Homily Archive
05/06/12 Growing Up
Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
“I’m not free to love until I’m free from self-love.”
Mass Readings from May 06, 2012:
Acts 9:26-31
1 John 3:18-24
John 15:1-8
04/29/12 Grace
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Easter.
“You have all of the grace that you need to be a saint right now. Why not make a basket? Why not just say ‘Yes’ to this? Why not just let go of the ball and say, “I’m not going to be saved through my name, I’ll be saved through His name’? Why not now?”
Mass Readings from April 29, 2012:
Acts 4: 8-12
1 John 3:1-2
John 10:11-18
04/22/12 The Reason to Celebrate
Homily from the Third Sunday of Easter.
“The reason we are celebrating is what we heard in the Gospel today: This Guy, who was dead, walks into this room, and He’s not limping in, He is resurrected, He is transformed, and He says, ‘Look at my hands. Look at my feet. The nail marks? I died, I conquered death for you.’ …The fact that Christ conquered death and no matter what kind of test or paper or terrible roommate you might have, no matter what kind of real suffering and real pain you might have in your life right now, Christ has conquered your sin, He has conquered your sorrow, He has conquered what could conquer you.”
Mass Readings from April 22, 2012:
Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
1 John 2:1-5
Luke 24:35-48
04/15/12 We Are One Body
Homily from the Second Sunday of Easter.
“‘The Church is my Bride: If you take me, you take Her.’” ~Jesus
Mass Readings from April 15, 2012:
Acts 4:32-35
1 John 5:1-6
John 20:19-31
04/08/12 The Reality of the Resurrection
Homily from the Mass of Easter Sunday.
“If the Resurrection isn’t real, then your obstacles mean nothing. If the Resurrection isn’t real, then your suffering means nothing. If the Resurrection isn’t an actual historical reality, then your heartbreak means nothing because your life means nothing. And every joy, and every love, and every promise you’ve ever made, if the Resurrection is not real, they all amount to zero.”
Mass Readings from April 8, 2012:
Acts 10:34, 37-43
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-9
04/06/12 Three Wooden Crosses
Homily from Good Friday.
“The difference is not the kind of cross it is, the difference is the kind of heart that carries the cross.”
Mass Readings from April 6, 2012:
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Hebrews 4:14-16;5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42
04/01/12 The Line Between Good and Evil
Homily from Palm Sunday.
“Here is a God who knows our hearts. He doesn’t need anyone to teach Him about us. …He knows how weak I am. But He knows how strong He is. He knows that on my bad days and on my average days, I will choose sin. But He also knows that He is greater than my sin. He knows that at the beginning of the meal I can say, ‘Jesus, if I have to die with you I will.’ Shortly after that I will say, ‘I don’t know Him. I’ve never even met Him. I don’t even know what you’re talking about. I’ve never heard of Jesus.’ He knows that about you already. And yet, He trusts you. And He trusts me. What a crazy, insane God. Our hearts are broken. But He is greater than our heart.”
Mass Readings from April 1, 2012:
Isaiah 50:4-7
Philippians 2:6-11
Mark 15:1-47
03/25/12 “Father, Glorify YOUR Name.”
Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Lent.
“I think when Jesus says in today’s Gospel, ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a single grain of wheat. But if it dies, it can produce much fruit,’ He knows what He is talking about. Because here He is, stripping Himself. Here He is, becoming that seed that falls to the ground and dies. And I think the same thing happens to us. When it comes to whatever it is in our life that just enslaves us, whether it’s that desire to be famous, that desire to be known, the desire to be significant, unless that dies, I just die as me and my glory does not follow me below. So Jesus says, ‘Here is the secret: humble yourselves. Strip off glory.’”
Mass Readings from March 25, 2012:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Hebrews 5:7-9
John 12:20-33
03/18/12 Christianity 101
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Lent.
“God is not ashamed of your shame. He is not ashamed of what we’re ashamed of. He is not afraid of what scares us. He is not afraid of our sins. God is not shocked by the fact that we are weak. …So do not, do not, please, my brothers and sisters, do not allow your shame or your sin or your weakness to keep you in shadow.”
Mass Readings from March 18, 2012:
2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
Ephesians 2:4-10
John 3:14-21
03/04/12 My Beloved Son
Homily from the Second Sunday of Lent.
“In Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Chapter 8, the whole chapter is about being a son of God. Because of Jesus it says, ‘Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, ‘Papa! Abba! Father!’ So what does that mean? Isaac said, ‘Abraham, Father, your will is my will. Let it be done unto me.’ Jesus said to the Father, ‘Abba, Father, Your will is my will, Your mind is my mind, Your mission is my mission.’ And you, us, as sons and daughters of the Father, what do we say? ‘Father, Your will is my will. Just like Abraham, I can trust you. Just like Isaac, I can trust you. Just like Jesus, I can trust you.”
Mass Readings from March 4, 2012:
Genesis 22:9-13, 15-18
Romans 8:31-34
Mark 9:2-10
02/26/12 Purification & Enlightenment
Homily from the First Sunday of Lent.
“I invite you, my brothers and sisters, to enter into this Lent with a spirit of meekness but a spirit of courage, with a spirit of humility but a spirit of boldness, with a spirit not of fear, as St. Peter says, to not be afraid or terrified with fear, but a spirit of hope.”
Mass Readings from February 26, 2012:
Genesis 9:8-15
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:12-15
02/22/12 For Love of You
Homily from Ash Wednesday.
“The ashes mean I am a sinner. The Cross means I have a Savior. The ashes mean I need to turn away from something. The Cross is what I turn towards. The ashes mean that I have fallen short of God’s glory. And the Cross means that you and I are all made for glory.”
Mass Readings from February 22, 2012:
Joel 2:12-18
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
02/19/12 What Have We Got to Lose?.
Homily from the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Here is the deal. When it comes to you, God has given his final answer. He has said, ‘Yes. I want YOU.’ ‘Yeah, but God I’ve done this kind of stuff…’ ‘I don’t care. I want you.’ ‘But you don’t know what I’m going through…’ ‘No, I actually do. And I want you.’ God has given his definitive answer. He has DEFINITIVELY chosen you when Paul says, ‘He has spoken His ‘Yes’ over all of you.’ And so the question is this: what is my response?”
Mass Readings from February 19, 2012:
Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24-25
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Mark 2:1-12
02/12/12 Willing Our Good
Homily from the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“The point of life is not to accomplish. The point of life is to become a certain kind of person. And that certain kind of person can only be fashioned in the crucible of suffering. …What kind of person can be fashioned through the crucible of suffering? A certain kind of person that knows how to love when that person doesn’t feel like loving; a certain kind of person who knows how to be selfless when the temptation is to turn in on one’s self; a certain kind of person that you are meant to be.”
Mass Readings from February 12, 2012:
Leviticus 13:1-2,44-46
1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1
Mark 1:40-45
02/05/12 In the Silence of the Heart
Homily from the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Here’s Jesus and He gets up and He goes off to a deserted place, and He prays in silence. That kind of idea can scare us. But we have to understand this. St. John of the Cross says this about silence, he says, ‘God’s first language is silence.’ And if you and I are going to become the kind of people who know what God is really like, it means this, it means at some point in my day, I need to be silent. I need to, at some point in my day, I need to go to a place where there’s not the interruptions, where there’s not the music, where there’s not the distractions. …I invite us all to do what Jesus did: to go away, to find silence, because when we do that and embrace the Lord, we become changed. ”
Mass Readings from February 05, 2012:
Job 7:1-4,6-7
1 Corinthians 9:16-19,22-23
Mark 1:29-39
1/29/12 Kingdom of Light vs. Prince of Darkness
Homily from the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“The most powerful and the most effective prayer of exorcisim that sets every human being free is the Sacrament of Confession. Because why? Because what we do is we come before the Lord and say, ‘I will not give into fear, I will give into courage. I will not give into temptation, I will give into forgiveness. I will not give into discouragement, I will give into hope.’ And we hand our lives back over to Jesus, and He gives us His life in return.”
Mass Readings from January 29, 2012:
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Mark 1:21-28
1/22/12 “Come After Me.”
Homily from the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Do I want to leave this Mass as the same person I came in? Do I want to leave this room with the same-sized life I had when I walked in here? Do Peter and Andrew want to get out of their boat with the same-sized life they had when they got into their boat? Jesus comes up to them, just like He comes up to you and me, and He says, “If you want to be a disciple and change your schedule to grow spiritually, great. But it doesn’t have to end there. I can make you into disciple-makers.”
Mass Readings from January 22, 2011:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1: 14-20
12/18/11 Get Your Mission. Take Your Step.
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
“Brothers and Sisters, please, we must not do this: we must not forget in the darkness what we were convinced was true in the light. We must not forget in desolation what we knew was true in consolation.”
Mass Readings from December 18, 2011:
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14-16
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1: 26-38
12/11/11 J-o-y
Homily from the Third Sunday of Advent.
“What would my life look like if Jesus actually got first place?”
Mass Readings from December 11, 2011:
Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28
12/04/11 Fear & Awe
Homily from the Second Sunday of Advent.
“What happens when a man wants to give his whole life to his bride? He finds someone who captures his heart, and what does he do? He takes a knee, and he presents himself and he says, ‘Will you take my heart, take my soul, take my body for the rest of your life? I offer you myself. Will you give me yourself?’ And that’s every time when I come into Mass, that’s always what I’m thinking. I genuflect and I pray, ‘Jesus, you get me. I give you my heart. Please give me Your heart.’”
