Tag: Prophet

Re: action

A homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 15, 2024

Is 50:5-9a, Jas 2:14-18, Mk 8:27-35

Wise people have embraced the maxim that we may not be able to control certain situations, but we can control how we react to them.

Thank you to whoever said that first, and to everyone else who has spread the word. Truer words were never said (to coin a cliché).

And we all, all too frequently, can find ourselves in situations that are — or may seem — grossly unfair. Especially situations we consider to be insanely unfair to us.

What is it about these happenstances that bring out the 2- or 3-year-old in us? Why is our first impulse to flail about and whine and act mortally wounded?

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Say aah

A homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 8, 2024

Is 35:4-7a, Jas 2:1-5, Mk 7:31-37

My father, a family physician who practiced quirky but scientifically sound medicine for more than 50 years, was his own worst patient.

His family members came in second, but we’ll get to that later.

This physician not only could not heal himself, he did not even try, as far as my brothers and sisters-in-law and I could ever determine.

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Trussed

A homily for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 25, 2024

Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b, Eph 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32, Jn 6:60-69

Many of us who worked in a corporate environment at one time or another probably remember team-building exercises.

A group of folks who work together — or who were going to work together — would trot off to a conference room and play Trivial Pursuit or some variation of Bingo to learn things about each other.

Or maybe we’d scoot over to a local park and have a three-legged race or scatter in twos in a scavenger hunt.

Then there was Do You Trust Me.

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No onions

A homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 18, 2024

Prv 9:1-6, Eph 5:15-20, Jn 6:51-58

Here’s a story about how dense I can be sometimes.

The first time I heard the phrase “six-foot sub,” I wasn’t sure if the speaker was talking about a new Navy vessel or a second-string basketball player coming off the bench.

Yes, I knew what a submarine sandwich was (and is); Dad treated my brothers and me to No. 2s from Elsie’s, and later, from Joyce’s, at the start and end of every semester from first grade through high school graduation.

But those ham-and-capicola subs were one-person two-fisted concoctions at six inches, not crowd-feeders at six feet. I just couldn’t see it.

Besides, where would somebody get a roll that big, anyway? That’s a whole lotta bread.

Continue reading No onions

Insistent

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.

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Instant messaging

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.

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Holy Utility Belt…

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?

Continue reading Holy Utility Belt…

Suspenders

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.

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Akin

A homily for the Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 9, 2024

Gn 3:9-15, 2 Cor 4:13—5:1, Mk 3:20-35

The first time I saw someone talking on a cellphone wearing wireless earbuds, I thought the person was … uh … possibly mentally ill. You see, they weren’t merely having what looked like a conversation with their self; they were arguing.

Loudly. Passionately. Did I mention loudly?

With vigorous hand gestures to no one in sight, some of them NSFW.

As were many of the loud words.

The earbuds were so small that I didn’t spot them right away.

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Trio

A homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, May 26, 2024

Dt 4:32-34, 39-40, Rom 8:14-17, Mt 28:16-20

When I was in the seventh grade at St. Leo’s in Lincroft, I had it all figured out.

No, not the meaning of life, or how to avoid taxes, or even how to win the lottery.

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