Tag: Apostles

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A homily for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, March 2, 2025

Sirach 27:4-7, 1 Corinthians 15:54-58, Luke 6:39-45

One of the most important things an actor learns is not to play the end of a scene.

What that means is, even though actors know how the scene will end, because they have read and learned the script, they can’t display any inappropriate emotions or in any other way show they know what’s going to happen next. They can’t do or say anything — no matter how small — that telegraphs the ending. That would ruin the scene.

It’s a difficult skill to master.

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Upside down

A homily for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 23, 2025

1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23, 1 Corinthians 15:45-49, Luke 6:27-38

A few days ago, 80 people miraculously survived a plane crash in Toronto. As the jetliner was landing, it suddenly tipped over onto its right side, snapped off its wing, and rolled onto its roof, skidding down the runway.

CNN reported:

After the aircraft came to a standstill, “we were upside down hanging like bats,” passenger Peter Koukov said. He was able to unbuckle himself and stand upright on the ceiling of the plane, but some people needed help getting down from their seats.

Their world had turned upside down.

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Nonsensical

A homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 9, 2025

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11

Anyone among us who is or used to be a child knows all too well the reason we’re given for doing something that seems utterly absurd to us:

“Because I Said So.”

In the great arsenal of weapons … uh, tools … uh, gifts … every parent receives when their children draw their first breaths, “Because I Said So” is the last line of defense, the “Break Glass in Case of Emergency” reason.

Even though we parents whip it out of its holster as our first (and only) option all too often.

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Proclaimed

A homily — or perhaps a sermon — for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 26, 2025

Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10, 1 Corinthians 12:12-30, Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

Many of us grew up when Catholics weren’t supposed to read the Bible. We heard passages from Scripture at Mass, and the priest — always a priest in those days — would share some insights and his learned interpretations, and we’d be enlightened by the Word of God.

‘Nuff said.

Most, if not all, of us had Bibles at home, but those stayed on the shelf, pretty much. If that Bible was a family heirloom, its inner front and back covers held the kind of birth and baptism and marriage and death information that Ancestry.com would drool over.

The pages in between, though … those didn’t get much of a looky-see. Sad to say, some of those family Bibles wound up being used as door stops or tools for pressing dried flowers.

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Inventory

A homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 19, 2025

Isaiah 62:1-5, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, John 2:1-11

There’s a little door in our hallway that opens to something called a linen closet. 

The closet hasn’t held linens in about 30 years.

In it are various cleaning supplies, paper goods, soaps and shampoos, dental-care items, COVID-19 tests, and prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

Definitely no sheets or towels.

And every year around this time, in the cold of mid-January, I’ll haul out the closet’s contents and keep what we’ll actually use in the coming 12 months and toss or find a home for the unneeded or expired stuff. (Expired! Expired! Expired!) 

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Observant

A homily for the First Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2024

Jer 33:14-16, 1 Thes 3:12—4:2, Lk 21:25-28, 34-36

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Ferris Bueller

It started with Black Friday, this fast-moving season of life, and this year, the December 25 deadline seems even sooner, because it is. A late Thanksgiving has compressed the frenetic shopping season to its second-shortest-possible iteration.

If we don’t buy, buy, buy, our big holiday may pass by, by, by. And yule be sorry (couldn’t resist).

Oh, wait.

What? Wait?

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Uniquely unique

A homily for The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, November 24, 2024

Dn 7:13-14, Rv 1:5-8, Jn 18:33b-37

Way back in 1776, the British colonists in the New World decided they’d had enough of a bad king who was making their lives miserable. So they declared their independence from George and any other first son of a first son wearing a shiny tin hat. The Americans were done with jewel-encrusted dictators acting like spoiled brats sitting in highchairs.

Ever since then, our rugged individualism has made us turn a cold shoulder to monarchs, except when there’s a royal wedding or coronation or anything else on TV that involves Cinderella-style horse-drawn carriages. 

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Change

A homily for the Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 10, 2024

1 Kgs 17:10-16, Heb 9:24-28, Mk 12:38-44 or 12:41-44

The other day, I was at the bank to trade in my coins for a couple of greenbacks, but I had to wait behind a couple who were emptying two water-cooler jugs filled with coins.

Well, actually, the jugs had been filled at one point; I luckily arrived as the duo was down to the last third of the second jug and the bank teller had snapped empty coin bags into the sorting machine.

As I stood there with my quart-size Ziploc, I wondered what the couple might use the money for (it turned out to be a lot). Mortgage payment? Vacation? A new car or repairs on their old one? Bet MGM Casino on a new iPhone?

But then, years of hearing MYOB from my mother and the teachers at St. Leo the Great kicked in, and instead I wondered what I’d do with the 20-ish dollars I’d walk out with.

I must confess that a work of charity wasn’t the first thing that came to mind.

Shame on me.

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Two’s the charm

A homily for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 3, 2024

Dt 6:2-6, Heb 7:23-28, Mk 12:28b-34

It’s bumper sticker season. 

Likewise, it’s lawn sign season, and billboard season, and the season for enough political ads on TV that we probably welcome the commercials for Medicare Advantage and the little pill with the big story to tell.

For now, though, let’s stick with stickers.

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Impatience

A homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 27, 2024

Jer 31:7-9, Heb 5:1-6, Mk 10:46-52

One of the cultural touchstones that “Seinfeld” wove into America’s consciousness was “Serenity Now.”

George Costanza’s father, Frank, is told by a supposedly inspirational tape to say “serenity now” every time he gets angry as a possible way to keep his blood pressure down. And Frank barks the phrase often, loudly and angrily.

“Serenity Now!”

“Now” being the operative word.

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