Mass Readings from December 4, 2011:
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8
11/27/11 More Than Words
Homily from the First Sunday of Advent.
“What we are going to find is that for weeks, if not months, we are just going to find ourselves saying the words. But the day will come, if we allow this Mass, our encounter with mystery, our encounter with beauty, our encounter with something bigger than ourselves, if we allow that to change us, what we’ll find is that we’re no longer just saying the prayers, we’re now praying the prayers. And they take on an entirely new meaning, an entirely new depth so that that desire for self-expression and that need to be changed meet.”
Mass Readings from November 27, 2011:
Isaiah 63:16-17, 19, 64:2-7
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:33-37
11/20/11 The Cheat Sheet
Homily from the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King.
“Every single time one of you or myself or any Christian acts on this planet with the dunamis or the dynamite of the Holy Spirit, God’s Kingdom takes hold and it begins to reign. We look at Him and we say, ‘Kyrios, King, Emperor, will you establish it? He looks at us and says, ‘No. Better. You’re going to establish it. …Every time there is someone who is hungry and you feed them, my Kingdom is there. I’m there. Every time there is someone who is thirsty and you give them something to drink, the Kingdom takes root on this planet. Every time there is someone who is naked or ill or in prison, every time someone is a stranger and kicked to the curb, and you reach out to them, my Kingdom is there. And every time you, my followers, do not do this, my Kingdom loses traction. Every time you don’t do this, you don’t do it for me.’”
Mass Readings from November 13, 2011:
Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
Matthew 25: 31-46
11/13/11 Our Daily Bread
Homily from the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Fear of loss can drive us. Fear of loss can determine our life, if we let it. Security is good, investments are good, retirement is good, I imagine! But when security becomes an idol, then we will gladly allow ourselves to become slaves in exchange for the illusion of security.”
Mass Readings from November 13, 2011:
Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Matthew 25:14-30
11/06/11 Take God Seriously
Homily from the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“My definition of fear of the Lord is nothing more than this: taking God seriously. Taking God seriously for everything that He says, taking God seriously in His justice and taking God seriously in His mercy. Not making Him into my own image, but honestly taking His laws, taking His decrees, taking His love, and realizing this: that God is strong, and He is dangerous, and He loves, and He has rules, and they are serious to take God seriously. You know why? Because He takes YOU seriously.”
Mass Readings from November 6, 2011:
Wisdom 6:12-16
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1-13
10/30/11 True Identity
Homily from the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Here is the thing with idols: they cannot be removed, they have to be replaced. …Brothers and sisters, if you want freedom from the idol of performance: get close to the Man on the Cross. If you want freedom from the idol of needing to achieve and needing to succeed: get close to Christ Crucified, to Him and no other.”
Mass Readings from October 30th, 2011:
Malachi 1:14-2:2, 8-10
1 Thessalonians 2: 7-9, 13
Matthew 23:1-12
10/23/11 Freedom for Love
Homily from the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Here is God, He comes to Egypt and He says, ‘I’m going to set you free from your idols. But I’m not just going to lead you into the wilderness and leave you there. I’m not just going to set you free and then just have you have unrestricted freedom. …I want to set you free from idols in order to set you free for true worship.’”
Mass Readings from October 23rd, 2011:
Exodus 22:20-26
1 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Matthew 22:24-30
10/16/11 Who Will I Serve?
Homily from the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Your faith can’t be something that’s private. We never force it…we never impose it…but it’s got to be something that is lived. It’s got to be something that is proposed. It’s got to be something that makes a difference.”
Mass Readings from October 16th, 2011:
Isaiah 45:1, 4-6
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
Matthew 22:15-21
10/09/11 The Good Life
Homily from the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“At the end of our lives, that is going to be the question: have I lived a good life? When it comes to the end of this life, no matter what kind of success, no matter what kind of failure, no matter what kind of promotion or what kind of infamy we might have experienced in this life, no matter what kind of ups and downs, the big question is this: have I lived a good life?”
Mass Readings from October 9th, 2011:
Isaiah 25:6-10
Philippians 4:12-14,19-20
Matthew 22:1-14
10/02/11 The True, the Beautiful, and the Good
Homily from the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“I love thinking about how empathetic dolphins are or how smart chimpanzees can be. I dont know any, but I’m sure that we would be great friends. But we are different than them, and the point of why we are on this planet is different than why a dolphin is on this planet. The point is: we are made to be morally good. And If we fail at being morally good, we fail at being human.”
Mass Readings from October 2nd, 2011:
Isaiah 5:1-7
Philippians 4:6-9
Matthew 21:33-43
09/25/11 Take Courage
Homily from the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Sometimes people will say, ‘I don’t want to go to pray because I don’t feel like it.’ ‘I don’t want to go to Mass because if I do, I show up and I don’t really feel like I’m in love with God, so I’m just faking.’ Some people will say, ‘I know I need to go to Confession, but I don’t feel sorry for my sins, therefore I don’t think I can go.’ But let’s get back down to it. What’s the whole point of the Gospel? It’s what makes a saint: someone who knows the Father’s Will and just does it. Not because they feel like it, but because they know it’s the right thing to do.”
Mass Readings from September 25, 2011:
Ezekiel 18:25-28
Philippians 2:1-11
Matthew 21:28-32
09/18/11 What Am I Working For?
Homily from the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Here is the news, brothers and sisters: Christ has an invitation for all of us. Think of those people standing idle in the marketplace, waiting for someone to come up and offer them good, meaningful work. Here is Jesus coming up to you tonight saying, ‘I invite you into the vineyard, I invite you into my Church. Why? Not because I’m inviting you into my spa where you can be pampered. I’m inviting you into my vineyard where you can do work. Because there is work that the Lord has for you that no one else can do.’”
Mass Readings from September 18, 2011:
Isaiah 55:6-9
Philippians 1:20-24, 27
Matthew 20:1-16
09/11/11 Balancing Justice with Mercy
Homily from the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“… You have dignity. And there is such thing as justice. Without that, the words ‘I forgive you’ have no meaning. Because if you don’t have an ‘I’, a sense of your dignity, who forgives? If you don’t have a sense of justice, then what do they owe? The next step is realizing, ‘Here is what you owe me because you sinned against me. And I can collect if I want to. But because God has forgiven me, I release you from your debt.’ That’s what it comes down to.”
Mass Readings from September 11, 2011:
Sir 27:30-28:7
Rom 14:7-9
Mt 18:21-35
09/04/11 Make A Decison
Homily from the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Unless we get to that point where we make the decision to love someone forever, we can’t actually even love them for one day. Because love might be fun at some point, but at another point, love demands a decision. … That’s why Paul is able to say, ‘Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another.’ That’s the fulfillment of the law. That’s the point of your life, is to love!”
Mass Readings from September 4, 2011:
Ezekiel 33: 7-9
Romans 13: 8-10
Matthew 18: 15-20
07/03/11 I Pledge Allegiance…
Homily from the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Once we make that decision to switch our primary allegiance, to take Christ’s yoke upon us, there is pain, but there is joy. Because I am no longer under my small mission, I am under a huge mission. Once we transfer our primary allegiance, there is suffering, but there is so much purpose. If we transfer that primary allegiance, take Christ’s yoke upon our shoulders, yes it’s work, but it’s meaningful work.”
Mass Readings from July 3, 2011:
Zechariah 9:9-10
Romans 8:9, 11-13
Matthew 11:25-30
06/26/11 Corpus Christi
Homily from the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
“The truth of the matter is this: if the Eucharist isn’t real, then Jesus isn’t real. If the Eucharist really isn’t Christ’s Body and Blood, then Jesus really isn’t God. If the Eucharist isn’t true, Christianity is not true because He said it! And He made it very, very clear, “If you’re going to be my disciple, you have to accept this. And if you don’t want to accept this, then you are not my disciple.”
Mass Readings from June 26, 2011:
Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
John 6:51-58
06/19/11 Blank Tablets
Homily from Trinity Sunday.
“Brothers and sisters, as Christians you have the freedom to fail and not lose the Father’s love. You have the freedom to not be all you can be and still have the Father’s love. Brothers and sisters in Christ, you have the freedom to realize that God loves you, but He does not need you. …You don’t have to succeed. You don’t have to achieve. God loves you without needing you.”
Mass Readings from June 19, 2011:
Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
John 3:16-18
05/29/11 “As You Wish.”
Homily from the Sixth Sunday of Easter.
“God did not say, ‘If you love me, you will have warm fuzzies all of the time, it’ll be awesome.’ He didn’t say that! Jesus says, ‘If you love me, do what I say.’ … We realize that love is more than a feeling. If I want to assess how well am I loving God, the question is this: how well am I obeying His commandments?”
Mass Readings from May 29, 2011:
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17
1 Peter 3:15-18
John 14:15-21
05/08/11 In the Breaking of the Bread
Homily from the Third Sunday of Easter.
“Brothers and sisters, today, at this Mass, realize that the whole Bible study that starts in Genesis and goes all the way to the back of the Book is all about leading us to this Mass, all about leading us to this moment, at this Mass, where He gives us His body, the breaking of the bread. We have yiddah, we can actually KNOW Jesus, not just about Him, but we can let Him touch us, and our lives never be the same.”
