The thoughts and writings of Fr. Lawrence E. Polansky, a Priest of the Diocese of Camden
Daily Homilies
I have never posted my daily homilies before, so this is a first. I began with the daily homilies for the Octave of Easter, 2025. Going forward, I will post homilies for two (2) weeks and then delete the oldest as I add the current one. This is due to storage restrictions and the sheer volume of material I generate.
06/24/2025 -- Tuesday - Nativity of John the Baptist
The ads for the popular genealogy site Ancestry.com are very seductive. In one of them, a woman exclaims delightedly that she learned that one of her great-grandparents ran a grocery store “just three blocks from where I am now living.” Surprising connections are sometimes revealed.
06/23/2025 -- Monday - 12th Week in Ordinary Time
“Stop judging, that you may not be judged.” I think we would all be in a very precarious spot if God looked upon our actions and motivations with the same rigidness that we use in assessing others.
06/21/2025 -- Saturday - Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious
Jesus’ blunt truth is that no one can serve two masters. The word master is important because it suggests that something “outside” a person is ultimately in charge of him, for example, fame and fortune. That’s why Jesus never speaks as one “having control over another.”
06/20/2025 -- Friday - 11th Week in Ordinary Time
Young children find all sorts of treasures, and anyone who has spent time with kids understands just how “important” these treasures are to them. Try taking a muddy, prized rock away from a three-year-old and you will be met with extreme resistance.
06/19/2025 -- Thursday - 11th Week in Ordinary Time [Romuald, Abbot]
Today we commemorate the Abbot Romuald who was born at Ravenna in the middle of the tenth century. He became a priest and spent many years traveling in search of solitude and in building small communities. He strenuously opposed the monastic decadence of his day, while himself striving for virtue and perfection. Romuald is founder of the Camaldolese branch of the Benedictine Order. He died on June 19, 1027.
06/18/2025 -- Wednesday - 11th Week in Ordinary Time
There is a tiny symbol on the steering column of our cars that resembles a horn. People use the horn to warn people they are too close to their car. People use the horn to get the attention of someone they know. Given that the symbol is rather small, it might be a gentle hint that the use of the horn should be infrequent.
06/17/2025 -- Tuesday - 11th Week in Ordinary Time
“So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” These words of Jesus are powerful. They can seem daunting, like an impossible task. Yet this is the vocation of every Christian.
06/16/2025 -- Monday - 11th Week in Ordinary Time
I don’t think anyone knows with certainty who first coined such phrases as “raising the bar” and “moving the goal post.” They likely emerged from sporting venues as a metaphor for pushing toward greater excellence and raising current standards.
06/14/2025 -- Saturday - 10th Week in Ordinary Time
BVM on Saturday: Our Lady of Good Counsel
Whenever the faithful throughout the world recite the Litany of Loretto, they invoke the Blessed Virgin as Mother of Good Counsel, a title Pope Leo XIII inserted into the Litany in 1903. Largely through the work of the brothers and sisters of the Augustinian family, devotion to the Mother of Good Counsel has spread far and wide from the town of Genazzano, not far from Rome, which has a famous sanctuary dedicated to her.
06/13/2025 -- Friday - Anthony of Padua
Today the Church celebrates the great Preacher, miracle worker, and Doctor of the Church, Saint Anthony of Padua. People devoted to him call him simply, “Il Santo” (The Saint). Many people pray for his intercession that they may find something they have lost. Today we ask God to send us preachers as powerful as Anthony was in his day!
06/12/2025 -- Thursday - 10th Week in Ordinary Time
The context of Saint Paul’s discussion of the veil in today’s First Reading is that after Moses had received the law on Mount Sinai, his face shone with light because he had been speaking with God (Ex 34:29).
06/11/2025 -- Wednesday - Barnabas
Barnabas (“son of encouragement”) was born on the island of Cyprus. He became one of the first believers at Jerusalem, preached at Antioch, and was Paul’s companion on his first missionary journey.