A homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Oct. 25, 2020
Ex 22:20-26, 1 Thes 1:5C-10, Mt 22:34-40
Sorry, Robert Frost. In the crusty, taciturn New England of your era, good fences may have made good neighbors, but in today’s social climate, we can’t afford any more walls between ourselves.
Six feet, masks and plexiglass are intense enough as it is. We don’t need stone or steel. We definitely don’t need hearts of stone steeled against charity and justice.
We need Love.
A homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Oct. 18, 2020
Is 45:1, 4-6, 1 Thes 1:1-5B, Mt 22:15-21
Today’s Gospel is well-known, most likely among the Top 5 for people of faith to cite when they list WWJD.
And because of its familiarity, this passage is usually interpreted as an either-or.
Choose the things of the world or choose the Ways of God.
But that arguably barely scrapes the surface.
A homily for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Oct. 11, 2020
Is 25:6-10A, Phil 4:12-14, 19-20, Mt. 22:1-14
Every so often, the Lectionary — the book we use at Mass with selections from the Law and the Prophets, the Letters of Peter and Paul, the Gospels of the Four Evangelists, and other New Testament books — gives us a short version and a longer version of a reading, usually the Gospel. This is one of those occasions.
It’s notable this weekend because the impact of each of the versions can be felt in opposite ways, and that makes choosing between the two a head-scratcher.
A homily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Oct. 4, 2020
Is 5:1-7, Phil 4:6-9, Mt 21:33-43
Every organization has them: oaths or promises and laws. Worldwide.
And, amazingly, they all sound a lot alike.
A homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 27, 2020
Ez 18:25-28, Phil 2:1-11, Mt 21:28-32
As you may or may not know, I was a deadline editor at newspapers for 40 years, and several times during my career I was part of a team whose task was to (a) transform the look and feel of the newspaper, (b) add the news to websites and apps, (c) revise the look and feel of the newspaper again, and so on. And on and on.
Also, as you likely know, the news never stops. So all of these transformations had to be engineered and accomplished while we reported, fact-checked, re-reported, re-fact-checked, edited, illustrated, designed and published the newspaper and website.
We did not get to stop what we were doing to rip apart, tear down, gather materials and rebuild.
We realized we had to work as if we were changing the tires on Interstate 80 at 80 miles per hour.
A homily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 20, 2020
Is 55:6-9, Phil 1:20C-24, 27A, Mt 20:1-16A
For some people steeped in timeclocks, hourly wages, collective bargaining and labor law, this Gospel has always been a head-scratcher.
If the worker who was employed from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. gets, let’s say, 75 bucks but then the worker who started at 6 a.m. also gets 75 bucks, how is that remotely fair? The late-starter is getting $75 an hour while the guy from the Dawn Patrol is getting $6.25. What should the hourly rate be? Shouldn’t it be the same for everybody?
A homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 13, 2020
Sir 27:30 – 28:7, Rom 14:7-9. Mt 18:21-35
My late father used to say, “I’ll forgive, but I won’t forget.”
He wasn’t the only person I ever heard say that. In fact, he ran with quite a big crowd on that sentiment.
“I’ll forgive, but I won’t forget.”
I never understood that. I still don’t.
A homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug. 30, 2020
Jer 20:7-9, Rom 12:1-2, Mt. 16:21-27
Let’s start with a little confession: I don’t talk about Jesus all that much. Not really.
I’ll say “Praise God!” or “Praise Jesus!” sometimes when some little good thing happens in my life, but it’s almost a reflex and not a reflection.
No, I won’t start a conversation about any person of the Holy Trinity, though I will talk at length if I’m asked or otherwise engaged in a conversation.
That may seem strange, when you point out I’m an ordained clergy member, a preacher and teacher and online (and occasionally live) homilist. But it’s true.
A homily for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug. 23, 2020
Is 22:19-23, Rom 11:33-36, Mt 16:13-20
Who is this guy?
Who is this guy?
Who is this guy??
A homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug. 16, 2020
Is 56:1, 6-7, Rom 11:13-15, 29-32 , Mt 15:21-28
When we embrace The Way that Jesus blazed, we recognize that almost everything he preached was countercultural. Then and now.
Dining and bunking in with tax collectors and prostitutes, and forgiving their sins when they repented and promised to go and sin no more: Jesus was able to reconcile these dregs of society with the God of mercy, even if First Century Hebrew society left them at the margins.
