A homily for the First Sunday of Advent, December 3, 2023
Is 63:16B-17, 19B; 64:2-7, 1 Cor 1:3-9, Mk 13:33-37
During the 50-some-odd years Dad practiced as a family physician, his office hours started at 8:30 a.m. and ended in the evening when his waiting room was empty. Mom never knew exactly when to put dinner on the table, but Dad’s patients always felt cared for.
A homily for The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, November 26, 2023
Ez 34:11-12, 15-17, 1 Cor 15:20-26, 28, Mt 25:31-46
We have a lot of kings here in America, and unlike anywhere else in the world, in America, our kings are people, places and things.
A homily for the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 19, 2023
Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31, 1 Thes 5:1-6, Mt 25:14-30
A while ago, I was doing one of my occasional (rare!) sort-out, clean-out, throw-out, organize visits to the basement when I stumbled on a couple of tools I bought back in my college days, way back when I built theatrical sets. I realized I’ve owned this hammer and adjustable wrench for three times as long as I didn’t — the better part of 50 years.
And like their owner, a half-century later, they were rusty.
A homily for the Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wis 6:12-16, 1 Thes 4:13-18, Mt 25:1-13
We recently needed to have some work done around the house.
The kitchen faucet leaked, so it needed replacing. The water that leaked made the laminate floor buckle, so it needed replacing.
Which meant we had to make appointments with skilled tradesmen.
A homily for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 5, 2023
Mal 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10, 1 Thes 2:7b-9, 13, Mt 23:1-12
The DoorDash food-delivery service made somewhat unwanted headlines recently when its app started nudging customers to leave its drivers a tip with the extortion-like suggestion that, if the customer didn’t pay a gratuity, their food might arrive late and cold.
Frankly, I think the suggestion was cold.
A homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 29, 2023
Ex 22:20-26, 1 Thes 1:5c-10, Mt 22:34-40
The long and the short of it — literally and figuratively — is that how we live our lives depends on our perspectives.
Every one of us is different, even identical siblings. Each of us was born at a different time, in a different place (even if your mom and mine were side-by-side in the maternity ward). We have different body types, in every way that can be possible.
And through the sheer laws of physics, none of us can see and experience precisely what another of us sees and hears and feels because none of us can exist in the same space as somebody else simultaneously.
Eight billion of us today. Billions who came before us. And, God willing, billions and trillions yet to come after us.
A homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 22, 2023
Is 45:1, 4-6, 1 Thes 1:1-5b, Mt 22:15-21
“What’s in your wallet?”
Every time I hear Samuel L. Jackson ask that in the credit card commercial, I actually stop and think and try to remember what’s in my wallet.
For the record, none of what I carry is that particular card.
A homily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 8, 2023
Is 5:1-7, Phil 4:6-9, Mt 21:33-43
John Steinbeck’s prizewinning book, The Grapes of Wrath, has come to symbolize everything that was — still is — wrong with tenant farming in the United States and elsewhere. Even the book’s title sparks passionate feelings in anyone who hears it, even if they have never read the novel or seen the movie or listened to Bruce Springsteen.
A homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 1, 2023
Ez 18:25-28, Phil 2:1-11, Mt 21:28-32
There’s a TV commercial for a company that makes promotional items, the “for certain” people, and in it a woman driving a car filled with tchotchkes for a client is taken on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride over hill and dale and rail and through a cornfield until she comes face-to-face with a Holstein cow. The sadly mistaken GPS tells her she’s arrived at her destination.
Uh, not quite.
A homily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 24, 2023
Is 55:6-9, Phil 1:20c-24, 27a, Mt 20:1-16a
You’ve probably heard a rumor that I enjoy an occasional cup of coffee every now and then. I’d like to set the record straight.
I drink many cups of coffee almost constantly, and I’ve done so for decades.
In fact, I even subscribe to a service that sends me enough recyclable and compostable pods to make 90 cups a month. Which I supplement with, yes, trips to Wawa, where they know my face if not my name.
