A homily for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 11, 2021
Acts 4:32-35, 1 Jn 5:1-6, Jn 20:19-31
The bumper stickers are plentiful. The sentiment should be universal.
Live simply so that others may simply live.
The quote is credited to Mahatma Gandhi, whose life is a shining example of walking the talk.
The bumper stickers are a shining example of portable theology, and their sales (mostly) support activist groups walking the talk.
Truth via SUV.
A homily for Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of the Lord, April 4, 2021
Acts 10:34a, 37-43, Col 3:1-4, Jn 20:1-9
Did our jaws drop this morning? They should have.
Did we shout “Alleluia!” for its own sake, not just because it was in a prayer we had to say at church? We should have.
Did we greet each other with “Christos anesti! Alethos anesti!” or another culturally appropriate way of saying Christ is risen; truly, he is risen? We must.
A homily for Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, March 28, 2021
Mk 11:1-10, Is 50:4-7, Phil 2:6-11, Mk 14:1—15:47
Regular church-goers know Palm Sunday’s Mass as the one with the extra Gospel and the extra-long Gospel. A lot of standing; a lot of thinking. With any luck, not a long homily or sermon, though the extra time to sit might be welcome if the preacher is not too boring.
And today’s Gospel about the humiliation, torture and horrifying death of Jesus, though familiar, always provokes strong emotions. What his persecutors did to Christ. What Christ did for us. What Christ still does for us every day of our lives, which themselves are a gift from our Triune God and for which we should — we must — be grateful every day of our lives.
This isn’t a homily about any of that.
A homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, March 7, 2021
Ex 20:1-17, 1 Cor 1:22-25, Jn 2:13-25
“I want you to get up right now. Sit up. Go to your windows. Open them and stick your head out and yell – ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad! … You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first, get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’” — From “Network”
That was 45 years ago. It could be today. It should be today.
A homily for the First Sunday of Lent, Feb. 21, 2021
Gn 9:8-15, 1 Pt 3:18-22, Mk 1:12-15
Chocolate and ice cream are not sinful.
Hot dogs and bologna are not evil.
Tuna casseroles are, but that’s a whole nuther kettle of fish.
As we mark the First Sunday of Lent 2021, we can concentrate on the little things we choose to “give up” or we can concentrate on the big things we really ought to be giving up. And the crosses of all sizes that we should be picking up.
A homily for the Baptism of the Lord, Jan. 10, 2021
Is 42:1-4, 6-7, Acts 10:34-38, Mk 1:7-11
What would you do if, on any given day, the clouds parted, a blinding sunbeam spotlighted you, and a thundering shout — or a barely perceptible whisper — said, “I love you. You rock!”?
You’re not crazy. It’s not a practical joke. It’s not “Candid Camera” or “Punk’d.” It can — and should — be an everyday occurrence for each of us. We just need to understand that we have a role to play in the scenario.
Our role is a lot like Jesus’s role as he was baptized by John in the River Jordan: to serve and not be served, to lead our brothers and sisters to God by example from within the flock. To do the right thing at the right time, even if other people don’t think it’s necessary.
A homily for the First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 29, 2020
Is 63:16B-17, 19B; 64:2-7, 1 Cor 1:3-9, Mk 13:33-37
When Andrea and I were newlyweds in North Jersey, a priest at our parish up there preached a homily that has stuck with us all these years.
I’ve adapted it and updated it a bit, but it’s still Father Frank’s, and I’m thankful for it.
I hope you will be, too.
A homily for the Solemnity of All Saints, Nov. 1, 2020
Rv 7:2-4, 9-14, 1 Jn 3:1-3, Mt 5:1-12A
The notion of “holy” gets some people all knotted up, because to some folks, “holy” is the first two syllables of a phrase that ends with “er than thou,” and like almost everything else in American culture, achieving a level of holiness can become a competition, cynical or otherwise.
It’s not.
A homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Oct. 25, 2020
Ex 22:20-26, 1 Thes 1:5C-10, Mt 22:34-40
Sorry, Robert Frost. In the crusty, taciturn New England of your era, good fences may have made good neighbors, but in today’s social climate, we can’t afford any more walls between ourselves.
Six feet, masks and plexiglass are intense enough as it is. We don’t need stone or steel. We definitely don’t need hearts of stone steeled against charity and justice.
We need Love.
A homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Oct. 18, 2020
Is 45:1, 4-6, 1 Thes 1:1-5B, Mt 22:15-21
Today’s Gospel is well-known, most likely among the Top 5 for people of faith to cite when they list WWJD.
And because of its familiarity, this passage is usually interpreted as an either-or.
Choose the things of the world or choose the Ways of God.
But that arguably barely scrapes the surface.
