homiletics
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The Church at the Cross
Near the cross of Jesus there stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. Seeing his mother there with the disciple whom he loved, Jesus said to his mother: “Woman, there is your son.” In turn he said to the disciple: “There is your mother.” From that hour onward,… Continue reading
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Ego Eimi
The story of the death of Lazarus is a wonderful opportunity to dwell on the reality that is at the heart of our faith. It is given to us on the Sunday that in the old calendar opened the two-week period called Passiontide. We are approaching the summit of Jesus’s earthly ministry of redemption and… Continue reading
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The Meaning of Lent
From the Gospel today, we hear Jesus tell us what Lent is for: As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” From the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor, we get… Continue reading
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The Life We Protect for the Life We Want
From the Psalm today, we hear the pure prayer of the true disciple: One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple. This is the last… Continue reading
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The Journey of a Holy Family
Today is the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, which means it is the Feast of the Holy Family, and it’s also the memorial of the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents because Sunday is December 28th. The readings we just had do not relate the story of the Holy Innocents, but that story has much… Continue reading
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Jesus Our King
This is the third year in a row that the Deacons preach on the Feast of Christ the King. I wondered for a moment if I had any new material on this subject, but the Lord provided in prayer, so let us dwell on what it means to be king. What does a king do?… Continue reading
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Prayer for Christian Progress
As we close the month of October, I’d like to go back to how Fr. Neil opened the month. He reminded us that it is a month in which Mary is particularly celebrated by the Church. Fr. Neil walked us through the basics of the Rosary, which is a Marian devotion. Remember that every devotion… Continue reading
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The Perils of Complacency
The readings this week are a call against complacency. The readings of the last weeks in the church year are all pointing to the reality that there will be a day of judgment and we will not get advance notice of that day. We have been warned in multiple ways. Last week we had the… Continue reading
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Wisdom and Salvation
Today we are in the 22nd Sunday of the 34 numbered Sundays of ordinary time. Ordinary time is not ordinary in the sense that nothing special is happening; rather, it simply means these are the weeks that have numbers and are not one of the other specific seasons like Advent, Lent, Christmas or Easter. This… Continue reading
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What is Mass For?
Most of you have used a hammer. If you think about a hammer, you realize that the purpose of a hammer is to reach an outcome through the hammer. You don’t just have a hammer; the hammer is for something. The hammer is for nails being driven into wood. Today, St. Paul’s letter to the… Continue reading
Bound in Love 