A homily for the Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete), December 15, 2024
Zep 3:14-18a, Phil 4:4-7, Lk 3:10-18
One winter holiday evening about 30 years ago, our extended family decided to go out light-peeping. As my sister-in-law suggested a few nearby places to check out, her son asked, “Can we go see The Hinges?”
The Hinges?
Kathy laughed and explained that, when she first saw how one house was decorated, she said it was lit up like the Hinges of Hell.
A homily for the Second Sunday of Advent, December 8, 2024
Bar 5:1-9, Phil 1:4-6, 8-11, Lk 3:1-6
It’s been said that God doesn’t create in straight lines, and anyone who’s ever taken more than a second to look at the shapes of ocean beaches, lakefronts, leaves and flowers and trees and and and … realizes that.
Even the wind gets the twisties.
So what’s the big deal with straightening roads and flattening the landscape? If God created this world all curvy-hilly-bumpy, why do the prophets make such a big deal about paving some sort of interstate highway system over God’s handiwork?
What’s wrong with leaving it as is?
Continue reading Linear
A homily for the Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 10, 2024
1 Kgs 17:10-16, Heb 9:24-28, Mk 12:38-44 or 12:41-44
The other day, I was at the bank to trade in my coins for a couple of greenbacks, but I had to wait behind a couple who were emptying two water-cooler jugs filled with coins.
Well, actually, the jugs had been filled at one point; I luckily arrived as the duo was down to the last third of the second jug and the bank teller had snapped empty coin bags into the sorting machine.
As I stood there with my quart-size Ziploc, I wondered what the couple might use the money for (it turned out to be a lot). Mortgage payment? Vacation? A new car or repairs on their old one? Bet MGM Casino on a new iPhone?
But then, years of hearing MYOB from my mother and the teachers at St. Leo the Great kicked in, and instead I wondered what I’d do with the 20-ish dollars I’d walk out with.
I must confess that a work of charity wasn’t the first thing that came to mind.
Shame on me.
A homily for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 3, 2024
Dt 6:2-6, Heb 7:23-28, Mk 12:28b-34
It’s bumper sticker season.
Likewise, it’s lawn sign season, and billboard season, and the season for enough political ads on TV that we probably welcome the commercials for Medicare Advantage and the little pill with the big story to tell.
For now, though, let’s stick with stickers.
A homily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 22, 2024
Wis 2:12, 17-20, Jas 3:16—4:3, Mk 9:30-37
When our daughter was first breaking into the entertainment business, she did as many of her fellow performers did: She waited tables and worked other jobs at restaurants and bars.
She often covered the Early Bird shifts when she was working at Macaroni Grill. Early Birds … we all know what that means, right? Gaggles of Golden Agers.
Back then, Macaroni Grill was trying to shore up its bona fides as an Italian eatery by serving their pre-meal bread with seasoned olive oil, as legit ristorantes do. So Erin would bring out the crusty loaves and plunk them down alongside the olio d’oliva, and then head back to her station. She rarely was more than a step or two away before a patron would holler over to her: “Waitress, you forgot the butter for the bread.”
She learned quickly, really quickly, to carry a big stash of those little butter briquets in her apron.
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.
A homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 14, 2024
Am 7:12-15, Eph 1:3-14 or 1:3-10, Mk 6:7-13
Let’s start with a story about how not to evangelize.
When I was in the third grade at St. Leo the Great School in Lincroft, our teachers told us of the great rewards that awaited us in the afterlife if we brought other people into the faith. If we made converts.
Most of us, myself included, expected a shorter stay in Purgatory or, better yet, coconut cream and key lime pies for dessert at every meal in the Heavenly banquet.
A homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 7, 2024
Ez 2:2-5, 2 Cor 12:7-10, Mk 6:1-6
“That’s amazing.”
We’ve all probably seen the Consumer Cellular ad in which the lady in the kitchen is talking with the sales rep while the gentleman is jumping into a pool, doing little tricks.
Yet what amazes her, according to the ad, is not the man’s Olympic wannabe diving prowess but the mobile phone’s features and the company’s service.
Apparently proving, once again, that we 21st-century Americans love our high-tech flashy-sparkly-shiny things.
A homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 30, 2024
Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24, 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15, Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43
When I searched Google for the phrase “God helps those who help themselves,” the search engine yielded about 71,600,000 results in 0.37 seconds. Which, among other things, suggests to me that God helps those who look things up on search engines.
Furthermore, I read in a few citations that, despite the popular belief that this is a biblical quotation, the phrase originated from English politician-philosopher Algernon Sydney in 1698 in an article titled “Discourses Concerning Government.” Never heard of him. Oh, well.
OK, so it’s not in the Bible. Nonetheless, does God help those who help themselves?
A homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 16, 2024
Ez 17:22-24, 2 Cor 5:6-10, Mk 4:26-34
Years ago, to help a friend produce her dance school students’ recital, I agreed to appear onstage as a magician — “The Great Badini.” Emphasis on “bad,” as in stumblebum. She sent me to a shop where the proprietor set me up with a few basic tricks and props, tricks even I couldn’t foul up.
I didn’t pull any rabbits out of my hat, but I did learn to pass a massive needle and thread completely and safely through a balloon before intentionally popping it. And there was this gizmo I held behind my teeth so I could pull yards upon yards of colored handkerchiefs out of my mouth.
As “The Great Badini,” I learned the secrets of making people believe the otherwise unbelievable. And I can still do those tricks.
These days, lots of people can. Make people suspend disbelief, I mean.
Unfortunately, these days it’s more a case of fooling people than persuading people to believe in what’s true and right and good.
