Homily from the The Baptism of the Lord
The traps of believing we are God's advisors...or His performers.
Baptism changes us. It begins an entirely new life in each one of us. And yet, when we approach the Lord, we can be tempted to act, not as God's adopted children, but as His counselors or his performers.
Matthew 3:13-17
Homily from the The Epiphany of the Lord
Indifference can turn into hostility.
Christ has come close. And yet, we all still have a choice: will we remain indifferent to His presence or will we seek Him out? If we choose indifference, we will not remain indifferent. When it comes to God, we either give Him our hearts or we remove Him from our lives.
Matthew 2:1-12
Homily from the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God
Resolve: I will not take these things for granted.
We are surrounded by the amazing and miraculous every day. But we often miss it because our lives are too busy and too full. If we take a page out of Mary, the Mother of God's book, we would reflect on all these things...and no longer take them for granted.
Luke 2:16-21
Homily from the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
The "trad family" goes back farther than the 1950's...
Men and women need to be authentically masculine and feminine for their marriages and families to thrive. But what IS authentic masculinity? What IS authentic femininity?
Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23
Homily from The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
What if all I received was HIM this Christmas?
We have waited for Jesus—and now that He is here, true gratitude is shown by living fully in the gift of His presence and love.
John 1:1-18
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Advent
What happens when I don't get what I've been waiting for?
All through the Bible, God makes certain promises. He always fulfills them. But we cannot expect God to fulfill a promise that He has never made. No matter what, whether we get what we've waited for or not, we can hope in HIM.
Matthew 1:18-24
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