Four minute homilies

Conditions for following Jesus              Today in the Gospel Jesus gets very serious. He looks at the people following him and he realises that many of them were there for human reasons. They were following him because they wanted to experience miracles, because they were fed with tasty bread and fish, because that man spoke very well, because he had a go at the Pharisees, or he defended the po...

Parable of the first places              Jesus was having a meal with his apostles. We see often Jesus in the Gospels sitting at the table. It is important to spend time with others, and meals are great occasions to do so. People nowadays spend their time with their phones, just watching screens. These were moments when Jesus took advantage to pass on to them his message; he used these opportuniti...

The narrow gate             Today in the Gospel we see a fellow coming up to Jesus and asking an important question: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” We are still asking this question nowadays. How many are going to be saved? Is anybody in hell? It is based in a truth of our faith: we all need salvation. Few years ago we had a debate about this topic when we had to change the words of the...

The Assumption              Today we celebrate the feast day of the Assumption of our Mother to heaven. What can we say about what happened on that day? We haven’t got much information. Saint John witnessed it and didn’t tell us anything. John, you told us all about the life of Jesus, with plenty of details, but you didn’t want to tell us about our Lady leaving earth. She is our Mother too, and we...

Set the earth on fire             Jesus says to us in today’s Gospel: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing.” In the Bible, fire is often used to describe God’s burning love for men. This divine love is what made the Word become man: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”. Jesus voluntarily gave up his life on the Cross: “Greater love has no man...

Waiting for the Lord             “Gird your loins and light your lamps”, Jesus is telling us today. Fasten your seat belt and start the engine, would be a modern way of saying the same. These are the two attitudes the Gospel is asking us to have. First, be ready for the journey, and then turn on the lights outside, to welcome the guest who is coming. The same expression from the parable of the foo...

Parable of the rich fool             Today in the Gospel Jesus gives us the parable of the rich fool. This is how he calls him. We are the person in this parable. We are him because we normally act like this man. Jesus calls us fools because we are silly, because we won’t learn. We keep thinking that we are going to make a difference, that we are going to do something important, that will engrave...

Teach us to pray             Have you ever been jealous of someone else’s ability to pray? I’ve been a few times, when I have witnessed holy people praying. The same happened to Jesus’ disciples. They have seen him praying early in the morning, spending the whole night in prayer, immersing himself in his relationship with his Father God. They found very it difficult to imitate him. They couldn’t w...

Martha and Mary              Bethany is only two miles from Jerusalem. Jesus used to stay there when he came to the holy city, to find a peaceful place where he could rest and spend time with his friends. Beth means home, an appropriate name for a place where Jesus felt at ease. Jesus used to love to go to Bethany, to spend time with Martha, Mary and Lazarus. As a human being he needed friends. He...

The Good Samaritan             It all started with a question a lawyer asked, to catch Jesus, to see how wise he was. He wasn’t sincerely interested in the answer. As a good lawyer he wanted to score a point. But it was a good question, maybe the most important question in our lives: What do I have to do to go to heaven? Or in a more personal way: God, are you happy with me? Jesus took advantage o...

72 Disciples             Today our Lord is sending us ahead of him. That’s the reason why we are here on earth. We are here for a purpose. We didn’t choose to be here. He chose us before the beginning of the world. This is our time here. We only have few years to go. Let us take advantage of the time we have and don’t get distracted or side tracked. Last week Jesus told us to follow him. Now he te...

Follow me             Today in the Gospel Jesus is passing by, walking with his apostles, like he always does, and he meets three different people that react differently according to the different demands Jesus places on them. It reminds us of ourselves, on how we react in the presence of Jesus in our lives. We too meet Jesus passing by daily, and we are confronted with different challenges that J...

Corpus Christi             Today we are going to take Jesus to the streets. We are going to walk with him, to take a stroll with him, to accompany him around the streets of the church. And we are going to play music, use incense and bring him flowers. We wish to bring the flowers of our good deeds. During the day we gather little flowers that we find along the way and we manage to put together a n...

Holy Trinity             We are talking today about the summit of our Christian faith, the mystery of the Holy Trinity. When we walk through other mysteries, we need to walk on tiptoe; now we need to postrate ourselves in front of the majesty of God, touch the floor with our forehead and keep silence. This is holy ground. We cannot see God and live. But God has opened his intimate life to us. He h...

Pentecost             With Pentecost we come to the end of Easter. We have been preparing ourselves for a while to receive the Holy Spirit. Once a year we have the opportunity to get to know the third person of the Holy Trinity better, who Saint Josemaria calls the Great Unknown. He is still unknown and we would like to become closer to him. It is easy for us to see God as a Father. Easier to see...