Mass Readings from May 8, 2011:
Acts 2:14, 22-33
1 Peter 1:17-21
Luke 24:13-35
05/01/11 “My Lord and my God!”
Homily from Divine Mercy Sunday.
“When we actually encounter Jesus, who IS Lord, and who IS God, everything changes. Everything changes. Because the reality is, the fact is this: Jesus is Lord, Jesus is God. The question is what was posed to Thomas: Will He be YOUR Lord? Will He be YOUR God?”
Mass Readings from May 1, 2011:
Acts 2:42-47
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:1-31
04/17/11 Friend Request from Jesus
Homily from Palm Sunday.
“Being a friend is not a matter of emotion. Being a friend is not a matter of having affection. Being a friend is saying, ‘Okay, Jesus. I submit myself to You. I am now under Your mission: my life for Your life.’”
Mass Readings from April 17, 2011:
Isaiah 50:4-7
Philippians 2:6-11
Matthew 26:14-27:66
04/10/11 Memento Mori
Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Lent.
“We have to face death and realize that if I am bitter towards death, let my heart be softened. But if I am afraid of death, then let that fear be killed. Because you and I know the end of the story. We know that the end is not death. That’s why Paul is able to say, ‘O Death, where is your sting? Death, where is your victory?’ Because Jesus Christ has conquered death!”
Mass Readings from April 10, 2011:
Exodus 37:12-14
Romans 8:8-11
John 11:1-45
04/03/11 Help Me to See
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Lent.
“If you’re willing to admit, “I’ve got a problem, so I’ve got a plan,” and you take that next step in handing that wound, that blindness, that weakness, that sin over to Jesus, that’s the next good step that puts you right back…right back…where He wants you to be.”
Mass Readings from April 03, 2011:
1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41
03/27/11 Stop Hiding. Go Seek!
Homily from the Third Sunday of Lent.
“Do you realize that God has already made up His mind? He has definitively chosen to love you. The question is not, “Does the Church want you?” The question is not, “Does God want you?” The question is this: do you want God? He offers you this living water. Do you want Him? He has already done everything to be your Savior. The question is this: will you let Him be your Savior?”
Mass Readings from March 27, 2011:
Exodus 17:3-7
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
John 4:5-42
03/20/11 Live In Truth
Homily from the Second Sunday of Lent.
“We, like Peter, we, like Abraham, we can know the truth that Jesus is God, that God has a mission for our life. But here is the question: when we come up against the obstacles, then what do we do? It’s not a matter of being perfect. …Even though we sometimes fail to live the truth that we know, that does NOT disqualify us from God’s call.”
Mass Readings from March 20, 2011:
Genesis 12:1-4
2 Timothy 1:8-10
Matthew 17:1-9
03/09/11 Packing Light
Homily from Ash Wednesday.
“We have a goal. And the goal ahead of us is to be saints. For the Christian, for the human being, anything less than becoming a saint is failure. What kind of a person do you want to be at the end of these 40 days that you’re not quite yet?”
Mass Readings from March 09, 2011:
Joel 2:12-18
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
03/06/11 Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Homily from the Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“As Moses is coming down the mountain, he is carrying both tablets. What does that mean? He and God have exchanged tablets, but he carries both because it wasn’t just Moses who came down the mountain. Moses came down the mountain holding both tablets, that meant God came down the mountain with Moses. As long as they had those tablets, as long as they had those words in their possession, what it was was God saying, “I’m going to be there with you.” That was God’s promise, “I will be faithful, I will be true to you.”
Mass Readings from March 06, 2011:
Deuteronomy 11:18, 26-28, 32
Romans 3:21-25, 28
Matthew 7:21-27
02/27/11 “You Have a Papa.”
Homily from the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“You don’t need to worry about tomorrow. Why? Because you have a Papa. You don’t need to worry about what are we going to wear, what are we going to eat? You don’t have to worry about those things. Why? Because you have a Papa in Heaven, and He tells you two things: He tells you your identity, He tells you who you are, and the second thing is, He tells you that you can trust Him. “
Mass Readings from February 27, 2011:
Isaiah 49:14-15
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6:24-34
02/20/11 Game Plan
Homily from the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“This is what Jesus is saying. You are going to have people who are going to be mean to you and not loving you back, they are going to force you to carry their burdens for a mile. You can do that wisely. But you are going to need some strength to carry that the extra mile. …Are you strong enough to bear that burden for as long as it takes? Are you the kind of a son or kind of daughter who can bear that burden for your mom or dad as long as it takes? Will you be the kind of husband or kind of wife who will bear that burden for your spouse as long as it takes? Will you be that kind of friend who will love someone who does not love you back as long as it takes to win them back for Jesus?”
Mass Readings from February 20, 2011:
Leviticus 19:1-2, 7-18
1 Corinthians 3:16-23
Matthew 5:38-48
02/13/11 What Is Love?
Homily from the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“But here he (King David) is, chosen. Why? Because he is a man after God’s own Heart. Not perfect, but he loves what God loves. So the question is this: what do I love? The question is this: how is my heart? If God looks at the heart, then what does my heart look like? What am I hungry for, what do I long for? Do I love the things that God loves or are there things that I love that are in my life that God would say, “I don’t love that”?
Mass Readings from February 13, 2011:
Sirach 15:15-20
1 Corinthians 2:6-10
Matthew 5:17-37
02/06/11 Faith & Reason
Homily from the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Here is the reality: if we are going to be modern day Pauls, if we are going to be modern day ‘salt’ and ‘light’, what we need to do is be like Paul. Paul came into Corinth and he realized, ‘When it comes to preaching to Jews, I need to bring them philosophy. When it comes to preaching to Greeks, I need to bring them faith.’ What we need to do as Catholic Christians is bring both: faith and reason.”
Mass Readings from February 06, 2011:
Isaiah 58:7-10
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Matthew 5:13-16
01/30/11 The Kingdom Is Yours
Homily from the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Why did Jesus come to this Earth? People would say, “Well, Jesus came to save us.” Check. Amen. Yes! How did He save us? He died on the Cross and rose from the dead. But remember what happens right after He gets born? There’s the massacre of the innocents, Herod was trying to kill all the babies. Why not just let Him get killed and rise from the dead then? He could have just done it right there. Clearly because Jesus is more than just the Guy that is supposed to die and rise. He is here to do something, that’s why He is called Christ. He is the new Anointed One, He is the new David. Here is the deal: He is not just here to save us. He is here to establish a Kingdom.”
Mass Readings from January 30, 2011:
Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Matthew 5:1-12
01/23/11 Arise From Darkness
Homily from the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“When the light of Christ shines in our life, He doesn’t just shine on us to shame us. He doesn’t just show us what we’ve done wrong and leave us there. What Jesus wants to do is He wants to redeem us, He wants to restore us, He wants to forgive us. If any of us have experienced great sin or experienced great shame: don’t stay there. Recognize that Jesus has redemption. Recognize that He has forgiveness. Recognize that it’s not the end of the story. You don’t have to stay in death, He can actually bring forth life.”
Mass Readings from January 23, 2011:
Isaiah 8:23-9:1
1 Corinthians 1:10-13,17
Matthew 4:12-23
01/09/11 The Life-Saving Business
Homily from the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, given at the FOCUS Conference in St. Paul, MN.
“What did the Lord say to the prophet Isaiah? ‘You have been anointed to be a light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to set prisoners free,’ and later on in the same book, ‘to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord.’ That’s your job. That’s your mission. That’s your priesthood. That’s your prophesy. How’s it coming along? You have to go out. You don’t have to come back.”
Mass Readings from January 09, 2011:
Isaiah 42: 1-4, 6-7
Acts 10:34-38
Matthew 3:13-17
12/19/10 Come Hungry. Leave Full.
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
“When we mostly eat normal food, we change it into us. But when we eat the Eucharist, it is Jesus changing us into Him. And then the Church says, ‘Now go! Filled with the Bread from Heaven, filled with the Eucharist, filled with this God inside of you, and go and change that world.’”
Mass Readings from December 19, 2010:
Isaiah 7:10-14
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-24
12/12/10 Worship: Instituted, Not Invented
Homily from the Third Sunday of Advent.
“It’s not just about words. At every Mass, it’s Jesus pouring Himself out to the Father. What’s the priest doing? He is standing at the altar, pouring himself out through Jesus to the Father. And if you guys are kingdom priests, and the priest is standing at the altar, Jesus is pouring Himself out not just in words but in actions, and the priest is pouring himself out not just in words, but in actions, here you are in silence joining your hearts to the heart of the priest, the heart of Jesus, and you’re pouring yourself out, not just in words, but in actions. Oh my gosh, can you believe this? This is insane! This is incredible! This is being conformed to Christ. Why? Because Jesus is pouring Himself out. The priest is pouring Himself out. And you are pouring yourself out.”
Mass Readings from December 12, 2010:
Isaiah 35:1-6,10
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11
12/05/10 TRUE Worship
Homily from the Second Sunday of Advent.
“Here is the reality we have to be face to face with: Brothers and sisters, if we leave the Eucharist, we leave Jesus. If we say, ‘That saying is hard, no way that that bread is actually Jesus and that that wine is actually His Blood. No way.’ If we leave the Eucharist, we leave Jesus.”
