunch of people and a cloud of buzzing flies.

George Booth’s cartoons were hilarious.

But he could be profound.

Continue reading Sez who?

No Smileys

A homily for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14, 2025

Numbers 21:4b-9, Philippians 2:6-11, John 3:13-17

A symbol is defined as “a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.”

Our lives are chock-full of symbols. The American flag, and flags of all the other nations on Earth. Stick-figure women and men on restroom doors. Stick-figure people in wheelchairs. Smiley faces.

Crosses and crucifixes.

And the simpler and clearer the symbol may be, the more complicated our understanding of it and our relationship with it becomes.

Continue reading No Smileys