Category: Homily

Homilies for Sundays and Special Feast Days

  • Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    We are very used to hearing prayers addressed to “Almighty God,” aren’t we? We were taught that God is all-knowing (omniscient), all-present (omnipresent), and all-powerful (omnipotent). But is this true in real life? You may think I’m being heretical, but, no, it is not strictly speaking true. God’s power—God’s might—God’s δυναμις (dynamis) that we were talking about in last week’s homily—is limited. Nothing limits God’s power, but the divine will itself. God freely introduced limitations in order to create.

    Homily

  • Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    What is a miracle? By now, you should know that nothing in the world of faith is as simple as it seems at first glance. Taking religion at face value may be appropriate for little kids, but real faith is a very adult pursuit. We know what happens when people apply childish faith to adult issues. It doesn’t work.

    Homily

  • Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    There are some people—some of them quite well-known—who preach a message of conflict and fear under the guise of the Christian gospel. It seems as though studying the Scriptures is no defense against missing the message.

    Homily

  • Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Jesus taught in parables. Some in the crowds who listened to him got the message; some did not. The disciples were the fortunate ones, not because Jesus spelled out the meaning of his parables for them, but because they had a chance to talk about them with him and dig deeper.

    Homily

  • Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

    If you’ve spent any time around the ocean, you’ll know that anything that hangs around in the water for very long sooner or later gets encrusted with barnacles: little sea creatures that build themselves tiny shell castles out of calcite. It’s not only the sea that does this: just about everything that hangs around long enough gathers accretions. Even people can become “moldy oldies.”

    Homily

  • Trinity Sunday

    Today, on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, we’re going to take a little journey into the greatest mystery humankind has ever encountered: the mystery of the Godhead itself. Are you excited?

    Homily

  • Pentecost Sunday

    Today, we come to the apex – the pivot-point of the history of salvation. This is the linchpin that connects the risen Christ with each of us. As always, we need to step away from what, on surface, appears to be historical detail. If we don’t, we’ll find ourselves in irreconcilable contradictions. Although it pains us, with our current fixation on useless detail, in order to understand what we’re reading and hearing, we have to give up useless attempts to know exactly how the first disciples experienced the risen Jesus. They’re telling us what happened, not how it happened.

    Homily

  • Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

    What do you imagine the disciples saw when the Lord ascended into heaven? Do you imagine the risen Jesus, standing on the Mount of Olives, surrounded by his disciples, his hair and flowing white garments blowing in the breeze? Perhaps then, when he’s finished speaking to them, he steps up on an invisible divine elevator that lifts him up into the clouds where they can’t see him anymore? Perhaps. But perhaps not.

    Homily

  • Sixth Sunday of Easter

    What is a friend? Is it someone you can count on? Someone who’s always there for you? Someone who’s got your back? Is a friend someone with whom you share a certain intimacy? Is it someone you trust to keep your secrets? Is it someone who has your best interests at heart? Someone who’d do almost anything for you? I suppose so. I think any of us would feel privileged to have someone with those characteristics in our lives.

    Homily

  • Fifth Sunday of Easter

    We’re used to thinking of ourselves – and all other living beings – as separate individuals. Isn’t it true that our births are uniquely our own, our lives are uniquely our own and, most certainly, our deaths are uniquely our own? No one else can actually do any of these things for us. And, if we’re honest about it, no one can actually do any of these things with us, either.

    Homily

  • Fourth Sunday of Easter

    Good morning, fellow sheep! As you’re probably aware, sheep aren’t the brightest animals on the planet. When they’re lose in the pasture, they depend on a shepherd to guide and protect them. As intelligent as we may think we are, nevertheless, we have a lot in common with those sheep.

    Homily

  • Third Sunday of Easter

    Who are you? I have no idea who you really are. Do you? Have you “found” yourself yet, or are you still searching? Don’t you sometimes surprise yourself even now, after all these years? I guess we are – all of us – still works-in-progress.

    Homily

  • Second Sunday after Easter

    Scripture Readings Sunday, April 11, 2021 Is there life after death? What a question! That this question has persisted even now is testimony to the hardness and stubbornness of the […]

    Homily

  • Easter Sunday Liturgy

    Scripture Readings Sunday, April 04, 2021 Our bodily eyes are blind. All they do is register reflected photons and give our brain cells electrical impulses for it to digest. The […]

    Homily

  • Easter Vigil

    Scripture Readings Saturday, April 03, 2021 What does it mean to be in “union with Christ?” After all, in tonight’s epistle, Saint Paul writes, “For if we have grown into […]

    Homily

  • Good Friday

    Scripture Readings Friday, April 2, 2021 If there were only one theme that I want consistently emphasized throughout this entire Lenten season, it would have to be found in this […]

    Homily

  • Maundy Thursday

    Scripture Readings Thursday, April 1, 2021 This evening, we commemorate the Lord Jesus’s last supper with his disciples before embarking on the path that would lead him to Golgotha. As […]

    Homily

  • Sts. Sergius and Bacchus Chapel Dedication

    Scripture Readings First Reading: Nehemiah 8:1-4a, 5-6, 8-10 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8-10,15 Second Reading: First Corinthians 3:9-13, 16-17 Gospel Acclamation: Ezechiel 37:27 Gospel: John 4:19-24 March 31, 2021 I want […]

    Homily

  • Palm Sunday

    March 3, 2021 Scripture Readings What’s going on? Why all the excitement? Obviously, the way Saint Mark describes the scene in Jerusalem this morning fills it with symbolism – some […]

    Homily