Homily from the Third Sunday of Advent
In seasons of waiting, do we complain or praise?
While we are waiting, it can feel like nothing is happening. And yet, faith tells us that God is at work even when we can't yet see the fruit. Rather than complaining while we wait, there is another option.
Matthew 11:2-11
Homily from the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This feast day of the Immaculate Conception is not just a privilege for Mary: it's a prophecy for us.
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception reveals God's plan to conquer sin not just by repairing what is broken, but by preparing a path where grace triumphs first. This Advent we are invited to enter into the "Sacrament of the Present Moment", where God offers real, life-changing grace in each moment we choose to be present to Him. Mary's unique "yes" reminds us to stop waiting and to respond to God's already-given grace with a wholehearted and immediate "yes".
Luke 1:26-38
Homily from the Second Sunday of Advent.
We worry while we wait.
Advent teaches us not just to wait, but to trust while we wait. When we surrender worry and remember who God is, waiting becomes a place of grace instead of frustration.
Matthew 3:1-12
Homily from the First Sunday of Advent.
The process is the point.
When we are waiting, we often want to be "done". We want to be "there". We want our waiting to be over so that we can start living. But life happens right here and right now. And God is doing something right now. We do not simply endure waiting, we engage during the waiting. The declaration of faithful waiting is: I am confident that this moment is crucial.
Matthew 24:37-44
Homily from The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.
The moment of victory is the moment of vulnerability.
We often think that we win by being strong, or beautiful, or clever, or powerful. But Christ wins by another means. Christ the King, Lord of the Universe wins by choosing to empty Himself of all that we think we need to win.
Luke 23:35-43
Homily from the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Would you rather be admired? Or loved?
The Day of the Lord is coming. When everything that is true about our hearts will be revealed. What should not be there must be burned up or transformed so that we can be fully known...and fully loved.
Luke 21:5-19
Homily from the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.
If you were what you were meant to be, you would set the world on fire.
There are some things that are dedicated...consecrated to be something special. They are meant to be something unique. Others merely used to be something unique. Which one am I?
John 2:13-22
Homily from the Commemoration of All the Faithfully Departed (All Souls).
By the end of this Mass, some things will be changed forever.
Purgatory is an essential teaching of Christianity. It highlights that salvation is both an event and a process. Purgatory is God's gift on continuing the process of making our hearts like His that He began in this life.
John 6:37-40
Homily from the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Nothing to Offer. Nothing to Prove. Nothing to Hide.
When we stand before the gates of Heaven and we are asked why we should be let in...what is our answer? How would we approach Heaven? How do we approach God now? We might approach God with our resume, or as an audition, or with perfection...but we need to approach in a different way.
Luke 18:9-14
Homily from the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Persist through severity.
There are big moments in our lives. We usually think of the beginning or the end of something as the moments of consequence. But the middle often holds the most impactful moments of consequence; times when we are called to persevere...to "remain faithful" to the decisions we have made.
Luke 18:1-8
Homily from the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Break the cycle and build your life on a relationship with the God who saved your life.
We often find ourselves in the same cycle as many people in the Bible: We find ourselves in desperate need, we cry out to God, He answers, we thank Him...and then we forget. There is a way to break this cycle and build our lives on a relationship with the God who saved our lives.
Luke 17:11-19
Homily from the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
You have already been given everything you need to be a saint.
Imagine finding out that you had an inheritance. So many problems could be solved and you could do so much...if only you had more. But what if you had everything you need already?
Luke 17:5-10
Homily from the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
When comfort is our god, we end up underliving our lives.
Modern life has done a powerful job of reducing stark deprivation. This is a good thing. But one of the results is that many of us have become captive to comfort.
Luke 16:19-31
Homily from the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Don't let what Jesus did for you end with you.
Jesus is the one Mediator between God and humanity. He has saved us. But God wills that all humans are saved. Because of this, He calls those who have been saved by Him to brings His salvation to everyone else.
Luke 16:1-13
Homily from the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
The sign of our shame has become the symbol of our hope.The Cross of Jesus is God's answer to our guilt. The Cross of Jesus is God's answer to our lack of trust. The Cross of Jesus is God's answer to evil.
John 3:13-17
Homily from the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Whenever there is something of value that we desire, we have to ask these two questions.
Jesus gives the conditions for discipleship. He gives us the very "cost" of being His disciple. The condition is: He must be FIRST. He must be loved before all others.
Luke 14:25-33
Homily from the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Humility is nothing other than acknowledging and living the truth.
Humility is not pretending to be someone other than we are. It is neither pretending to be better nor pretending to be worse than we are. But is the freedom and the joy of living the full truth about ourselves.
Luke 14:1, 7-14
Homily from the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Discipline isn't the point, but it is the path.
God calls us to develop the potential He has given us by leaning into the discipline He is calling us to. Who is it you want to be? What do you want to be true about you?
Luke 13:22-30
Homily from the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Villains and Heroes are made out of the same stuff.
We are not surrounded by villains and heroes, we are surrounded by ordinary people. And every one of us, by our daily choices, can become a villain or hero.
Luke 12:49-53
Homily from the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
God had no backup plan after Mary.
The Assumption of Mary is the reality that Our Lady was taken up entirely into Heaven. This is, in some ways, the fulfillment of her entire life. Since she belonged totally to God, she was brought totally to God.
Luke 1:39-56