A Homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B For we walk by faith, not by sight. –2 Corinthians 5:7– In 1982, when I was twenty-five years old, if you would have told me that I would one day end up being a priest, I would
Read more
Chicken Soup of the Soul
A Homily for the Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year A John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” –John 1:29– In our Gospel today, Saint John the Baptist identifies Jesus as “the
Read more
Blind from Birth
A Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A [The man born blind] replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” –John 9:11– In the eighth
Read more
Broken Lamps
A Homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A 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
Read more
Grace 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 more
The 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 more
Be 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 more
If 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 more
Go, 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 more
Temptation: 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 more