Mass Readings from December 05, 2010:
Isaiah 11:1-10
Romans 15:4-9
Matthew 3:1-12
11/28/10 “I Want Your Heart.”
Homily from the First Sunday of Advent.
“Here are the people of Israel, what they are doing during the rest of the week is not the same thing as what they’re doing when they go to Worship. They are living these lives that are all about them. When it comes time to pray, when it comes time to worship, when it comes time to offer the sacrifice, ‘Yeah, God, I am all yours. But the rest of the week, that’s all mine.’ What does God want?”
Mass Readings from November 28, 2010:
Isaiah 2:1-5
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:37-44
11/21/10 Viva Cristo Rey
Homily from the Solemnity of Christ the King.
“Standing face to face with Love Itself, standing face to face with God Himself, a God who loved them to death, who was willing to suffer and die for them, they said, “I don’t want that king. I want a king who doesn’t care about me.” That’s the question: Do you have a king in your life who doesn’t care about you?”
Mass Readings from November 21, 2010:
2 Samuel 5:1-3
Colossians 1:12-20
Luke 23:35-43
11/14/10 The Gifts of Work and Rest
Homily from the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Here is God, made Man, for 30 years He just maybe, possibly hauls rocks all day. That’s all He does. Saving the world, one load of rocks at a time. What does He do with that, though? He spends a life at work so that every job you are at, every task that you do: every book that you read for school, every paper that you have to crank out, every tedious hour upon tedious hour in lab, even when you become parents, cleaning your child’s diapers or picking up after they throw up, picking up a toy off of the ground, that work has dignity. It has meaning. And that work is a gift.”
Mass Readings from November 14, 2010:
Malachi 3:19-20
2 Thessalonians 3:7-12
Luke 21:5-19
11/07/10 The Sticking Point
Homily from the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“The Church does not want to have blind adherence. The Church wants to have people who have thought this out and thought this through and have come to the conclusion, ‘This is true. There is a right and there is a wrong. And I am going to do that right thing, even if it costs me my life. Because there are some things worth standing for. There are some things worth fighting for. And yes, there are some things that are worth dying for.’”
Mass Readings from November 7, 2010:
2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14
2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
Luke 20:27-38
10/31/10 What Is Our Response?
Homily from the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“If we think the Art of Living is just ‘Avoid bad stuff,’ then we’re totally missing out on what it is to really live, we’re totally missing out on the point of Christianity. It’s not just about being good and not being bad. It’s not just about going to Heaven and not going to hell. Being a Christian is the result of meeting a Guy named Jesus, it’s the result of, like Zacchaeus, encountering Him and saying, ‘I need.,.I want..I can be the someone that I’ve always wanted to be.’ Brothers and sisters, you can be that someone you’ve always wanted to be.”
Mass Readings from October 31, 2010:
Wisdom 11:22-12:2
2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Luke 19:1-10
10/24/10 Virtuous Friendship
Homily from the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“The Catholic Church, and here we are at Newman, we exist to be one, giant, saint-making machine. The whole goal of our lives is to become like Christ. And so what do Christian friendships look like? It looks like us working together, me pouring myself out for you, you pouring yourself out for me in pursuit of the good, in pursuit of the best: in pursuit of Christ.”
Mass Readings from October 24, 2010:
Sirach 35:12-14,16-18
2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18
Luke 18:9-14
10/17/10 The Universal Call
Homily from the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“The safest place for any man or woman, no matter what your tendency, no matter what your temptation is, your safest place is here in the Catholic Church because we’re saying this: you may never be bullied, you may never be treated as a thing, you may never be treated or reduced to your temptations or to your sins. You are more than that. That is what the Church teaches. And that’s why we, if we are going to have the microphone, if we are ever going to have the microphone on the public sphere, we need to have this line that says every person must be accepted with respect, compassion, treated with dignity.”
Mass Readings from October 17, 2010:
Exodus 17:8-13
2 Timothy 3:14-4:2
Luke 18:1-8
INTEGRITY OF THE PERSON…
So, in today’s homily, I’m going to make reference to a few passages from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is essentially the official “What Catholics Believe” book written by the teaching office (known as the Magisterium…it’s Latin and means teaching office…hmmm interesting) of the Church.
We are going to be talking a little bit about chastity today. The successful life of chastity is necessary for the Art of Living.
Here is a sample of what the Catechism says about it:
THE INTEGRITY OF THE PERSON
2338 The chaste person maintains the integrity of the powers of life and love placed in him. This integrity ensures the unity of the person; it is opposed to any behavior that would impair it. It tolerates neither a double life nor duplicity in speech. 124
2339 Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy. 125
“Man’s dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end.” 126
Now, we are also going to look at what the Church teaches about Same-Sex Attraction (I invite you not to leave at this point and say, “I know what the Church teaches…the Church hates homosexuals!” That is not true.). We will hear today about God’s (and the Church’s) great love for everyone. (FYI: The term “everyone” actually means “everyone.”) We will look at the following teaching as well:
CHASTITY AND HOMOSEXUALITY
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, 140 tradition has always declared “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” 141 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
I invite all of us to find out what these words and terms mean. Today, we will look at the first paragraph (2357) as it is written (and not necessarily as how we Americans might read it)… but especially in light of the second two paragraphs. What we will find is that there is no hate and there is no fear. There is no bigotry and no homophobia on the part of the Catholic Church. That might sound like a big claim (or even a false one!), but I hope that we will see that it is a true claim. I pray that we can all (no matter what we may happen to struggle with) know of God’s deep and abiding love and power in our lives.
In Christ,
fathermike
10/10/10 The Secret of Christianity
Homily from the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“If you want the infallible sign of God’s presence, joy, if you want that gigantic secret of Christians, I would invite all of us to cultivate intentional gratitude. Kill expectation, because that kills joy. But instead, cultivate intentional gratitude.”
Mass Readings from October 10, 2010:
2 Kings 5:14-17
2 Timothy 2:8-13
Luke 17:11-19
How do these Mass readings fit in with the homily?
If you go back to the story of Namaan and Elisha in the First Reading, Namaan expected Elisha to ask him to do something heroic, something huge, and he almost missed out on the great gift that Elisha actually gave him. Naaman had expected that Elisha, this man of God, would ask him to do something extreme, something extravagent, something way out there, and all Elisha asked Namaan to do was dip himself seven times in the Jordan waters. Namaan, looking at expectation, almost missed out on the gift that God had to give him. It can be the same way with us. When all we’re doing is looking at expectation, what we expect to get, sometimes we miss out on the gift that God wants to give us.
In the Gospel, those lepers were the perfect examples of people who experienced God’s gift, God’s grace, God’s healing on that day. But it took one person, the Samaritan that Jesus praises, who recognizes the gift he was given. That’s the lesson for us. If we don’t recognize the gifts we are given, we can go through the rest of our lives and just be blessed and blessed and be given so many gifts, and not even take time to stop, with intentional gratitude, and turn to God and tell God, “Thanks.” This is one of the great gifts of the story that Luke gives us in his Gospel today, that we can be blessed and not even know it, not even recognize it. But here is the Samaritan that gives us a perfect example of someone who recognizes the gift that God has given him, stops, and is intentionally grateful, has intentional gratitude. That can be us.
10/03/10 Values & Virtues
Homily from the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“When our values, what we know to be true, become our virtues, how we live, we will begin the art of living.”
Mass Readings from October 3, 2010:
Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4
2 Timothy 1:6-8,13-14
Luke 17:5-10
09/26/10 What Is A Human Being?
Homily from the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“If we see the human person as someone who has an inviolable dignity, if we see the human person as someone who is made in the image and likeness of God, then we will treat them radically different than if they were just a soul, if they were just an illusion, if they were just matter, or if they were just a cog in the machine.”
Mass Readings from September 26, 2010:
Amos 16:1, 4-7
1 Timothy 6:11-16
Luke 16:19-31
09/19/10 One God
Homily from the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Whether we’re known or whether we’re completely unknown, whether we’re famous or whether we live the rest of our lives in obscurity, the truth is, you were not made for fame: you were made to be a saint.”
Mass Readings from September 19, 2010:
Amos 8:4-7
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-13
09/12/10 Reckless Love
Homily from the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“‘God, I’m just normal, I’m just average, I’m just me!’ And God takes one look at you and says, ‘No. You are not: You capture My Heart, you capture My attention more than any single person who has ever lived.’ How can I do this? There’s a gajillion people who have ever lived and He loves them, too. Yes, but His Heart has never been captured by anyone like His Heart has been captured by you.”
Mass Readings from September 12, 2010:
Exodus 32:7-11,13-14
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-32
09/05/10 The Heart of a Champion
Homily from the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“It comes down to this: either Jesus is who He says He is, which is God, and He’s of absolute importance, or Jesus isn’t who He says He is, in which case He’s of no importance.”
Mass Readings from September 05, 2010:
Wisdom 9:13-18
Philemon 9-10,12-17
Luke 14:25-33
08/15/10 Body & Soul
Homily from the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“If Jesus did this, if God raised up Mary, assumed her into Heaven body and soul, it means this: the body means something, and what we do with our body means something. The Assumption means just that: the body means something, and what we do with our body means something.”
Mass Readings from August 15, 2010:
Revelation 11:19;12:1-6,10
1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Luke 1:39-56
05/09/10 “I Will Give You A New Heart.”
