A homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 8, 2024
Is 35:4-7a, Jas 2:1-5, Mk 7:31-37
My father, a family physician who practiced quirky but scientifically sound medicine for more than 50 years, was his own worst patient.
His family members came in second, but we’ll get to that later.
This physician not only could not heal himself, he did not even try, as far as my brothers and sisters-in-law and I could ever determine.
A homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 1, 2024
Dt 4:1-2, 6-8, Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27, Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
The Sisters of St. Francis from the Glen Riddle, PA, mother house who taught us at St. Leo the Great School in the 1960s were an enlightened bunch. They clarified the difference between nationalism and patriotism, framing the former as potentially sinful. They instructed us in single-gender classes about sex and love and how both are gifts from God, with only minimal blushing. (Yes, I know the joke.)
And they believed in buy-in. They knew that people older than 3 deserved to know “why” for them to follow rules. So the sisters took the time to explain, for example, why we were forbidden to talk during a fire drill (the person in front of us might turn around to listen, might trip, and then everyone would tumble over them, disastrously).
Rules, we learned, were for our well-being. Even the annoying ones … which weren’t as annoying once we understood the “why” they were built on.
A homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 18, 2024
Prv 9:1-6, Eph 5:15-20, Jn 6:51-58
Here’s a story about how dense I can be sometimes.
The first time I heard the phrase “six-foot sub,” I wasn’t sure if the speaker was talking about a new Navy vessel or a second-string basketball player coming off the bench.
Yes, I knew what a submarine sandwich was (and is); Dad treated my brothers and me to No. 2s from Elsie’s, and later, from Joyce’s, at the start and end of every semester from first grade through high school graduation.
But those ham-and-capicola subs were one-person two-fisted concoctions at six inches, not crowd-feeders at six feet. I just couldn’t see it.
Besides, where would somebody get a roll that big, anyway? That’s a whole lotta bread.
A homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 4, 2024
Ex 16:2-4, 12-15, Eph 4:17, 20-24, Jn 6:24-35
All-you-can-eat buffets are among the most popular topics for cartoonists, animators and stand-up comedians. There probably are a thousand jokes for every item on the line at Golden Corral or China Palace (though I don’t think Red Lobster’s bankruptcy lawyers were laughing at the TikTokers who videoed themselves tossing back 100-plus “unlimited” shrimp).
Usually, the punch line is a variation on a Copious Consumer being shown the door while complaining, “But it says ‘All You Can Eat’!” and the proprietor replying, “That’s right. And I say you’ve eaten all you can eat.”
A homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 28, 2024
2 Kgs 4:42-44, Eph 4:1-6, Jn 6:1-15
Let’s think about numbers for a moment.
Not the Old Testament Book of Numbers; that’s for another day.
No, I’m thinking about how numbers — mathematics and all that — are a big part of our relationship with God.
Because, of course, God created math and science and the laws of nature.
And miracles.
A homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 21, 2024
Jer 23:1-6, Eph 2:13-18, Mk 6:30-34
I’ve been to a few concerts in my day, a list filled mostly with rock concerts, and one sticks out in my mind.
Not for the songs at the show, but for the crush of the crowd.
A homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 14, 2024
Am 7:12-15, Eph 1:3-14 or 1:3-10, Mk 6:7-13
Let’s start with a story about how not to evangelize.
When I was in the third grade at St. Leo the Great School in Lincroft, our teachers told us of the great rewards that awaited us in the afterlife if we brought other people into the faith. If we made converts.
Most of us, myself included, expected a shorter stay in Purgatory or, better yet, coconut cream and key lime pies for dessert at every meal in the Heavenly banquet.
A homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 7, 2024
Ez 2:2-5, 2 Cor 12:7-10, Mk 6:1-6
“That’s amazing.”
We’ve all probably seen the Consumer Cellular ad in which the lady in the kitchen is talking with the sales rep while the gentleman is jumping into a pool, doing little tricks.
Yet what amazes her, according to the ad, is not the man’s Olympic wannabe diving prowess but the mobile phone’s features and the company’s service.
Apparently proving, once again, that we 21st-century Americans love our high-tech flashy-sparkly-shiny things.
A homily for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 23, 2024
Jb 38:1, 8-11, 2 Cor 5:14-17, Mk 4:35-41
The young people among us, and those of us who think we’re still sorta young, know this riddle:
If God is so powerful, can he make a rock so big even he can’t lift it?
I’m pretty sure the answer is yes.
I’m pretty sure the answer is yes — even though it seems confusing — because there’s nothing God can’t do.
A homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 16, 2024
Ez 17:22-24, 2 Cor 5:6-10, Mk 4:26-34
Years ago, to help a friend produce her dance school students’ recital, I agreed to appear onstage as a magician — “The Great Badini.” Emphasis on “bad,” as in stumblebum. She sent me to a shop where the proprietor set me up with a few basic tricks and props, tricks even I couldn’t foul up.
I didn’t pull any rabbits out of my hat, but I did learn to pass a massive needle and thread completely and safely through a balloon before intentionally popping it. And there was this gizmo I held behind my teeth so I could pull yards upon yards of colored handkerchiefs out of my mouth.
As “The Great Badini,” I learned the secrets of making people believe the otherwise unbelievable. And I can still do those tricks.
These days, lots of people can. Make people suspend disbelief, I mean.
Unfortunately, these days it’s more a case of fooling people than persuading people to believe in what’s true and right and good.
