Tag: Eucharist

What’s Next?

A homily for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed:
All Souls, November 2, 2025

Wisdom 3:1-9, Romans 5:5-11, John 6:37-40

Please forgive me if I’ve recounted this before…

When I was 12, three of my classmates’ fathers died in a fairly rapid sequence, including the dad of my best friend. Mr. M was in his mid-30s, a rugged National Guard officer, and his abrupt death seemed to come as far more of a shock than the other two. Those gents were older and ill, though all losses are sad.

The three deaths terrified me, but I wasn’t afraid that my father would be next. No: I was convinced that my time was almost up.

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Do what?

A homily for The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, June 22, 2025

Genesis 14:18-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Luke 9:11b-17

Many folks know I’m a retired journalist, which means I made my living for four decades through the careful use of words. So let’s take a moment today to think about an important word. A word that’s important today and every day.

The word is “this.”

T-H-I-S.

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No onions

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.

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Smorgas

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.”

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More than sum

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.

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Palpable

A homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), June 2, 2024

Ex 24:3-8, Heb 9:11-15, Mk 14:12-16, 22-26

Shortly after our daughter, Erin, was baptized, Andrea and I were asked by our then-parish to join the baptismal prep team. We agreed, figuring we could relate to other young couples and perhaps meet new friends in (unfamiliar) Bergen County.

At one session, the dad scoffed at the whole baptismal process, saying he was in attendance to keep his family happy. “You take the kid to church and you dunk her,” I remember him saying. “Then you go home and everyone eats lasagna.”

He went to a different place of worship, he explained.

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