A homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 25, 2026
Exodus 22:20-26, 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10, Matthew 22:34-40
What is Love?
At this very moment, there are about 6.8 billion-with-a-B answers to that question. And all of them are correct, at least to a degree.
What is Love?
A homily for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 11, 2026
Isaiah 25:6-10a, Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20, Matthew 22:1-14
I wanted a dark-blue car. I would have been happy with a British-racing-green one or a candy-apple-red one, and I’ve owned black ones. But to have the interior I wanted, I bought a white car. Not since I was 17 and somewhat unsuccessfully restored a 1961 Ford Fairlane coupe have I owned a white car.
But every vehicle I’ve ever chosen has had the interior I wanted. And this snowball-colored rig is no different.
Because we use our cars from the inside.
Sure, we admire their shapes and finishes — Ain’t she a beaut! Look at those curves! — but we drive them or ride in them in them. The mechanical stuff that makes them go is in them.
It’s what’s inside that counts (I’ve heard that a few times). You can’t judge a book by its cover (ditto).
So when we hear today’s Gospel from Matthew, we may be tempted to gloss over the many deeper layers of its message.
A homily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 4, 2026 (but mostly to wrap up the Season of Creation)
Isaiah 5:1-7, Philippians 4:6-9, Matthew 21:33-43
Important information to start: The kittens in the photo are not our cats. I don’t have a group shot of our three, with their vastly divergent personalities. We’ll discuss them shortly.
Also important: Today’s passages from Scripture remind us that inviting our sisters and brothers to a closer relationship with our Creator God is a career, not a job; a marathon, not a sprint. And every single one of us is called to that vocation, using all of our unique God-given skills and talents and creativity to succeed.
Now, here’s the main Big Deal, since we’re speaking of our Creator God:
A homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 27, 2026
Ezekiel 18:25-28, Philippians 2:1-11, Matthew 21:28-32
Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Or, in the case of youngsters and other immature people, every action that somebody considers unfair is met with a double dose of pouting and stamping feet.
But what’s most unfair is how some of us view fairness.
A homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 13, 2026
Sirach 27:30—28:7, Romans 14:7-9, Matthew 18:21-35
Please also see my reflections on 25 years after 9/11/2001
Today’s Scripture passages prove there are no coincidences with God. If ever the three-year cycle of readings just happened to mesh perfectly with world or national events, this is it.
Today, we hear of unity as children of God, and of the power of and necessity for forgiveness.
Forgiveness…
A homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 30, 2026
Jeremiah 20:7-9, Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 16:21-27
A little bit of Muppets music, for us to hear in our memories and not for me to warble from the pulpit (praise the Lord).
It’s not that easy being green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold —
or something much more colorful like that.
It’s not easy being green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
And people tend to pass you over ’cause you’re not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water —
or stars in the sky.
But green’s the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree.
When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
Wonder, I am green and it’ll do fine, it’s beautiful!
And I think it’s what I want to be.
Kermit the Frog
Jim Henson’s greatest character lamented blending in, being invisible, being ignored in and by a hurlyburly world. Fortunately for us, and for everyone everywhere, Kermit became vividly visible.
Our challenge in being green, or purple, or Black, or White, or any rainbow hue, is that our lives, lived as Christ commands us, will — and should — attract attention amid that same Earthly chaos. We’re not supposed to blend in.
And it’s not that easy.
No homily for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 23, 2026
Isaiah 22:19-23, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20
When I was in formation to become a deacon, our mentors repeated early and often that, after God, family comes first. The families we’re born into, and the families we assemble as we journey through this life and the next.
This weekend, my family has come first.
Today’s passages from Scripture, fortunately, are profound, with self-evident messages.
I’ll be back next week (is that a promise or a threat?).
A homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 9, 2026
1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a, Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:22-33
There’s a point in all children’s lives when they transform, butterfly-like, from babies to toddlers.
They haul themselves up, stand wobbily, and then … toddle. They walk. Not well at first, and not far, but they walk. They tumble, sometimes cry, then hoist themselves and set off again. And again.
And…
Again…
Walking evolves into running. Running morphs into dancing.
All this frenetic movement leads to exhausted, but proud, parents.
A homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 2, 2026
Isaiah 55:1-3, Romans 8:35, 37-39, Matthew 14:13-21
Almost 100 years ago (holy cow!), The New Yorker magazine published a cartoon in which a fussy eater’s mother tells her, “It’s broccoli, dear.” The young girl famously snaps back, “I say it’s spinach, and I say the hell with it.”
In most households of the 1920s, and probably right up to the present, the mom’s next line might be, “There are starving children in [XYZ land],” and the zippy retort to that usually is, “Fine; they can have my stupid broccoli.”
The tragedy is, they can’t. Though they’d love to.
A homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 19, 2026
Wisdom 12:13, 16-19, Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 13:24-43
Some people can be fussy about what they eat and how. Some picky eaters insist that certain foods cannot touch other items on their plates. No gravy near their peas and carrots, no syrup near their eggs. And no pickles, ever.
Semi-fussy folks may eat one item at a time, clearing away the broccoli before the beef, even when they’ve been wokked together.
And there’s a good argument to be made for this: Individual flavors and textures deserve to be savored, remembered for their uniqueness.
But we also know that great chefs devote immense and intense time and skill to craft recipes that pair complementary or contrasting ingredients to create something new, fascinating and even more memorable than Harvard beets. A concoction to be experienced in its entirety, a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
God is the greatest chef of all.