Homily from the Sixth Sunday of Easter.
“If you miss out on them (spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, fiance), you didn’t miss out on the point of your life. If we miss Christ, then we miss out on the point of our life. …Getting the grade. Getting the job. Fame. Reputation. Family. Friends. All of those things are so good, but all of those things are too small for the heart that Christ wants for you to have.”
Mass Readings from May 9, 2010:
Acts 15:1-2,22-29
Revelation 21:10-14,22-23
John 14:23-29
05/02/10 Renewal of the Mind
Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8
Mass Readings from May 2, 2010:
Acts 14:21-27
Revelation 21:1-5
John 13:31-33,34-35
04/25/10 The Gift of the Body
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Easter.
“Redemption of the body on this earth means this: it means stop being a slave, and start living free. It means first exercise the gift. Next step: to be a gift. He (Pope John Paul II) says, ‘If you become a gift, you clear the way for the redemption of the body.’”
Mass Readings from April 25, 2010:
Acts 13:14,43-52
Revelation 7:9,14-17
John 10:27-30
04/18/10 Play the Game
Homily from the Third Sunday of Easter.
“God is not calling you to be perfect. God is calling you to be holy, which basically means that God is calling you to be His. He looks at you and says, ‘Do you love me? Will you let me love you back?’”
Mass Readings from April 18, 2010:
Acts 5:27-32,40-41
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19
04/11/10 Grace and Grit
Homily from the Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday.
“Grace always works. Our problem is that we don’t always open the gift [of grace] and use it.”
Mass Readings from April 11, 2010:
Acts 5:12-16
Revelation 1:9-13,17-19
John 20:19-31
**If you downloaded the homily via the website or the podcast and all you hear is static, please re-download the homily! There was an error in the file on the first upload, but all should be well now!! Thanks!!**
03/28/10 Partaking In Salvation
Homily from Palm Sunday.
“Suffering without Christ just hurts. But suffering with Christ is redemptive. Suffering without Christ is just painful. But suffering with Christ will transform the world.”
Mass Readings from March 28, 2010:
Isaiah 40:4-7
Philippians 2:6-11
Luke 23:1-49
03/21/10 “Not As Man Sees Does God See…”
Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Lent.
“In today’s Gospel, He saves this woman’s life, He spares her life. But the most important part of it is when He looks at her and says these words: “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.” The deeper healing He gave her was not that He saved her physical life: it was that He gave her new life. He was able to save her soul. That’s the most important part of the story. Jesus heals people, physical healing, as a sign of a deeper spiritual healing.”
Mass Readings from March 21, 2010:
Isaiah 43:16-21
Philippians 3:8-14
John 8:1-11
03/07/10 Where Goodness, Justice, and Mercy Meet
Homily from the Third Sunday of Lent.
“I believe that out of the worst thing that ever happened, the best thing that ever happened. Jesus was willing to die, an evil thing. But because of that He conquered death, which is the greatest thing. I believe that God, who didn’t deserve to die, an evil thing, took my and your place, the greatest thing.”
Mass Readings from March 07, 2010:
Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15
1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12
Luke 13:1-9
02/28/10 “Will You Stake Your Life On Me?”
Homily from the Second Sunday of Lent.
“If all we have here is ritual, then to hell with it. But if we have here in the Name of God, ‘This is my body,’ and His grace comes here, then it’s worth everything.”
Mass Readings from February 28, 2010:
Genesis 15:5-12,17-18
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 9:28-36
02/21/10 The Heart of Belief
Homily from the First Sunday of Lent.
“When God looks at our suffering, when He looks at our pain, it’s not like He stays aloof and says, ‘Seriously, why are you getting all worked up?’ When Jesus encounters death the first time, He cries. The second time, He dies. Why? Why does Jesus go into the desert to be tempted every way that we are? So that we can learn to trust Him.”
Mass Readings from February 21, 2010:
Deuteronomy 26:4-10
Romans 10:8-13
Luke 4:1-13
02/17/10 Let Go and Grab On
Homily from the Ash Wednesday Mass.
“The Church says this, ‘You guys, if you want, today you can let go and God will be there. If you want, whatever is killing you, whatever is causing anxiety in your life, whatever is stressing you out, whatever might be choking your soul to death, if you want to, you can let go of it, and guess what? When you let go, God will be there.’”
Mass Readings from Wednesday, February 17, 2009:
Joel 2:12-18
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Matthew 6:1-6,16-18
02/14/10 Say What You Need to Say
Homily from the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“If I pursue fun or pursue laughter in order to forget the bigger things, the absolutes, things like beauty, and truth, and compassion, and the fact that 30,000 kids die every day, if I use laughter to forget about things that are important like joy or love or death, then woe to me: because I might spend my whole life going after the next laugh and missing the whole point of life.”
Mass Readings from February 14, 2010:
Jeremiah 17:5-8
1 Corinthians 15:12,16-20
Luke 6:17,20-26
02/07/10 “Let Me Set You Free.”
Homily from the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“‘Do not be afraid: because I am bigger than your weakness. Do not be afraid: because I am more powerful than your sin. Do not be afraid: because my love is greater…so much greater…than whatever failure you may have done.’”
Mass Readings from February 7, 2010:
Isaiah 6:1-8
1 Corinthians 15:1-22
Luke 5:1-11
01/31/10 Self-Giving Love
Homily from the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Our vocation is love. Man’s highest destiny, male and female, is love. That doesn’t mean that your highest destiny is to fall in love: it means that your highest destiny is to make yourself into a gift for the other.”
Mass Readings from January 31, 2010:
Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
Luke 4:21-30
01/24/10 Authentic Interior Renewal
Homily from the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Mass Readings from January 24, 2009:
Nehemiah 8:2-4,5-6,8-10
1 Corinthians 12:12-30
Luke 1:1-4;4:14-21
12/25/09 Am I Willing to Be Changed?
Homily from the Christmas Day Mass celebrated in Brainerd, MN.
“What we recognize as Catholic Christians is that when we enter into a Sacrament, what we’re doing is we’re taking an oath. We’re not just saying, ‘I believe in Jesus,’ not just saying, ‘I believe the Eucharist is Christ Himself.’ What we’re saying is, ‘God, I am yours. My entire life is yours. Not only is there meaning to my life, but my life is yours.’”
Mass Readings from Friday, December 25th, 2009:
Isaiah 62: 11-12
Titus 3:4-7
Luke 2:15-20
12/20/09 The Ark of the Covenant
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
“So Christ pulls up on these spikes digging into His wrists, and He looks at his beloved disciple, which is to say He looks at you and at me, and He says these words: ‘Behold, there is your mother.’ He is not just saying, ‘I want to introduce you to my Mother.’ He says, ‘I am giving you my Mother to be your Mother.’”
Mass Readings from Sunday, December 20:
Micah 5:1-4
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45
12/13/09 Just Don’t Quit
Homily from the Third Sunday of Advent.
“If you find yourself back in Confession again and again, that means you are trying. That means you are fighting. That means you are on the battlefield. That means you are charging after the Lord with everything you’ve got.”
Mass Readings from Sunday, December 13:
Zephaniah 3:14-18
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:10-18
12/06/09 The Church’s Manifesto
Homily from the Second Sunday of Advent.
“Do not be content then to be at peace with yourselves until every single person you know and love has been won for Christ. Why? Because you have been won for Christ.”
Mass Readings from Sunday, December 6:
Baruch 5:1-9
Philippians 1:4-6,8-11
Luke 3:1-6
11/29/09 What’s My Next Step?
Homily from the First Sunday of Advent.
“The Lord is calling us today not to be drowsy and not to be anxious, but to be this one word, to be strong. What makes us strong to the Lord? …Love.”
Mass Readings from Sunday, November 29:
Jeremiah 33:14-16
1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Luke 21:25-28,34-36
11/22/09 What Is Truth?
Homily from the Solemnity of Christ the King.
“If Jesus is God, if He is the King objectively, my question is this: Is He my King subjectively? If I believe that objectively speaking, “Yes, Jesus is God, He is the Lord, He is the King of Kings!’ Subjectively, now for me, for you tonight, ask this question: Is He your King?”
Mass Readings from Sunday, November 22:
Daniel 7:13-14
Revelation 1:5-8
John 18:33-37
11/15/09 The New Apocalypse
Homily from the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“[How amazing would it be] if the administration was like, ‘We are so relieved, we are so glad because those Catholics, when they are on campus, they are on the move. And whenever they are, wherever they are, there is healing. Wherever they are, there is hope. Wherever they are, there is mercy. And wherever they are, there is the presence of God.’?”
Mass Readings from Sunday, November 15:
Daniel 12:1-3
Hebrews 10:11-14,18
Mark 13: 24-32
11/08/09 Radical Trust
Homily from the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“‘When it comes to your life, to give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.’ But I can look at my life and I can realize that, in my life, God doesn’t get the best. He gets what’s left. He doesn’t get the first fruits, He gets whatever is left over with my day, or with my life, or with my time, or with my money. But to give anything less than the best is to sacrifice the gift.”
Mass Readings from Sunday, November 8:
1 Kings 17:10-16
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12: 38-44
11/01/09 The Recipe for Sainthood
Homily from the Solemnity of All Saints.
