Tag: Evangelize

A better idea

A homily for Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2026

Readings for the Mass During the Day

Acts 2:1-11, 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13, John 20:19-23

Just for a moment, let’s imagine that today is the first Pentecost, and we are Christ’s disciples, all gathered together.

Which we are.

The Holy Spirit descends on us, and gives us … what? Tongues as of fire floating above our heads? Every one of us who ever learned “stop, drop and roll” would probably do our best to extinguish them before they set our hair on fire.

No, in 2026, we’d have little light bulbs over each of us, those little symbols of — DING! — I’ve just had a brilliant idea.

We’ve just been inspired.

Continue reading A better idea

Heel and heal

A brief homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 10, 2026

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17, 1 Peter 3:15-18, John 14:15-21

Important stuff first:

  • Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and everyone who cares for people the way a mother does. I send you joy and deepest thanks, especially as I miss my long-deceased mom. 
  • Congratulations to the youngsters in our parish and all over the world who received their First Holy Communion this weekend, and throughout the Easter season. May you always feel the love of God at the center of your lives.

• • •

The other day, I heard a promo for an NPR program whose host intended to detail how having strict limits or rules or other constraints can actually enhance creativity.

She pointed to the story about how Dr. Seuss bet publisher Bennett Cerf $50 that he could write a book using a vocabulary of only 50 words. And we all came to like Sam I Am, even if we may disagree about “Green Eggs and Ham.” The meal, not the book.

Continue reading Heel and heal

Patience

A homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 26, 2026

Acts 2:14a, 36-41, 1 Peter 2:20b-25, John 10:1-10

About 15 years ago, our front lawn was green and lush. For about three weeks. A legitimate showpiece, just begging for us to walk barefoot and let the silky blades tickle our toes. Woohoo! We even sorta-kinda played badminton, until we lost all the birdies.

In the 23 years before that, and in the 15 years since, our postage-stamp-size patch of earth has looked more like the fur on a dog with mange.

So this year, I hired someone to rip out the crabgrass, sprinkle some topsoil and starter fertilizer, and scatter some grass seed. In March. After the snow, but only shortly afterward. Yeah, with all that crazy weather.

Even so, I watered it faithfully according to the landscaper’s instructions.

Ya know that cliché about how boring it is to watch grass grow? It’s even more boring to watch grass not grow.

Continue reading Patience

Visine

A homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, April 19, 2026

Acts 2:14, 22-33, 1 Peter 1:17-21, Luke 24:13-35

Let’s start with my edited version of some familiar song lyrics:

On a clear day
Rise and look around you
On a clear day
How it will astound you
You can hear from far and near
A world you’ve never, never heard before
And on a clear day
On that clear day
You can see forever
And ever
And ever
And ever more

For those among us with an unimpeded sense of sight, merely having our eyes open means being flooded with images. With light. With shapes begging to be recognized.

And to fully appreciate what God’s Creation is showering us with, we need to participate, to think, to analyze and catalog the darks and lights and rainbows and sharp edges and soft curves that are pouring into our brains through our baby blues.

Continue reading Visine

Ism

A homily for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 12, 2026

Acts 2:42-47, 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31

Tattoos, T-shirts and trucks have become billboards for our thoughts and feelings, especially our social or political leanings. And, by logical extension, for our spiritual or religious or ethical beliefs.

But there’s not a lot of nuance in inked insights, in silk-screened slogans, or in bumper stickers telling the world where to stick it. Stick-figure images of the Remington and AR and Glock and Kalashnikov families could not be further from subtle.

Yes, we live in a broad-brush-label-’em world. Some of us have devolved into “if you’re not with us, you’re against us.” And that slippery slope leads to “if you’re against us, we have to shun you, or troll you, or worse.” Heaven knows, there’s a lot of “worse” to be found.

But there’s far, far more “better” out there, and it’s closer than we think.

Continue reading Ism

Merci for mercy

A homily for Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, March 29, 2026

Matthew 21:1-11, Isaiah 50:4-7, Philippians 2:6-11, Matthew 26:14—27:66

I’m spoiled. Not rotten, as far as I’ve ever been able to determine (though some people may disagree). But definitely spoiled. So is my wife, my children and daughter-in-law, my brothers and sisters-in-law, and our cats.

Our parents spoiled us, and we, in turn, spoiled the ensuing generations.

Yeah, we have it pretty good.

Our parents and we did it out of love, and because we as children and our children in turn appreciated what went into the spoiling — the time shared, the places visited, the money spent, the sacrifices made — none of us turned out all that rotten.

Yes, it all came down, it all comes down to appreciating what we’ve been given abundantly.

To gratitude. To saying thanks. Often. Sincerely.

Continue reading Merci for mercy

Expectations

A homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, March 8, 2026

Exodus 17:3-7, Romans 5:1-2, 5-8, John 4:5-42

In the second episode of their second season a half-century ago, the highly irreverent British comedy troupe Monty Python carved a phrase into popular culture forever:

“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

The rest of their loony sketch was loaded with other unexpected ideas and items.

A Google search on “expect the unexpected” turns up a who’s who of people known for adopting some variation of the phrase as their personal mantras. There’s a millennia-old history of wisdom in being prepared for anything, even the unknown unknowns.

Continue reading Expectations

Bewilderment

A homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, March 1, 2026

Genesis 12:1-4a, 2 Timothy 1:8b-10, Matthew 17:1-9

Blind dates can be wonderful, terrible, or just meh. Even in an age of internet matches, we don’t know a lot about someone when we meet them for the first time, and often we make sure we know where the exit is when we get together.

Even a first date with someone we’re already introduced to … that can go well or be a total disaster.

In either situation, how well the relationship develops — or collapses — depends on how much we learn about each other.

Our aha moments. Our moments of epiphany.

Continue reading Bewilderment

On our way

A homily for the First Sunday of Lent, February 22, 2026

Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11

“Are we there yet?”

Talk about four words that can send chills up and down a parent’s spine.

And then there was the silly song version, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? No, we’re not! No, we’re not!”

Which was almost always followed by the driver of the minivan or SUV hollering, “If you don’t stop that racket, I’m gonna turn this car around!”

Because whenever we go somewhere, our minds are usually focused on where we’ve come from or where we’re going, not on the journey itself.

Lent is a journey.

Continue reading On our way

Its own reward

A homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 1, 2026

Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Matthew 5:1-12a

Sometimes, a passage from Scripture is so clear, so powerful, so iconic that we might be tempted to smile and say, “Yes, I know that one. It’s so, so inspiring; I love it. I refer to it all the time.”

And whatever we’ve ever thought about those words from Jesus or a letter-writing Apostle or an Old Testament prophet pretty much sticks with us the way we interpreted them the first time.

And maybe that’s OK. We cling to words of comfort and hope; we stay energized by grace whenever God calls us to action.

Yet some passages are so profound that they deserve — they demand! — revisiting. They order us to deepen our understanding of them, commanding us to add to our interpretation more than reinterpreting them.

The passage we know as The Beatitudes, Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount as recorded by Matthew, demands that we break it open again and again.

Continue reading Its own reward