Homily, no homily

Today being Wednesday, the parish office -- at least during the summer -- is closed.

At first, I thought, "great, I'll work at the office and no one will bother me." Wrong!

The doorbell and the phones ring all the same. My office is on the second floor. Do I ignore it, or do I answer it? Most parishioners either know the office is closed, or see the big sign on the door; but occasionally, a parishioner misses it -- or says, "Oh, I was hoping to find you..."

More often, its one of the folks in the community -- or literally, passing by on I-75 -- looking for some form of material assistance. I hate to do it; but I have to say "I'm sorry, no." (We do provide help, but we have learned, from experience, we have to keep track of names, and tell people, only once every six months. What happens is people aim to get the priest, not the staff--in hopes that the priest will be different. When it comes to this sort of assistance, I have to keep a united front.)

So...it didn't take long before I decided Wednesday, during the summer, will be "work at home" day. (My residence is 5 minutes walk from the parish office.)

Today I wrote my Sunday homily. I'll post it on Sunday morning.

I didn't work on a homily for today, because I'll concelebrate this evening with our wonderful, retired priest in residence.

But I did find Fr Jim Tucker's homily online. And he prompted this thought:

In Judges, the people were willing, even eager, to crown a thorn tree, in place of a more worthy candidate. When the true King came at last, what crown did humanity press down on his head? A crown of thorns.