Tag: WWJD

W, X…

A homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 1, 2024

Dt 4:1-2, 6-8, Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27, Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

The Sisters of St. Francis from the Glen Riddle, PA, mother house who taught us at St. Leo the Great School in the 1960s were an enlightened bunch. They clarified the difference between nationalism and patriotism, framing the former as potentially sinful. They instructed us in single-gender classes about sex and love and how both are gifts from God, with only minimal blushing. (Yes, I know the joke.)

And they believed in buy-in. They knew that people older than 3 deserved to know “why” for them to follow rules. So the sisters took the time to explain, for example, why we were forbidden to talk during a fire drill (the person in front of us might turn around to listen, might trip, and then everyone would tumble over them, disastrously).

Rules, we learned, were for our well-being. Even the annoying ones … which weren’t as annoying once we understood the “why” they were built on.

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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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Smorgas

A homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 4, 2024

Ex 16:2-4, 12-15, Eph 4:17, 20-24, Jn 6:24-35

All-you-can-eat buffets are among the most popular topics for cartoonists, animators and stand-up comedians. There probably are a thousand jokes for every item on the line at Golden Corral or China Palace (though I don’t think Red Lobster’s bankruptcy lawyers were laughing at the TikTokers who videoed themselves tossing back 100-plus “unlimited” shrimp).

Usually, the punch line is a variation on a Copious Consumer being shown the door while complaining, “But it says ‘All You Can Eat’!” and the proprietor replying, “That’s right. And I say you’ve eaten all you can eat.”

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More than sum

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.

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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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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?

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Not a heavy lift

A homily for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 23, 2024

Jb 38:1, 8-11, 2 Cor 5:14-17, Mk 4:35-41

The young people among us, and those of us who think we’re still sorta young, know this riddle:

If God is so powerful, can he make a rock so big even he can’t lift it?

I’m pretty sure the answer is yes.

I’m pretty sure the answer is yes — even though it seems confusing — because there’s nothing God can’t do.

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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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Here and now

A homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, May 12, 2024

Acts 1:1-11, Eph 1:17-23, Mk 16:15-20

Souvenez vous que nous sommes dans le sancte présence de Dieu.

A Christian meme made its way around social media recently, depicting Jesus ascending to Heaven on a cloud, with the caption “Ascension Thursday: When Jesus Christ started working from home.”

I have it on good authority he has great bandwidth at his place.

But even as we acknowledge through this holy day that the Son is where he belongs — on his throne at the right hand of the Father — we also must recognize that God is not far, never far from us.

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