Homilies

What a beautiful image the Gospel crafts for us with the disciples and others gathered around Jesus the Teacher eager to learn from him. He offers the Sermon on the Mount, one of the most impactive teachings of all time. Jesus begins with the Beatitudes, calling them and us to become Beatitude people. St. Augustine wrote, “Beatitude means having everything you want (Christ) and wanting nothing more.”  Some think that the way to have happy lives is to simply know the law, what is expected and do it. We need rules to set parameters, but they cannot change our hearts or satisfy our inner longings. Beatitude people do not need imposed directions; they make personal choices consistent with good values and common sense because their hearts are set on our…

“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” So Jesus began his public ministry. That ministry would lead to his crucifixion, his resurrection and the institution of the Church. It grew from a few men he called to follow Him to over a billion people who have accepted his invitation around the world today. His message is as powerful and as needed today as it was over 2,000 years ago. “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand”. Repent has a negative tint to it, own up, confess up, straighten up. But in fact repentance is a positive. When we own up, confess up or straighten up is it freeing and life giving; there no longer is a weight or burden but a release and relief. When we…

“Here I am Lord, I come to do your will,” the psalmist sings. We are now praying in what the Church liturgical calendar calls Ordinary Time, having last week ended the season of Christmas. The Church year consists of special seasons – Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter – which have a special focus on the life, ministry and saving gift of Jesus Christ. In between them for a majority of the calendar year is Ordinary Time. The fact is that there is nothing ordinary about this in-between time. Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We pray in thanksgiving for advances made in equality among all peoples, remembering that Dr. King rooted the civil rights movement in his faith in Christ. The fact is that there remains much inequality around…

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you all. This is a day of multiple themes: It is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and it is World Day of Prayer for Justice and Peace, it is the beginning of the month of the Holy Face of Jesus, and it is the beginning of the new calendar year. It also is the last day of the Octave of Christmas. And so we remember with joy the role of Mary as the small “m” mother. The image of the mother of the baby Jesus holding her child in her arms is comforting and encouraging. In a few months we will see the image of this mother holding her adult son in her arms after he was taken down from the…

Merry Christmas to you all. Why are we here at midnight? The Christmas carol reminds us: “It came upon the midnight clear that glorious song of old, from angels bending near the earth, to touch their harps of gold”. Can you see the angels? What is it that makes this night so special? Is it the quiet and serenity, the familiar and moving music, the flowers and decorations, family and friends together? Certainly it is all these. Yet there is something more, something without definition, something hidden that makes us come together in this beautiful Cathedral at midnight. Someone noted that among the special elements of Midnight Mass is being awake while the rest of the world is asleep, seeing the light of the world come forth at the darkest…

Thank you for praying with us on this cold day as we celebrate the Fourth Sunday in Advent. For those who for health or safety reasons are unable to attend Holy Mass this weekend because of the dangerous wintry weather, know that you are dispensed from the Sunday obligation. The candles on the Advent wreath are now all lighted. The Lord is close at hand. Next Sunday we will celebrate Christmas. But will Christ be the center of our celebration? One a poll revealed that over half of the people in the United States will celebrate a God-less Christmas, so overwhelming is the secularization of our culture. That is so sad, for Christmas without Christ is simply an empty day that comes and goes; it has no roots or meaning.…

Today the third candle on the Advent wreath has been lighted, purple vestments are replaced with rose ones, as we celebrate Gaudete, Rejoice, Sunday, for the coming of the Lord is nearer. At this time in two weeks we will celebrate the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas. As we anticipate that joyful spiritual and family time, what does the coming of the Lord mean for us? What will Christmas mean to us. Someone cynically said that “Christmas is when people sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy from a sock.” Not an especially endearing description. There must be something more. There is, it is the coming of the Lord, the Messiah, the Savior who comes to save us. In the first reading from Isaiah, the scribe describes…

One of the Christmas season’s traditions at least for me was continued this past week when “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was shown on television. Though decades old, it remains an upbeat yet conscience pricking challenge about what is the meaning of Christmas for us all. It’s message is simple and profound: Christmas ought to be about Christ. Initially the focus of the characters is on what they want for Christmas. Lucy, mulling over what she expects in gifts decides that this year she wants real estate. Sally, Charlie Brown’s sister, writes a letter to Santa Claus detailing her long wish list. She concludes by writing,” make it easy on yourself, Santa, and send money, preferably 10s and 20s”. Charlie Brown and Scripture quoting Linus fight a lonely battle as they…

Christmas music is playing through the stores, although it is not all Christ centered. Consider these familiar lyrics: “you better watch out, you better not pout, you better not cry, I’m telling you why.” Why, because someone is coming to town. That is a song and sentiment of the secular season that is used to encourage children into being good if only for a short time because the material reward will be great. The fact is that someone has come and is coming to town, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The sad fact is that many will miss that coming because the pressures and commercialization of this happy time of the year overshadow the substantive reason to celebrate Christmas. The beauty and mystery and the joy of this time…

Today as we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus, King of the Universe, known to most as Christ the King, the Jubilee Year of Mercy comes to a close. This feast day was added to the Church calendar in 1925 to counter the atheism, nationalism, materialism and anti-Catholicism when communism and fascism were on the rise, all of which are not known for mercy but for oppression. Things have not changed much since 1925, with god-less secularism, religious fundamentalism and moral-less relativism now added to the list. In the midst of turmoil, division and fear in our day, it is important that we raise up Christ as King. Today we affirm what is core to our faith, that Jesus on the Cross triumphed over evil and continues to do…