“They (the saints) have run the race already. They have finished the race already. They know what it is to suffer. They know what it is to struggle. They know what it is to get messed up and to keep running. And they can’t run the race for us, but what can they do? They cheer us on. They call us by name. They run behind us and they push us. Because why? Because every single one of them wants nothing more than for you and me to win, to ‘persevere in running the race that is set before us, keeping our eyes fixed on Christ.’”
Mass Readings from November 1, 2009:
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12
10/25/09 The Great Sacrifice
Homily from the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Unless we understand the Eucharist and sacrifice, we will never understand what the priest is.”
Mass Readings from October 25, 2009:
Jeremiah 31:7-9
Hebrews 5:1-6
Mark 10:46-52
10/18/09 Don’t Waste Your Priesthood
Homily from the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“A sacrifice doesn’t make God love us more. If we offer any kind of sacrifice, it does not make God love us more. What it does is this: it makes us into the kind of people who trust Him more.”
Mass Readings from October 18, 2009:
Isaiah 53:10-11
Hebrews 4:14-16
Mark 10:35-45
10/11/09 The Infallible Interpreter
Homily from the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“If the Catholic Church doesn’t have the infallible authority to interpret this Book (the Bible), then this Book is worthless because we can get it wrong still.”
Mass Readings from October 11, 2009:
Wisdom 7:7-11
Hebrews 4:12-13
Mark 10:17-30
10/04/09 The Guardian
Homily from the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“We know the story of Jesus, right? He’s the New Adam. He’s in the new Garden called not Eden, but called Gethsemane. And in this Garden of Gethsemane, He knows why He’s here, He knows why He’s on this Earth: His job is to guard His Bride. And the dragon comes in, and is about to mow down His life. But this Adam does not remain silent. This Adam does not just allow His Bride to get mowed down, but this Adam makes the decision to stand and to say, ‘Take me instead.’”
Mass Readings from October 4, 2009:
Genesis 2:18-24
Hebrews 2:9-11
Mark 10:2-16
09/27/09 Freedom Takes Courage
Homily from the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Jesus wants us to be free. Because why? Jesus is merciless when it comes to sin. He’s merciful when it comes to you and me, completely full of mercy when it comes to you and me. But when it comes to the stuff that makes us slaves, when it comes to the stuff that kills you and me, the people He loves, He is absolutely merciless. He says ‘cut it out’, and so what we need to cut it out, what we need to defeat tyranny, is courage.”
Mass Readings from September 27, 2009:
Nehemiah 11:25-29
James 5:1-6
Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48
09/20/09 Freedom from Comparison
Homily from the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“This is the message of Christianity. The point of your life is to be the best version of yourself, which is another way of saying the point of your life is to be a saint.”
Mass Readings from September 20, 2009:
Wisdom 2:12, 17-20
James 3:16-4:3
Mark 9:30-37
09/13/09 All About You
Homily from the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“‘My Cross was for you. It’s not to beat you into the ground, it’s to lift you up from the ground. You don’t have to be nailed to that sin because I was nailed to this Cross. And it doesn’t have to defeat you anymore, because I laid down my life so that you could live.’”
Mass Readings from September 13, 2009:
Isaiah 50:5-9
James 2:14-18
Mark 8:27-35
09/06/09 Do Something
Homily from the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, the first Mass of the 2009-2010 school year at UMD.
“God needs you. The Church needs you to be the kind of man or the kind of woman who says to those whose hearts are frightened, ‘Don’t worry. I’m going to do something.’”
Mass Readings from September 6, 2009:
Isaiah 35: 4-7
James 2: 1-5
Mark 7: 31-37
05/13/09 Spiritual Growth
Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
“‘I know I should pray because I want to grow, but I don’t feel like it.’ But the question is…is loving only when I feel like loving, is that really love?”
Mass Readings from May 10, 2009:
Acts 9:26-31
1 John 3:18-24
John 15:1-8
05/03/09 Imagine the Possibilities
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Easter.
“When someone says, ‘I’m going to Heaven, I’m a good person,’ that’s not the price of admission. …Basically it’s this: it’s allowing God’s free gift of grace to come into your life, make you into a Son or Daughter of God, and then living like that.”
Mass Readings from May 3, 2009:
Acts 4:8-12
1 John 3:1-2
John 10:11-18
04/26/09 Infallible and Indispensible Weapons
Homily from the Third Sunday of Easter.
“Living as a free person not might involve battle, it will involve battle. But when you fight, not only will you fight as a free person, you will fight with God on your side: if you’re courageous enough to do it.”
Mass Readings from April 26, 2009:
Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
1 John 2:1-5
Luke 24:35-38
04/19/09 “I Just Want to Love You.”
Homily from Divine Mercy Sunday.
“The faith that conquers the world is that God can still use you in your weakness.”
Mass Readings from April 19, 2009:
Acts 4:32-35
1 John 5:1-6
John 20:19-31
04/11/09 God Is Real
Homily from the Easter Vigil Mass.
“The Resurrection proves that God is real. And here’s the good news tonight, my brothers and my sisters: What that means is that the Resurrection proves that your life is not meaningless. The Resurrection proves that you are not alone.”
04/05/09 The New and Everlasting Covenant
Homily from Palm Sunday.
“Honestly saints, prophets, everyone in the Old Testament, they longed to see this day. They longed to be a part of this one sacrifice that is left, this todah, this thanksgiving, this Eucharist, because they knew one thing: if they got to be part of this oath and this sacrifice and this meal, they would be brought into the deepest covenant anyone could imagine. The day has come.”
Mass Readings from April 5, 2009:
Isaiah 50:4-7
Philippians 2:6-11
Mark 14:1-15:47
03/29/09 True Sacrifice
Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Lent.
“What is it that you need to be set free from? To be able to offer it to the Lord and say, ‘This is my sacrifice.” Because God does not want to say, ‘Give up what you love,’ as much as He wants to say, ‘Give up what’s keeping you from loving the way you’re meant to love.”
Mass Readings from March 29, 2009:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Hebrews 5:7-9
John 12:20-33
03/08/09 The Route to Freedom
Homily from the Second Sunday of Lent.
“If I don’t ever wrestle with doubt, if I don’t ever wrestle with, ‘God can I really trust you?’ If I don’t ever wrestle with, ‘It’s really hard, God, to do the right thing right now,’ then maybe I’m not following God: maybe I’m just following my image of God. And instead of me being made in the image and likeness of God, I’ve made God in the image and likeness of me.”
Mass Readings for March 8, 2009:
Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18
Romans 8:31-34
Mark 9:2-10
03/01/09 Anointed With A Mission
Homily from the First Sunday of Lent.
“You have a mission. Even if your mission seems small in your eyes, it is not small because it is your mission given to you by God. And if you embrace that mission, and refuse to embrace the shadow mission, then brothers and sisters you will be one of the “Mighty Men” or the mighty women not of David…but of Jesus Christ.”
Mass Readings for March 1, 2009:
Genesis 9:8-15
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:12-15
02/22/09 Passionate Discipleship 101
Homily from the Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“What can’t you do?! The Holy Spirit dwells inside of you. Every one of you gathered here, you receive the Body and Blood of God Himself every week, if not every day! The whole Trinity dwells inside of you. You have the assurance of a Church that was founded by Jesus and He promised He would not abandon it until the end of time. What can’t you do?!”
Mass Readings for February 22, 2009:
Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24-25
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Mark 2:1-12
02/15/09 We Have to Go Out
Homily from the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“If Jesus isn’t good news for everybody, then He isn’t good news for anybody. If Jesus can’t save, can’t heal, can’t offer hope and healing to everybody, then He cannot offer hope and healing to anybody.”
Mass Readings for February 15, 2009:
Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46
1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1
Mark 1:40-45
02/08/09 Is He Enough?
Homily from the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Do you invent reality or do we discover reality? Do we give our life meaning or do we discover meaning? Because here’s the thing…if I invent my own meaning in life, what happens when the bottom drops out? What happens when that one thing that makes me happy is gone and I will never get it back? What happens then? What will be enough?”
Mass Readings from February 8th, 2009:
Job 7:1-4,6-7
1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Mark 1:29-39
02/01/09 Integrated Discipleship
Homily from the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Let’s be real. As a Christian you never, ever, ever need to be discouraged. Not because it’s not that bad, but because when we come to Mass, we meet the One who has exousia [Greek word for "authority"]. When we come to Mass, we meet the One who can speak one Word over us and knit us back together with one Word.”
Mass Readings from February 1, 2009:
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Mark 1:21-28
1/25/09 Come Follow Me
Homily from the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Mass Readings from January 25, 2009:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20
12/28/08 The School of Love
Homily from the Mass of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph give at St. Andrews Church in Brainerd, MN.
“What we can do together as a family, with others, is so much greater than anything we could ever do on our own.”
Mass Readings from December 28, 2008:
Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Colossians 3:12-21
Luke 2:22-40
12/14/08 Jesus, Be the Centre
Homily from the Third Sunday of Advent.
“The only way to escape being a slave to the Wheel of Fortune is to place Christ unambiguously at the center of your life. So more than these things, more than my beauty, more than my skills, more than this relationship more than anything, is I want Christ at the center.”
Mass Readings from December 14, 2008:
Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28
12/07/08 The Kavod of God
Homily from the Second Sunday of Advent.
