Church of St. Anselm Music Ministry

We're not 3-year-olds.

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 joys and challenges of leaping.
https://bill.zapcic.com/trussed

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....

More ponderings about the Bread of Life.

No onions A homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 18, 2024 Prv 9:1-6, Eph 5:15-20, Jn 6:51-58 Here's a story about how dense I can be sometimes. The first time I heard the phrase "six-foot sub," I wasn't sure if the speaker was talking about a new Navy vessel or a second-string basketball p...

Victuals.

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 Corr...

Filet-O-Fish for all eternity.

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...

No Vari-Lite needed.
https://bill.zapcic.com/flocking

Flocking A homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 21, 2024 Jer 23:1-6, Eph 2:13-18, Mk 6:30-34 I've been to a few concerts in my day, a list filled mostly with rock concerts, and one sticks out in my mind. Not for the songs at the show, but for the crush of the crowd....

No dust needed, I say.

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...

Listening and speaking. Or writing. Whatever you do best, with God's help.

Instant messaging A homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 7, 2024 Ez 2:2-5, 2 Cor 12:7-10, Mk 6:1-6 "That's amazing." We've all probably seen the Consumer Cellular ad in which the lady in the kitchen is talking with the sales rep while the gentleman is jumping into a pool, doing little tricks. Yet w...

Holler if you ever need a hand.
https://bill.zapcic.com/holy-utility-belt

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 ot...

Summer Choir is coming!
July 7

The power of Love.

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?...

Thank you for reading, pondering, commenting and sharing. Happy Father's Day to all who celebrate!

Suspenders A homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 16, 2024 Ez 17:22-24, 2 Cor 5:6-10, Mk 4:26-34 Years ago, to help a friend produce her dance school students' recital, I agreed to appear onstage as a magician -- "The Great Badini." Emphasis on "bad," as in stumblebum. She sent me to a shop...

The best way to share.

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 convers...

Something to hold on to.

Palpable A homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), June 2, 2024 Ex 24:3-8, Heb 9:11-15, Mk 14:12-16, 22-26 Shortly after our daughter, Erin, was baptized, Andrea and I were asked by our then-parish to join the baptismal prep team. We agreed, figuring we could rela...

No heresies ... I'm pretty sure.

Trio A homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, May 26, 2024 Dt 4:32-34, 39-40, Rom 8:14-17, Mt 28:16-20 When I was in the seventh grade at St. Leo's in Lincroft, I had it all figured out. No, not the meaning of life, or how to avoid taxes, or even how to win the...

A wonderful reason to wear red.

Unblocked A homily for Pentecost, May 19, 2024 Mass During the Day: Acts 2:1-11, 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13, Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15 I suffer from writer's block about as often as I suffer from allergies. Sometimes the attacks of either are stay-in-bed level; other times, I can power through. But like most of us, I d...

I think my toes may be at the edge of the diving board today.

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 "As...

Love ain't for wimps.

Hugly A homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 5, 2024 Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48, 1 Jn 4:7-10, Jn 15:9-17 Not everybody is a hugger, and that's OK. Whether it's trees or teammates, cheek-pinching aunts or long-lost buddies, hugging just isn't for everyone. And with so-called social distancing the ru...

As preached this weekend

Barn raising A homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, April 28, 2024 Acts 9:26-31, 1 Jn 3:18-24, Jn 15:1-8 My brother Steve has lived in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, area for at least two decades, and while his neighborhood can be described as all-American middle class, he and his family do encounter Amish peopl...

An al fresco breakfast that was truly divine.

A-plus A homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, April 14, 2024 Acts 3:13-15, 17-19, 1 Jn 2:1-5a, Lk 24:35-48 I was a guest at a wedding reception at a Jersey Shore restaurant on the Atlantic Ocean boardwalk. The sun-dappled waves were breaking almost under our feet; the food was delicious and plentiful; th...

Doubt is not the opposite of belief.

Expect the unexpected A homily for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 7, 2024 Acts 4:32-35, 1 Jn 5:1-6, Jn 20:19-31 The night our daughter was born, Andrea and I attended my 10-year reunion at Christian Brothers Academy. As we sat nibbling on dessert, a tall, powerfully built man I did not recognize ambled over to our ta...

Christos anesti! Alethos anesti!

Reset A homily for The Resurrection of the Lord (Easter Sunday), March 31, 2024 Acts 10:34a, 37-43, Col 3:1-4, Jn 20:1-9 It's been more than 30 years since videogame systems went from curiosities to must-have additions to nearly every household, at least here in America. Children and parents alike learned...

We start with hosanna and end with hosanna. In between, however...

Splintered A homily for Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, March 24, 2024 Mk 11:1-10, Is 50:4-7, Phil 2:6-11, Mk 14:1—15:47 Have you ever gotten a splinter? A little shard of wood in your fingertip or palm? Maybe in that spot between the first and second joints on your pointer? The splinter might have been...

When we come to those forks in the road, do we take them?

What if... A homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent (Scrutinies), March 17, 2024 Ez 37:12-14, Rom 8:8-11, Jn 11:1-45 Mom died in the hospital on Easter morning 1987 in the middle of telling her roommate a joke. The roommate said Mom headed to Heaven right before she delivered the punchline.  Yeah, telling jokes ...

My apologies for posting later than usual.

20/20 A homily for the Fourth Sunday in Lent (Scrutinies), March 10, 2024 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a, Eph 5:8-14, Jn 9:1-41 Long before Airbnb, a colleague of mine and his son toured Iceland by staying in several of the guesthouses Icelandic families offered to tourists to make extra income. As I recall, the...

Calling all children! Join us to sing at the 11am Easter Sunday mass. To register, please use the link below. For more information please email [email protected]. We look forward to having you join us!

St. Anselm Easter Choir If you are interested in singing at the 11am Easter Sunday mass please fill out the information below. Rehearsals will take place on March 11, 18, and 25 from 5:00-5:45. Easter Mass is at 11am on March 31st. Choir members must arrive at church at 10:30am.

Everyone needs someone to carry the water for them. Even us.

Well, well, well A homily for the Third Sunday of Lent (Scrutinies), March 3, 2024 Ex 17:3-7, Rom 5:1-2, 5-8, Jn 4:5-42 The fable of the city mouse and the country mouse has a few different versions with differing details -- cats, porcupines, skunks, more cats -- but the moral they share is always the same: Don't be...

As preached this weekend. Thank you for reading, pondering, commenting and sharing.

Revealed A homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, February 25, 2024 Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18, Rom 8:31b-34, Mk 9:2-10 We all know about Clark Kent, right? Mild-mannered reporter for The Daily Planet, who wanted a job someplace where he could hear about emergencies or disasters anywhere in the world. And wh...

Nothing is everything ... or something like that.

Shhh... A homily for the First Sunday of Lent, February 18, 2024 Gn 9:8-15, 1 Pt 3:18-22, Mk 1:12-15 I'm pretty sure I have a bad case of FOMO. Or I'm just plain nosy. Then again, I'm legitimately extremely curious, and with better-than-average peripheral vision and much-better-than-average hearing -- even....