Tag: Epistle

Fandom

A homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 2, 2023

2 Kgs 4:8-11, 14-16a, Rom 6:3-4, 8-11, Mt 10:37-42

In the wacky 1992 comedy movie “Wayne’s World,” based on the “Saturday Night Live” skits by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, and often in those skits, the Wayne and Garth characters bow down in adulation before their musician idols and chant, “We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!”

In the wacky spring and summer of 2023, far more than two young people are screaming and waving and jumping up and down before their musical idols. Those fans, worthy or not, could cause Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour to gross $1.4 billion.

We humans do get excited when we’re in the presence of our favorite celebrities.

And we react in a host of different ways.

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Abba

A homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 18, 2023

Ex 19:2-6a, Romans 5:6-11, Matthew 9:36—10:8

While I was on vacation, I watched the “Avatar” sequel, and while I don’t necessarily subscribe to the New Age-y theology that undergirds the plot, I do agree with a key notion: A father’s role is to protect.

Now, let’s clarify how we define “protect.” In the movie — possible spoiler here — the human-turned-Na’vi was protecting his family from death and destruction as angry Earthlings rained down fire upon them. That’s capital-P protection. Macho stuff, arguably, yet still an expression of love.

But protection is a range. Shades of gray or a spectrum, if you will.

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Breathe in

A homily for Pentecost Sunday, May 28, 2023, Mass During the Day

Acts 2:1-11, 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13, Jn 20:19-23

When I was a Boy Scout, the quarterly Parents Night extravaganzas invariably meant each patrol was responsible for putting on a skit, a skit that usually pushed the boundaries of taste and wit. In other words, something a dozen pre-teen through mid-teen boys would find funny and parents would find off-putting, like Mad magazine.

The recent passing of a Scouting friend’s younger sister reminded me of a skit their dad, a creative genius in the advertising racket, helped script. Dan and his patrol buddies staged a mock television newscast that poked fun at our troop leaders and included a forecast predicting the weather for Evanston, Illinois — headquarters of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union — would be dry. Dry today; dry tomorrow; dry forever.

Of course, only the savviest members of the gathering got the joke, which is to say not too many attendees did. True genius can puzzle some people, and Dan’s family’s genius was writ large.

Continue reading Breathe in

Up there, down here

A homily for the Ascension of the Lord, May 21, 2023

Acts 1:1-11, Eph 1:17-23, Mt 28:16-20

Years ago, I visited friends in Colorado Springs and Casper, Wyoming, taking a nonstop flight first to Denver and then a short hop from there to Colorado and back to Denver, and to Wyoming and back to Denver for my flight home. It was my first time west of Ohio.

En route to the Springs, the 737 flew above the Rocky Mountaintops, which were hugged by clouds, and I gasped. At first glance, I was convinced I had seen a city in the sky, the unfiltered sun glistening on the snowcaps and the crags looking like palaces and temples and skyscrapers.

Nature’s skyscrapers. And so they were.

Continue reading Up there, down here

Speaking louder, gently

A homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 14, 2023

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17, 1 Pt 3:15-18, Jn 14:15-21

I’d like to start with a story about what not to do.

Right after my college graduation, my then-girlfriend and I went to a concert in New York’s Central Park and, after it was over, we headed on foot to her apartment. We were waiting at a street corner for the light to change when she grabbed my arm, leaned closer to me, and shook her head in the direction of a man who was sort of shuffling his way toward us while trying not to make eye contact.

“Bill, that guy looks like a mugger,” she said, and for some bizarre reason I barked back, “Stay here.”

I grabbed the program from the show out of my coat pocket and walked briskly toward the man, waving the paper and saying, “Do you know Jesus? Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior. I have a tract right here that…”

He took off like a shot.

Continue reading Speaking louder, gently

Rock solid

Lectionary readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 7, 2023

Acts 6:1-7, 1 Pt 2:4-9, Jn 14:1-12

With your kind indulgence, I’m trading my usual online attempt at a homily for an in-person celebration of our son’s new doctorate at The Ohio State University in Columbus.

I have faith that you can see yourselves in these readings and that the Holy Spirit will tell you how you can continue the work of the Apostles and other fellow disciples to help ease the troubles of our world today.

Until next week, peace and blessings to you!

The GOAT was a shepherd

A homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 30, 2023

Acts 2:14a, 36-41, 1 Pt 2:20b-25, Jn 10:1-10

The genius Bill Watterson, father of the long-missed “Calvin and Hobbes” comic strip, had his characters invent Calvinball after mischievous boy Calvin grew tired of so-called organized sports. Instead, Calvin cobbled together the first truly disorganized or unorganized sport, a sport with only one rule and a mishmash of sporting goods that may or may not be suitable for use.

The one permanent rule in Calvinball dictated that players could not play it the same way twice. The game involved croquet wickets and mallets, volleyballs, basketballs, gloves, bare hands, goggles, and anything else that seemed remotely sporty or otherwise preposterous.

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Eye drops

A homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, April 23, 2023

Acts 2:14, 22-33, 1 Pt 1:17-21, Lk 24:13-35

I watch a fair amount of cable TV, primarily news, and with the programming come the unavoidable commercials, mostly for medicines and the like. You know the ones: They start off by listing the one or two benefits of that particular snake oil and then rattle off the 10,000 possible side effects that include painful death or dismemberment, significant gain or loss of weight, or terminal halitosis.

(And have you ever noticed that the actors playing some of these couples’ children are biologically inaccurate, if not impossible?)

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See, then do

A homily for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 16, 2023

Acts 2:42-47, 1 Pt 1:3-9, Jn 20:19-31

One of the many great advantages of having a doctor as my dad was the supply of free copies of Highlights for Children magazine that piled up in his waiting room, alongside ancient Time, Good Housekeeping and Reader’s Digest relics. It was heaven for a voracious reader like me.

Back then, as I recall, Highlights had a feature called “Tommy the Talker and Danny the Doer.” And if it wasn’t a Highlights feature, Tommy vs. Danny appeared somewhere. So let’s go with it.

Continue reading See, then do

Keep X in Easter

A homily for the Resurrection of the Lord (Easter), April 9, 2023

Acts 10:34a, 37-43, Col 3:1-4, Jn 20:1-9

We Americans celebrate holidays oddly, especially holidays with religious roots.

By one measure — how much money we spend to celebrate — Christmas is way up there. The winter holidays, as retailers refer to the season, are worth three times all the other holidays combined. Christmas shopping season starts earlier and earlier, in some places overlapping the tail end of BTS (back to school, not K-pop) and overshadowing Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Halloween is no slouch in the retail advertising world, though, and supermarket chains go all out for Turkey Day.

But there’s no mega-blitz of TV commercials for Easter, Cadbury bunny auditions notwithstanding.

And that’s perfect.

Continue reading Keep X in Easter