“The only place where we can find a kavod that’s worthy of God, a weight, a glory that’s worthy of God, is on the altar of God: where His very Body comes, sacrificed for us. And we get to be part of that. That Sacrifice is the only thing, I believe, it’s the only thing big enough.”
Mass Readings from December 7, 2008:
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8
11/30/08 Approach God in Everything
Homily from the First Sunday in Advent.
“Here is what Advent’s about, why it’s more than just, ‘I can’t wait for Christmas Break!’, why it’s more than just, ‘I can’t wait to see my boyfriend or girlfriend,’ why it’s more than this. Because from this place of pain, from this place of longing and exile, the people of Israel are saying, ‘But Lord, your are our Father.’ I love for something with all of my heart and I want it and I don’t have it right now. But Lord, you are my Father.”
Mass Readings from November 30, 2008:
Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64: 2-7
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:33-37
11/23/08 Defining Reverence
Homily from The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King.
“Reverence is the only thing that preserves love. For there to really be love, there has to be some type of reverence.”
Mass Readings from November 23, 2008:
Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
Matthew 25:31-46
11/16/08 Run Towards the Battle Line
Homily fom the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“You were made to grow. Failure is a part of that. Failure does not shape you: how you and I respond to failure, that is what shapes us.”
Mass Readings from November 17, 2008:
Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Matthew 25:14-30
11/09/08 Stay Close
Homily from the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.
“The Early Church formula was this: If I am close to the Pope, I am close to Jesus. If I leave the Pope, I am leaving Jesus.”
Mass Readings from November 9, 2008:
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12
1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17
John 2:13-22
Scripture Verses Referenced in the Homily:
Matthew 4:13
Matthew 16:13-19
Isaiah 22:19-23
If you would like to learn more about Peter and the Popes, check out Upon This Rock by Steve Ray or anything by Mr. Jeff Cavins.
fathermike is really indebted to the fact that he pretty much gets all of his stuff from Jeff Cavins, so please visit his website: www.jeffcavins.com.
If you have questions or issues about the popes (especially how there could have been bad popes…believe me, they existed), please check out the book Pope Fiction by Patrick Madrid.
11/02/08 The Doorway to Heaven
Homily from The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls).
“How many of us are ready to step into the presence of God when there is nothing there but God alone? How many of us are prepared right now to be naked before God, in that holy nakedness, and to say, ‘I need to crutches, God, I love you alone’? Every single one of us has to go through some kind of purification whether it’s in this life or as we walk through that door of Purgatory.”
Mass Readings from November 2, 2008:
Wisdom 3:1-9
Romans 5:5-11
John 6:37-40
Scriptures Referenced in the Homily:
Hebrews 12:1
1 John 1:8
1 Corinthians 3:15
2 Timothy 1:16-18
1 Timothy 3:15
10/26/08 Take A Stand
Homily from the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Will we ignore evil because of a potential good or are we willing to be honest and call a spade a spade?
Mass Readings from October 26, 2008:
Exodus 22:20-26
1 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Matthew 22:34-40
10/19/08 Be Authentic
Homily from the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“He [Jesus] is saying, ‘Do not compartmentalize your life! Do not pretend to be one thing at home, to be one thing at Church, and to be another thing in the marketplace, in the voting booth, in the classroom!’ He is saying, ‘Stop pretending, but be authentic!’”
Mass Readings from October 19, 2008:
Isaiah 45:1, 4-6
1 Thessalonians:1-5b
Matthew 22:15-21
10/12/08 The Need for Hell
Homily from the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“We are free to love like angels and we are free to destroy like demons. And God respects this choice, because He doesn’t want slaves. He wants sons and daughters who love Him.”
Mass Readings from October 12, 2008:
Isaiah 25:6-10
Phillipians 4:12-14, 19-20
Matthew 22:1-14
10/05/08 What Are You Focused On?
Homily from the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“We look at our live and say, ‘Are you kidding me?! ‘…no anxiety…’, there’s nothing I can control!’ Or is there? We can break the circle of worry, we can break the circle of anxiety by taking control over what we can control.”
Mass Readings from October 5th, 2008:
Isaiah 5:1-7
Phillipians 4:6-9
Matthew 21:33-43
09/28/08 The Moment of Truth
Homily from the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time:
“Tell God the truth. ‘God, I’m afraid I don’t always like choosing You. So help me. God, I’m afraid I love someone or something more than I love you. But help me. Pray that prayer! Pray as you can’t, NOT as you can’t. Let that be the moment of choosing to tell God the truth, instead of telling Him what we think He wants to hear.”
Mass Readings from September 28, 2008:
Ezekiel 18:25-28
Phillipians 2:1-11
Matthew 21:28-32
Scripture Verses Referenced In the Homily:
2 Peter 3:9-10
James 2:19
Romans 3:28, 24
James 2:20, 24
09/21/08 Life Is Christ
Homily from the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time:
“To choose greatness is to know what you could possibly be, and then strive to become that person.”
Mass Readings from September 21, 2008:
Isaiah 55:6-9
Phillipians 1:20-24, 27
Matthew 20:1-16
09/14/08 The Power of the Cross
Homily from the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
“If you and I are going to become mature Christians, the Cross of Christ must be at the center of our lives.”
Mass Readings from September 14, 2008:
Numbers 21:4-9
Phillipians 2:6-11
John 3:13-17
09/07/08 Risk It.
Homily from the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“Hell is being surrounded by other people, and not having one friend. Hell is being surrounded by people, and not having one of those people you could call a sister, in the truest sense of the words.”
Mass Readings from September 7, 2008:
Ezekiel 33:7-9
Romans 13:8-10
Matthew 18:15-20
08/31/08 What’s Your Origin?
Homily from the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“This is GOD, like the three-syllable God, this is GA-AH-DA saying, ‘Listen. I know you’re name. I’ve got a plan for you.’ This is God saying, ‘I know who you are, I know every weakness you have, I know every strength you have. I have got an adventure for you. You have a role. I am calling you to be one of the greatest prophets of all time.’ What would you say to that?”
Mass Readings from August 31, 2008:
Jeremiah 20:7-9
Romans 12:1-2
Matthew 16:21-27
08/09/08 Hope & Sacrifice
Homily given at the Wedding of Greg Atchinson, teacher at Our Lady of Grace school in Edina, MN on August 9, 2008, and Kate Boran, both friends of Fr. Mike.
“Lord, as You, the Groom, laid down His life for His Bride, the Church, so may Greg, the groom, lay down his life for his bride, Kate. This is the mystery of all mysteries: that in love, there is both hope and sacrifice.”
05/11/08 Say “Yes.”
Homily from the Feast of Pentecost.
“How many times have we come to Mass, and here comes God on this altar, He comes into your hands and comes onto your tongue, and we don’t do anything with Him. We don’t let Him change us, we don’t let Him burn us up. It’s not a trick. There’s no secret. All you and I have to do, to be that fuel, is to say ‘Yes.’”
Mass Readings from May 12, 2008:
Acts 2:1-11
1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13
John 20:19-23
04/27/08 The More You Know…
Homily from the Sixth Sunday of Easter.
“What is it they [people who are questioning their faith] really want to hear? What they really want to hear, in a lot of ways, they want to hear that word that sets them free. Don’t you just want to hear that word that says, ‘You know what? Jesus died for YOU,’ and have that penetrate into your heart? Don’t you want to hear that word that says, ‘You know how you’re carrying around those heavy weights, those heavy chains? You don’t have to, you can be set free from that kind of life!’?”
Mass Readings for April 27, 2008:
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17
1 Peter 3:15-18
John 14:15-21
04/20/08 The Way, The Truth, and The Life
Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
“What’s true has to be more than just what’s true for me or true for you. Sometimes we hear people say, ‘There is no such thing as absolute truth.’ It’s really easy to talk to those people because all you have to say is, ‘Okay there’s no such thing as absolute truth? Is that true? Is that absolutely true that there is no such thing as absolute truth?’ Well then all of a sudden there IS absolute truth somewhere. ‘You can’t know absolute truth.’ ‘Are you sure? Because if you know that, then you can know absolute truth.”
Mass Readings from April 25, 2008:
Acts 6:1-7
1 Peter 2:4-9
John 14:1-12
04/13/08 Will You Do It?
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Easter.
“Do we really think that if someone buys into Christ, they’re going to live a better life? Because if we do, we need to start talking about Christ as if our life depended on it. We need to start being able to share the love of God that we know, not like knock people over the head with it, but to share the love of God, that we know deeply, as if our lives depend on it. Because brothers and sisters, they do.”
Mass Readings from April 14, 2008:
Acts 2:14, 36-41
1 Peter 2:20-25
John 10:1-10
04/12/08 The Gift
Homily from the Wedding of Tanner and Sarah Lundy (fathermike’s sister!)!
“Marriage is not just giving gifts, marriage is BEING the gift. It’s being willing to BE the gift in every moment, and that’s what Sarah and Tanner desire with all of their hearts, minds, souls, and strengths, is to BE a gift for the other.”
04/06/08 Were Not Our Hearts Burning Within Us?
Homily from the Third Sunday of Easter.
“A witness can only go so far. We can have the best, absolute best Christian who is living the best Christian life and witnessing to us that they know Christ, we can have an ANGEL come to us in witness of Christ’s Resurrection! But they need more. People in the Scriptures today, they needed more, and you and I need more. What did they need? They needed to encounter Him for themselves.”
