Category: Homilies

Multilingual

A homily for the Solemnity of Pentecost, June 8, 2025

Acts 2:1-11, 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13, John 14:15-16, 23b-26

Back when I was a sophomore at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, I was struggling to learn French. (I didn’t do much better in the years that followed, but that’s a story for another day.) My accent was horrendous, my memory of numbers was awful, and I failed miserably at determining which person, place or thing was a le and which was a la.

But one night as she was doing bed checks, Mom heard me talking in my sleep, in what she swore was flawless Français. I scoffed. So the next time she thought I was doing my best Maurice Chevalier, she recorded it, to play back in the morning.

I sounded more like the “pardon my French” you might hear on a golf course but never in church.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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Rent-free space

A homily for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 27, 2025

Acts 5:12-16, Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19, John 20:19-31

It seems like forever that people have disagreed on whether it’s better to forgive and forget or forgive and remember whenever someone — or some institution — has done wrong by us.

Both sides make strong cases.

Those who’d forgive and forget wipe the slate clean. You’re sorry; I forgive you; let’s pretend the whole thing never happened. It’s a lot less to carry around when we’re all bearing crosses of some sort.

Then again, those who forgive and remember choose to watch out for the same thing happening again. Yes, I forgive you, but I also have my eye on you. You say you’re sorry, and I mostly believe you, but I’m on guard. My radar is on. I’m wearing armor. Fool me once, etc.

Definitely an either-or proposition.

Continue reading Rent-free space

He did what?

A homily for The Resurrection of the Lord (Easter), April 20, 2025

Acts 10:34a, 37-43, Colossians 3:1-4, John 20:1-9

Sometimes, I just don’t get it.

Every now and then, there are things I “should” understand, but don’t.

Every now and then, the harder I think about certain things, the more my brain hurts, and I still don’t understand.

Yet the biggest challenges are the things I kinda-sorta understand. Those can be incredibly nettlesome. I’ll bet we all have some of those buzzing around our brains.

Continue reading He did what?

Loyalty

A homily for Palm Sunday of the Passion of Our Lord, April 13, 2025

Luke 19:28-40, Isaiah 50:4-7, Philippians 2:6-11, Luke 22:14—23:56

I grew up in a Ford family. Over the years, we had more Country Squires than three seasons of “Bridgerton.” And a couple of Mustangs, of course.

At one point, we added a Volkswagen Bug, and we owned our share of VeeDubs, but they were always The Second Car. The big Ford V-8 was the vehicle of choice.

Yet when it was time for me to take out a loan, sign on the dotted line and drive away in my own wheels, I opted for a, yes, sexy VW Scirocco. And don’t you know, I felt some guilt pangs for betraying the Blue Oval.

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Aye, eye

A homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, with the Scrutiny Year A Readings, March 30, 2025

1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41

Our eyes are the windows to our souls.

I’ve heard that a zillion times, and I believe it.

Our eyes reveal exactly who we are, and they empower us to see clearly just who and what other people are.

Continue reading Aye, eye