Purple mountains

A homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 5, 2026

Zechariah 9:9-10, Romans 8:9, 11-13, Matthew 11:25-30

… and crown thy good with brotherhood…

God shed an incredible amount of grace on our not-so-little corner of the world. Every blessing that we celebrate in “America the Beautiful” and countless more: We Americans have much to be thankful for.

Yes, countless, countless blessings of every kind imaginable. Of every kind of person imaginable.

And we have much to be proud of. Not everything, of course, and the upright among us know that and acknowledge that.

But in 250 years, our forebears and we have achieved an abundance of good. We have shown ourselves to be that shining city on a hill, a premier force for good. Therefore, Christian charity and Catholic social justice demand that we continue to crown that good.

With brotherhood. Just as the song says.

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No Brag

A homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 31, 2025

Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29, Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a, Luke 14:1, 7-14

The older folks among us will remember when the most-watched shows on TV were Westerns. “Gunsmoke.” “Bonanza.” “Wagon Train.” And even these days, they’re getting a pretty decent ride on rerun channels like MeTV.

I don’t remember which Western this happened on, but I do remember a scene in which some tenderfoot came up to a gunslinger, and their conversation went something like this:

“Some people say you’re the fastest gun in these parts. True?”

“It’s true. I can outdraw any man.”

“That’s some pretty serious bragging, mister.”

“No brag. Just fact.” 

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