A Homily for the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, Year Jesus said: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the
Read moreGrace as Needed
A Homily for Father’s Day and for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary time, Year A Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. –Matthew 10:5-6– If you
Read moreThe Narrow Way
A Homily for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” –Luke 13:24– If you have heard this story from me prior to 2022, you are probably
Read moreBe a Hero in the Strife
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn. –Psalm 51:19– In November of 2021, some friends and I went to Ronks, Pennsylvania, to see the Sight & Sound Theater production of their musical “Queen Esther.” I had never been
Read moreIf the Church Is One, the World Will Be Won
A Homily for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year C I have never had misgivings about my priesthood, but the older I get, the more seriously I take my ordination. For example, when I was a young priest, I recall reading that when the Italian mystic Saint Mary Magdalene de’
Read moreGo, and Sin No More
A Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year C Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.” –John 8:11– I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me. –Philippians 4:13– The one who sat on the
Read moreTemptation: It’s Not All Bad
A Homily for the First Sunday of Lent Temptations are often very profitable to us, even though they can be troubling and painful; for in them we are humbled, purified, and instructed. –Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, Chapter 13, § 2– I am old enough
Read moreI Know Who You Are
A Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year B Most of us, I dare say, would prefer Mom’s home cooking to fast food, being chauffeured by a close friend to being chauffeured by an Uber driver, recovering from an illness at home among loved ones to undergoing rehabilitation in
Read moreWhy the Appearances of Bread and Wine?
A Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” –John 6:35– As many of you know, until the spring of 2013, I
Read moreSacred to the Lord
A Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, Year B Remember the Sabbath day—keep it holy. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God. You shall not do any work, either you, your son or your daughter, your
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