28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (October 11, 2026) Isa 25:6-10a, Ps 23, Phil 4:12-14, 19-20, Matt 22:1-14 I flew home from Athens, which is a beautiful city with ancient ruins still standing and a new airport that has already fallen apart. If you’ve never been through that airport, I’ll save you the trouble. … Continue reading Still Swimming
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A · Philippians 2:1-11 Everybody says they admire humble people. We say it about the star player who thanks his offensive linemen. We say it about the boss who remembers the janitor’s name. Then we go home and check how many people liked our post on Instagram. You know … Continue reading The Form of a Slave
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Sir 27:30—28:7; Ps 103; Rom 14:7–9; Matt 18:21–35 Picture Jerusalem around 180 B.C. For more than a century and a half the Greeks have run the eastern Mediterranean. Greek is the language of contracts, classrooms, and anyone who wants to look important. Jewish life is being quietly squeezed—not by swords … Continue reading Ben Sira’s House Rules
Homily: Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Many years ago, there was the grill incident. Miss Knott-Albright, who was going to be a new teacher in the fall for our school, moved in on the next street over. The house came with a grill that has been one grease fire away from the evening … Continue reading Harden Not Your Charity
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Jer 20:7-9, Ps 63, Rom 12:1-2, Matt 16:21-27. You made it. Some Sundays that is a minor miracle and should be listed among the corporal works of mercy. Somebody found the car keys under a pile of permission slips. Somebody squeezed into last spot next to the minivan … Continue reading The Living Sacrifice (And Other Things Nobody RSVPs To)
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time — Year A Geography can have theological significance. Caesarea Philippi is not a Jewish town. It’s intriguing that this is where Jesus asks the apostles who people say that he is. The city sits at the foot of Mount Hermon at the northern end of modern Israel. Water flows from … Continue reading Who do You Say That I Am?
Homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) Isaiah 56:1, 6–7 | Psalm 67 | Romans 11:13–15, 29–32 | Matthew 15:21–28 A few years ago, a bishop in Missouri looked at one of the most popular hymns in American Catholicism and decided it had to go. The hymn was “All Are Welcome.” Actually, the hymn … Continue reading Welcome to What?
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A: Isa 55:1-3, Ps 145, Rom 8:35/37-39, Matt 14:13-21 There are certain moments when I begin to wonder if the internet was a mistake. A friend sent me a YouTube video and asked for my honest opinion. After watching it, I’m reconsidering both the video and the friendship.T he … Continue reading Come to me, not within yourself
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 There is an uncomfortable fact underneath today’s first reading. Insight doesn’t guarantee fidelity. Truth doesn’t guarantee love. You can pray exactly the right prayer at twenty and still lose it by sixty. Solomon is a young king when God appears to him in a … Continue reading The Wisdom That Didn’t Last
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
