Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Wis 12:13, 16–19 · Ps 86 · Rom 8:26–27 · Matt 13:24–43 I can vividly recall, from the hazy recollection of my youth, the bike race of '76. Back then, a bicycle came with exactly one safety feature: your mother yelling, “Be careful!” as you disappeared around the … Continue reading Leave the Weeds, They May Be Saints
Homily: Fifteenth Sunday Ordinary Time. Rom 8:18-23 I can still vividly remember from the hazy recollection of my youth a particular Sunday morning in the summer of 1975. The sunlight pouring through the stained-glass windows, the water cascading off of Mr. Wallacavage. He had no choice but to march all the way to the front … Continue reading Diagnosing the Wrong Patient
A Father’s Day Homily Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A — Rom 5:12–15 You inherited your father’s face before you ever saw it. The jaw. The eyes. Maybe that charming tendency to fix things with duct tape and quiet muttering. You didn’t sign up for any of it. One day you just looked in … Continue reading The Two Inherentences
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” These words are another option for the priest’s greeting at the beginning of Mass. This greeting comes straight from Paul in 2 Cor13:13. The Eastern churches had been using it for some … Continue reading A Hello That Hands You God’s Own Life
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time — June 14, 2026 (Year A) Ex 19:2-6a; Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5; Rom 5:6-11; Matt 9:36—10:8 Some years ago psychologists ran a famous experiment. They showed people a video of students passing basketballs and asked them to count the passes. Halfway through, a man in a gorilla suit walks straight … Continue reading Counting Passes
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). Sunday, June 7, 2026 Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a; Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20; 1Cor10:16-17; Jn 6:51-58 The Catholic philosopher Joseph Pieper, writing in the years after World War II, warned that modern society increasingly judges things by their usefulness alone. Food becomes useful. Work becomes … Continue reading What Food Is For
Sunday, May 31, 2026 — The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Year A) Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9; Dan 3:52-56; 2Cor 13:11-13; Jn 3:16-18 A few years ago, a doctor named Vivek Murthy was treating a patient he calls James. James had high blood pressure and diabetes. His body was beginning to fail him. During one … Continue reading The God Who Has a Face
Your Excellency, Bishops, Rector, members of the Board, faculty, families, Graduates of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary— I should begin with honesty. I dislike commencement speeches. Honestly, I despise them. Not the commencement. Not the granting of degrees. The commencement speech. The genre itself. Commencement speeches usually fall into two categories: The first is inspirational optimism … Continue reading Commencement Address, St Charles Borromeo Seminary, May 23, 2026
Sixth Sunday of Easter — Year A Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; Ps 66:1-7, 16, 20; 1Pet 3:15-18; Jn 14:15-21 There is a type of loneliness modern people are not supposed to admit they feel. You feel it sometimes after a good day. The work was good. The friends were real. You come home, and the apartment … Continue reading “I Will Not Leave You Orphans”
Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A — May 3, 2026Acts 6:1–7 | 1 Peter 2:4–9 | John 14:1–12 What have you done today? How would you answer? What exciting thing would you reach for or feel you have to make up to answer? We have a very specific definition of “accomplishment.” It involves either an … Continue reading Nothing Done in Love Is Invisible
