A homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, March 16, 2025
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18, Philippians 3:17—4:1, Luke 9:28b-36
In James Cameron’s “Avatar” movies, the tall blue Na’vi people greet each other, and especially greet their loved ones, with “I see you.”
To the fictional Na’vi, “I see you” means a wide variety of things: “I see into you,” “I understand you,” “I respect you,” or “I love you.”
All of which intersect at “I know who you truly are.”
A homily for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, March 2, 2025
Sirach 27:4-7, 1 Corinthians 15:54-58, Luke 6:39-45
One of the most important things an actor learns is not to play the end of a scene.
What that means is, even though actors know how the scene will end, because they have read and learned the script, they can’t display any inappropriate emotions or in any other way show they know what’s going to happen next. They can’t do or say anything — no matter how small — that telegraphs the ending. That would ruin the scene.
It’s a difficult skill to master.
A homily for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 23, 2025
1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23, 1 Corinthians 15:45-49, Luke 6:27-38
A few days ago, 80 people miraculously survived a plane crash in Toronto. As the jetliner was landing, it suddenly tipped over onto its right side, snapped off its wing, and rolled onto its roof, skidding down the runway.
CNN reported:
After the aircraft came to a standstill, “we were upside down hanging like bats,” passenger Peter Koukov said. He was able to unbuckle himself and stand upright on the ceiling of the plane, but some people needed help getting down from their seats.
Their world had turned upside down.
A homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 9, 2025
Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11
Anyone among us who is or used to be a child knows all too well the reason we’re given for doing something that seems utterly absurd to us:
“Because I Said So.”
In the great arsenal of weapons … uh, tools … uh, gifts … every parent receives when their children draw their first breaths, “Because I Said So” is the last line of defense, the “Break Glass in Case of Emergency” reason.
Even though we parents whip it out of its holster as our first (and only) option all too often.
A homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, February 2, 2025
Malachi 3:1-4, Hebrews 2:14-18, Luke 2:22-40 or 2:22-32
In the brilliant and sorely missed comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” the imp and his stuffed tiger who comes to life often play Calvinball.
There is only one permanent rule in Calvinball: players cannot play it the same way twice.
That either confirms or directly conflicts with a child psychologist’s observation that, quite often, kids spend so much time picking teams and hashing out the rules of whatever game they’re about to play that they wind up not having time to play it.
There’s no doubt, however, that we live in a world of rules and rulers. Humankind always has.
A homily — or perhaps a sermon — for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 26, 2025
Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10, 1 Corinthians 12:12-30, Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21
Many of us grew up when Catholics weren’t supposed to read the Bible. We heard passages from Scripture at Mass, and the priest — always a priest in those days — would share some insights and his learned interpretations, and we’d be enlightened by the Word of God.
‘Nuff said.
Most, if not all, of us had Bibles at home, but those stayed on the shelf, pretty much. If that Bible was a family heirloom, its inner front and back covers held the kind of birth and baptism and marriage and death information that Ancestry.com would drool over.
The pages in between, though … those didn’t get much of a looky-see. Sad to say, some of those family Bibles wound up being used as door stops or tools for pressing dried flowers.
A homily for the Baptism of the Lord, January 12, 2025
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7, Acts 10:34-38, Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
“I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”
— Groucho Marx
The world of entertainment lends us a cornucopia of perspectives on the Baptism of the Lord, over and above the guidance from today’s Scripture passages that we always should do what is right so that God will remain happy with us.
A homily for The Epiphany of the Lord, January 5, 2025
Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6, Matthew 2:1-12
I can still hear Mom’s voice when I find something I was looking for in the most obvious place:
“If it had teeth, it would have bitten you.”
Yeah: It was on the table in plain sight. That’s why I didn’t see it.
A homily for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, December 29, 2024
Sir 3:2-6, 12-14, Col 3:12-17, Lk 2:41-52
Nearly every day between Thanksgiving and Easter, I wear a scarf. They’re always warm and occasionally stylish, though I’m not really aiming for a GQ-kind-of image.
I have a large, though not massive, collection of fuzzy scarves, and through the 26 weeks or so of Scarf Season, I wear all but one of them at least once.
A wish for Christmas, December 25, 2024
Is 52:7-10, Heb 1:1-6, Jn 1:1-18
This Christmas, if the only gifts we give and receive are justice and fairness, hope and kindness, that will be enough. More than enough.
Oh, and throw in a bountiful measure of joy, and the present of our presence with other people, and our day and our season will overflow.
At the end of the classic movie “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” just before the alien botanist goes home, he gives little sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore) some powerful advice, in his scratchy-mechanical voice:
“Be good.”
Jesus, born this Christmas Day, said it first.
Be good.
Be kind.
Be loving, as God is love and God loves.
Yes: Be good.
Brilliant.
Merry Christmas!
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen!