Mass Readings from April 6, 2008:
Acts 2:14, 22-33
1 Peter 1:17-21
Luke 24:13-35
03/22/08 “You Are Mine.”
Homily from the Easter Vigil Mass.
“Tonight is about what it looks like when we say, ‘God is my Father.’ When the Father looks at you, and He says, ‘You are mine.’
03/09/08 Fear Nothing
Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Lent.
“Every Sunday you get a chance to feed on THE Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of God Incarnate, Jesus Christ Himself. That bread and wine that transforms into Christ’s Body and Blood. You’ve been receiving that in your hand or on your tongue into your very body, and we leave and we walk out of here. Can anyone tell the difference?”
Mass Readings from March 9, 2009:
Ezekiel 37:12-14
Romans 8:8-11
John 11:1-45
03/02/08 Is God a Joke to Us?
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Lent.
“Love changes the way we see. When we start to love someone, we don’t laugh at their pains; we don’t laugh at their sufferings. And that’s how God sees you. He doesn’t see your life as a joke.”
Mass Readings from March 2, 2008:
1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13
Ephesians 5 8-14
John 9:1-41
2/24/08 You Are Made for Me
Homily from the Third Sunday of Lent.
“What is the moment that changes her? It’s not when He reveals her own brokenness to her, it’s when He reveals Himself to her.”
Mass Readings from February 24, 2008:
Exodus 17:3-7
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
John 4:5-42
2/17/08 If You Go I’ll Go
Homily from the Second Sunday of Lent.
“No one was saved by seeing God’s glory shine through Jesus. But the world was redeemed and saved by Jesus emptying Himself on the Cross.”
Mass Readings from February 17, 2008:
Genesis 12:1-4
2 Timothy 1:8-10
Matthew 17:1-9
2/10/08 Let Him Be Your Father
Homily from the First Sunday of Lent.
“He won’t be a dictator. In fact, God refuses to be a dictator, and who He reveals Himself to be in this story (of Adam and Eve in the Garden) and in the Gospel today is our Father.”
Mass Readings from February 10, 2008:
Genesis 2:7-9, 3: 1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
02/03/08 Be Free
Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“Every single one of your heart’s desires is meant to point you and lead you to the greatest desire of your life…to God Himself.”
Mass Readings from February 3, 2008:
Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Matthew 5:1-12
01/27/08 Our Mission
Homily from the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“Helping the unchurched become disciples but then equipping disciples to go out and be apostles.”
Mass Readings from January 27, 2008:
Isaiah 8:23-9:3
1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Matthew 4:12-23
12/24/07 Intimacy With Christ
Homily from the Christmas Eve Vigil Mass given in Brainerd, MN.
“I have to ask you this: Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Can you say, ‘Yes! I am friends with God!’? Because brothers and sisters if you can’t say yes to that question, you know what Christmas means to me? It’s nice, it’s cute. But if I can say, ‘Yes, I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,’ what I’m saying is, ‘Christmas changed my life. God took on flesh so that I could hold onto Him. God took on flesh so that He could change my life and I could meet Him.’”
Readings from December 24th, 2007 (Christmas Vigil Mass):
Isaiah 62:1-5
Acts 13:16-17, 22-25
Matthew 1:1-25
12/16/07 Be Patient.
Homily from the Third Sunday of Advent.
“Every human being is good. Every human being has an intrinsic dignity and an infinite worth. Each and every human being, you, have been specifically chosen and are being shaped to not just be good…but to be more than good.”
Mass Readings from Sunday, December 16, 2007:
Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11
12/9/07 Journey to the Desert
Homily from the Second Sunday of Advent.
“How will you and I react to John the Baptist’s call, ‘Repent!’?”
Mass Readings from December 9, 2007:
Isaiah 11:1-10
Romans 15:4-9
Matthew 3:1-12
12/2/07 Are We Fully Alive?
Homily from the First Sunday of Advent
“Brothers and sisters, you are crucial to the story of God’s Kingdom. If you do not play your part, the story of God’s Kingdom is not fulfilled, and it is not complete…by staying awake and alert, by being fully alive, you and I are glorifying God.”
Mass Readings from December 2, 2007:
Isaiah 2:1-5
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:37-44
11/25/07 You Are My King
Homily from the Solemnity of Christ the King.
“The King you and I serve, the King you and I have placed our lives under the dominion of, is a King who says, ‘I will not spare my life, I will not come down from this Cross, because they are my people and they are worth dying for. And I’m the kind of King who will NOT see them die.’ He’s a King who says, ‘You can have them over My dead body.”
Mass Readings from November 25, 2007:
2 Samuel 5:1-3
Colossians 1:12-20
Luke 23:35-43
11/18/07 The Light vs. The Dark
Homily from the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“God does not come to burn away sinners. He’s going to come to burn away sin. The problem will be for those of us who won’t let go of our sin. …The only thing that makes a sin unforgiveable is that we won’t let it go.”
Mass Readings from November 18, 2007:
Malachi 3:19-20
2 Thessalonians 3:7-12
Luke 21:5-19
11/11/07 Stories of Virtue
Homily from the Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“The most important thing that you and I can do is look with awe upon Jesus Christ. Because He alone, better than anyone else, exemplified virtue and showed us what it meant and how to conquer vice. Even more than that, He made it possible for us to be free from our weaknesses and sins by becoming powerless, and on the Cross, winning our freedom.”
Mass Readings from November 11, 2007:
2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
2 Thessalonians 2:16-3: 5
Luke 20:27-38
11/04/07 I Want You
Homily from the Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“Here is God, my brothers and sisters, saying, ‘I want you. You’re enough for me. Not you skinnier! Not you prettier! Not you smarter! Not you stronger! NOT you without your sins! But I want you right now, and THAT’S enough.’ What do we say back to God?”
Mass Readings from November 4, 2007:
Wisdom 11:22-12:2
2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Luke 19:1-10
10/28/07 Religionism vs. True Religion
Homily from the Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“Religionism offers us a tame God, God in a box. But TRUE religion, GOOD religion, REAL religion, offers us an encounter with the truly wild and truly good God.”
Mass Readings from October 28, 2007:
Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14
10/21/07 The Battle of Prayer
Homily from the Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“There was at one point in which the people rebelled against God and God said, ‘In justice, they have to die. Moses, I’ll spare your life.’ And Moses says this: ‘No, Lord, you forbid, if you must kill, let ME die, and let THEM live.’ This is what you’re saying every time you say, ‘I’ll pray for you.’ ‘You’re in my prayers.’ You’re placing your life on the line and saying, I will lay down my life for you.’ We’re saying, ‘I’ll offer my life for yours.”
Mass Readings from October 21, 2007:
Exodus 17:8-13
2 Timothy 3:14-4:2
Luke 18:1-8
10/14/07 Encountering Christ
Homily from the Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“On the outside, you as a Catholic Christian look TAME when you go to Mass on Sunday. You look domesticated when you go to Mass on Sunday. But that is not reality! What we’re doing here is not tame. To encounter power and healing, to encounter the living God, as I talked about last week, to receive the Eucharist is to eat fire. The Eucharist being the atomic bomb of God Himself. It looks calm on the outside, but inside, it burns.”
Mass Readings from October 14, 2007:
2 Kings 5:14-17
2 Timothy 2:8-13
Luke 17:11-19
10/7/07 Fan Into Flame
Homily from the Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“Taking that torch out into the darkness means I’m not going to wait for someone to come to me, but I am going to go to them with the light AND with the fire. To seek out those people who might not even know they’re lost, to seek out those people who don’t even know what it is to be loved. They don’t even know what it is that they’re unloved in. To take a torch, a torch in the hand of someone who is bold and courageous is enough to save someone’s life.”
Mass Readings from October 7, 2007:
Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2: 2-4
2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14
Luke 17:5-10
9/30/07 Start Caring
Homily from the Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“Do we recognize the One “who dwells in unapproachable light”, who wants to feed you, who wants to have intimacy with you at every Mass? It could be that we don’t recognize Him. It’s not that we hate God, it’s just that, I don’t know, maybe we just don’t care.”
Mass Readings from September 30, 2007:
Amos 6:1, 4-7
1 Timothy 6:11-16
Luke 16:19-31
9/23/07 No Insignificant Moments
Homily from the Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“But you and I are called to respond at every moment and to every moment as people who are made for Heaven. That’s who we are. That’s who YOU are. You are someone who is MADE for Heaven. And between you and God, there are no insignificant moments.”
Mass Readings from September 23, 2007:
Amos 8:4-7
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-13
9/16/07 Come Back Home
Homily from the Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“And in today’s Gospel, what we have revealed to us is that God is not fair. God’s not fair. He would throw a party over finding a penny. He is willing to to to the ends of the Earth to find just ONE of us. Pay attention to that. When He finds that sheep, does He drive it ahead of Him kicking at it and hittin’ it with a stick? No. He takes it and puts it on His shoulders, and He carries it home.”
Mass Readings from September 16, 2007:
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-32
9/9/07 Do We Trust Him?
Homily from the first Mass of the 2007-2008 school year, the Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time.
“Do I really trust you, God? God do I really trust that You’re my Father? Do I really trust that You’ll take me back NOT as a slave, but as Your child?”
Mass Readings from September 9, 2007:
Wisdom 9:13-18
Philemon 1:9-10, 12-17
Luke 14:25-33