Category: Homily

Homily

The Grandeur of God – Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Maybe it’s just me, but this autumn seems to have been especially glorious: colorful, vivid, bright, and seemingly lasting forever. Lately the trees have lost some of their color, what with the rain and the wind, but overall it’s been a beautiful autumn. I notice it most when I am commuting back and forth to work. To get to St. John Vianney School in the Spokane Valley I usually take 29th Avenue to Carnahan, Carnahan to 8th Avenue, 8th to Park and so on. It usually takes about...

Homily

Bartimaeus and The Shawshank Redemption – Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B

You might remember the movie The Shawshank Redemption, the story of Andy Dufresne, a man unjustly imprisoned for many years. In the course of his time in prison, he gains the trust of the prison staff by helping with various tasks, like handling the finances and overseeing the prison library. One of the most powerful scenes in the movie happens when Andy finds himself unsupervised in the warden’s office. He is sitting in the warden’s office in a chair, all alone, and he notices a crate on the...

Homily

Jesus Was a Teacher – Homily for Catholic Schools Week 2024

As Catholic Schools Week begins this year, today’s Gospel reminds us of a very important truth— Jesus was a teacher: “…on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” Jesus was a teacher. He taught in synagogues, he taught in the temple, he taught from hillsides, and he taught from boats. Jesus was a teacher. Jesus taught in a way that was different from other teachers. And the...

Homily

The Soul Felt Its Worth – Homily for Gaudete Sunday

Today we heard the prophet Isaiah say, “I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul.” The word “rejoice” is repeated over and over in today’s Gaudete Sunday liturgy, from that reading of Isaiah, to the responsorial psalm, “My soul rejoices in my God,” and in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, “Rejoice always.” We’re only about a week away from Christmas, and today we are reminded that Christmas is a time of rejoicing. There are many people whose faces shine with that...

Homily

Living Lake or Stagnant Pond? Homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

We are given very powerful readings today, powerful individually and powerful collectively. And at the heart of them all is a line by St. Paul in his letter to the Romans: “…be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” So today we’re given three challenges: transformation, renewal, and discernment. First Paul says, be transformed. This is what Jesus is trying to help Peter do in today’s Gospel. When Jesus explains what...

Homily

We Must Do Better! Homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

It’s a sad fact of history that the largest religious community that ever lived together in the same place in the history of the Catholic Church was at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany during World War II. Over 2,500 Catholic priests became prisoners in Dachau, in Cellblock 26, known as the Priestblock. They were from 144 dioceses and 25 countries, and they made up about a third of Dachau’s total population. While they were there at Dachau, the priests ministered to the other prisoners the best they...

Homily

The Story of the Other Wise Man – Homily for the Epiphany of the Lord

The feast of the Epiphany commemorates the arrival of the magi, and their journey to find Christ can inspire us to reflect on our own journey to encounter Christ in our lives. Each of our journeys is unique, and no one finds Christ in the quite the same way as anyone else. The magi in the Gospel of Matthew found Jesus in their own way. The names and numbers of the magi are not given in Matthew’s gospel, but we think of them as a group of three,...

Homily

The Two Towers: Homily for the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Once upon a time there were two towers. Both towers began to be constructed about the same time, in the late 1800s. Both were constructed in Europe and designed by European architects, and both of them were ambitious projects, with plans for multiple levels, huge arches, and decorative statues. Each structure was designed to reach high into the sky, and to be built of sturdy stone. And both of these towers are unfinished to this day. Both architects died during their construction, and neither building was ever completed....

Homily

Fighting Fire with Fire: A Homily for Pentecost

On this Solemnity of Pentecost the red vestments and red altar cloths are reminiscent of the fire that descended on the disciples. We see this color more and more in our own lives as the weather heats up and the fire season begins. As we know so well from the fires that typically begin to plague us in the summer, fire can be destructive and deadly. That’s one of the reasons pop singer Billy Joel used fire as a metaphor for chaos, crime, and war in his 1989...

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio

Homily

Known by His Wounds: Homily for Divine Mercy Sunday

If you have been listening to the Bible in a Year podcast and are still on schedule, then you probably finished listening to the Gospel of John on Good Friday. Don’t worry if you’re not on schedule, my family and I are a little behind, too. But if you are on schedule, then during Holy Week you heard John describe all the many signs and wonders that Jesus worked: He turned water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana. He cured the official’s son from a distance....

Homily

The Spirit, the Desert, and Temptation: Homily for the First Sunday of Lent Year C

Jesus “was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.” Each year on the first Sunday of Lent we enter into this significant moment at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He has just emerged from his baptism in the Jordan river only to be sent into the testing ground of the desert. As we accompany him into the wilderness, Jesus shows us how to live a life of Gospel conversion, how to begin anew. Today, as we begin the first...

Homily

The Greatest Love Letter of All Time – Homily for Word of God Sunday

About five or six years ago there was a poll to discover the world’s greatest love letter. After all the votes were tallied, the overwhelming favorite among all the love letters ever written, was a letter from country music singer Johnny Cash to his wife June Carter Cash for her 65th birthday. The letter was published in a book by their son about ten years ago, and it’s just a beautiful letter, brief, simple, and heartfelt, and it goes like this: Happy Birthday Princess, We get old and...