Tag: Scripture

MYOB

A homily for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 27, 2022

Sir 27:4-7, 1 Cor 15:54-58, Lk 6:39-45

I’ve been blessed — or cursed — with good peripheral vision, as well as a really quirky ability to see certain things really quickly. It manifests as words or phrases literally jumping off a bulletin board or something similar when I pass, and then I have to stop and read the whole poster or memo to find out where “Donald Duck” or “#6 Sub” was referenced.

And when I say “I have to stop,” I mean this phenomenon literally freezes me in my tracks. I can’t resist.

Training back in my Boy Scout days added to this. Long before “See something, say something” became the American mantra, we Scouts were taught to be highly aware of our surroundings. I recall our scoutmasters actually brought in experts from Fort Monmouth to run the workshops. The military chant is “Stay alert — stay alive!”

I must concede that being highly aware of your surroundings is a great skill to have on the Parkway at 80 mph at 8 a.m.

But back in Catholic school, during the other hours of my day, Sister Raphael Marie browbeat us nonstop with a totally opposite message:

MYOB

Mind. Your. Own. Business. (or Beeswax, when somebody was going for “cute”)

Don’t stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong.

And MYOB seemed diametrically opposed to WWJD.

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Yorktown

A homily for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 20, 2022

1 Sm 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23, 1 Cor 15:45-49, Lk 6:27-38

According to legend, Lord Cornwallis, the British general whose troops lost to George Washington and his forces at the Battle of Yorktown, ordered his regimental musicians to play a satirical song during the formal surrender ceremony, and not a tune honoring the Colonists’ victory.

Instead of an American melody like “Yankee Doodle” or some military march long since lost to history, the Redcoats played “The World Turned Upside Down.”

Though the song — composed in England originally as a protest against bans on making merry at Christmas — was written in the 1640s, it could have been written by or for Jesus in the First Century.

Because it’s clear the Messiah’s ministry came from the Land of Topsy-Turvy.

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Yin and yang

A homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 13, 2022

Jer 17:5-8, 1 Cor 15:12, 16-20, Lk 6:17, 20-26

When we think back to a banquet or an awards dinner or a wedding, what do we remember right off the bat?

Probably the dessert.

And there’s a scientific reason why we remember the wedding cake. Psychologists call it the serial position effect.

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Somebody’s gotta do it

A homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 6, 2022

Is 6:1-2a, 3-8, 1 Cor 15:3-8, 11, Lk 5:1-11

We who used to be children probably grew up with Dad Jokes and Mom-isms.

(There were Dad-isms too, but they mostly were some variation of “Listen to your mother!”)

Mom-isms were deeply concerned with what kind of underwear to wear and when, where to cross the street and when, who to play with and when, and homework.

And Mom-isms weren’t always straightforward or direct. For example, when Mom might happen upon a filled-up kitchen sink, she’d say, “Those dishes aren’t going to wash themselves.”

And we got the hint.

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Infamy

A homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 30, 2022

Jer 1:4-5, 17-19, 1 Cor 12:31—13:13, Lk 4:21-30

The Rock and Roll and Country Music halls of fame. New Jersey Hall of Fame. Halls of fame for every sport imaginable, at every level conceivable: pro, college, amateur and more.

In fact, there probably are halls of fame for every endeavor in which more than three people participate.

And if an inductee is somebody local, then every family member and every neighbor and every teacher and preacher and the mayor and fire chief and three marching bands parade down Main Street to hail the Hometown Hero.

So why did Jesus have to slip away from his home village to avoid being run out of town on a rail?

Didn’t he qualify as a Hometown Hero? 

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Balloons and piñatas

A homily for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 23, 2022

Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10, 1 Cor 12:12-14, 27, Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21

I was in high school at the end of The Sixties. Christian Brothers Academy, Lincroft, New Jersey, Class of 1973. Yes, I’m that old.

Times back then were tumultuous: The war in Vietnam. Oppressed minority citizens rioting in our cities for their God-given civil rights. The slaughter at Kent State. Watergate.  

Many Catholic clergymen refusing to breathe in the fresh air from windows thrown open by Vatican II. 

And no one over 30 could be trusted.

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Solving the puzzle

A homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 16, 2022

Is 62:1-5, 1 Cor 12:4-11, Jn 2:1-11

Rubik’s Cube. Jenga. Pick-Up Sticks. Checkers and chess. Jigsaw puzzles. Even Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Success in every one of these pastimes and many others depends on having the right pieces in the right place at the right time and, very often, having many pieces precisely where they need to be simultaneously. 

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Good stuff

A homily for the Baptism of the Lord, January 9, 2022

Is 42:1-4, 6-7, Ti 2:11-14; 3:4-7, Lk 3:15-16, 21-22

So: God in Heaven is well pleased with Jesus.

Duh.

Could anyone expect anything else?

Even though his ministry was still in its infancy, Jesus was living the right way, working the right way, teaching the right way and following the Law and the Prophets as any observant Jew of his age should.

Simply put, he was doing everything that a man of his time and place believed would please God.

And God literally said as much.

Jesus, son of God, got high praise.

So where does that leave us?

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Star gazers

A homily for the Feast of the Epiphany, January 2, 2022

Is 60:1-6, Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6, Mt 2:1-12

The calendar of events for seniors in a Central Jersey local newspaper, now defunct, used to occasionally include a listing for a “mystery trip.” The Old Age Club — yes, that’s what they called themselves back in the 1980s — would rent a bus and sell tickets, and the participants would find out where they were going once they were underway.

These trips were so popular that every one of them had a waiting list. Obviously, the Old Age Clubbers were the adventurous sort and, obviously, they were pleased with how their adventure turned out, or they wouldn’t have gone again. And again.

Obviously, the participants had faith in the organizers.

As did the Magi.

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Where the heart is

A homily for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, December 26, 2021

Sir 3:2-6, 12-14, Col 3:12-21, Lk 2:41-52

A little girl is watching one of the dozens of rerun channels on TV and asks her parents, “When you were my age, were you in black and white?”

Because, of course, before Adam West appeared IN COLOR twice a week at the same bat-time on the same bat-channel, everything indeed was black and white.

Maybe not visually, but definitely in society.

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