Fr. Brian Soliven Sermons

What is the measure of true wealth? This is a fantastic question for us to reflect upon deeply. The way the world measures wealth and the way God sees wealth are completely different. The two are radically opposed. In the world, wealth, as we know, is measured in things. The more we have, the more we are. Our value is measured in who has the bigger house, the newer truck, the biggest gold chain, t...

We're all in need of healing, deep spiritual healing that no medicine in this world can help. Only the architect of the human heart can heal it. That is why Jesus Christ comes to humanity.  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilies are shared freely thanks to generous listeners like you. If his words have blessed you, consider supporting this volunteer effort. Every gift helps...

It's trendy to say today that there is no truth. There's simply your truth and my truth and no one can claim superiority over the other. To do so makes you a bigot or religious fanatic. In the Gospel passage that you will hear, St. John the Baptist is imprisoned for holding to the Truth. He paid the price. May we be so courageous in our modern day.   --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father B...

Today’s celebration of Mary's bodily assumption into Heaven should give us great hope! For today, we remember that Our Blessed Mother’s body and soul is now in Heaven. This should give us tremendous hope, because as wel all know, our own body is a source of great anxiety for us all. Is it not? Every time we look into a mirror, we see new wrinkles and another gray hair. No matter how we battle agai...

This year, the bishops of California are launching a new statewide initiative. Titled Radiant Love, it’s a call for Catholics to rediscover the beauty and goodness of marriage and the family. This focus is desperately needed today. Marriage rates are plummeting. Young people simply do not want to get married, like the previous generations of their parents and grandparents. According to the Pew Res...

Why are you Catholic? It’s a question that every single person hearing or reading these words needs a ready answer. Sooner or later this question will be thrust upon you . You will be challenged by someone in another faith to leave the Catholic Church; you will be scandalized by the bad behavior of someone in the Church (maybe even by a priest or bishop); you will despise something that was said (...

***Bonus*** After the homily is a 3 minutes special chant that is sung before the beginning of the Traditional Latin Mass. Called the "asperges," meaning "sprinkling" or "washing," it recalls the saving water from of baptism.  There is one defining teaching that separates the Catholic Church from all the other churches in town. It is our belief that every time we go to Mass, a profound miracl...

How can the crucifixion be "Good News"? It's ugly, graphic, and bloody hideous. All very true. The "good" can be beautifully found when asked why did Jesus allow himself to be tortured in such a way? The answer reveals the eternal love God has for each of us. That is why the brutal cross will always be good.  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilies are shared freely thanks t...

Without faith-filled Christians, the world is bland and dark. Our Lord tells us today in the Gospel, we are the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world."  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilies are shared freely thanks to generous listeners like you. If his words have blessed you, consider supporting this volunteer effort. Every gift helps us continue recording and...

Today, the Church remembers one of her famous sons, St. Ignatius of Loyola. He is the 16th century founder of the Jesuit Order. His conversion story shows us what God can do when a Christian finally stops rebelling against God and surrenders his all.  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilies are shared freely thanks to generous listeners like you. If his words have blessed yo...

Have you ever wondered why you have faith while others do not? It's a great mystery why God gives this gift the way he does. One thing is for certain, the gift of faith is meant for others.  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilies are shared freely thanks to generous listeners like you. If his words have blessed you, consider supporting this volunteer effort. Every gift help...

This Sunday Gospel is the remarkable conclusion of what began three weeks ago. If we recall, Jesus sent out the Twelve disciples with divine authority “two by two…. So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” (Cf. Mark 6:7-13). The Twelve return after this mission and report the miraculous results: peopl...

If you've ever wondered why God allows evil and good to exist side by side in our lives, our Gospel passage this morning is for you.  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilies are shared freely thanks to generous listeners like you. If his words have blessed you, consider supporting this volunteer effort. Every gift helps us continue recording and sharing the hope of Jesus—one...

In today's Gospel, St. James makes an appearance. Still stuck in his worldly thinking, Jesus shows him the better path. The Christian is meant for a higher path than mere material wealth and lofty titles. True riches are found in becoming poor.  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilies are shared freely thanks to generous listeners like you. If his words have blessed you, con...

In this Sunday’s gospel passage, the disciples return to Jesus after their mission. It’s the continuation of what began in last Sunday’s reading when Our Lord sends them out “two by two.” “Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two ”, we heard, and (he) gave them authority over unclean spirits…. So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and th...

The Incarnation changes how we deal with our suffering. God is not longer out there somewhere in the ether, indifferent to our pain. Rather, he is in us. Once we realize that, the yoke becomes easy and the burden light.  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilies are shared freely thanks to generous listeners like you. If his words have blessed you, consider supporting this vol...

Everything Jesus does is on purpose. Keep a close eye on his actions, from the biggest to the smallest gesture. He is always trying to teach us something very important about ourselves and more alluringly, about the nature of God himself. This Sunday’s Gospel passage is no different. It begins by Jesus summoning “the Twelve (disciples) and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority...

When someone asked billionaire John D. Rockefeller, how much money was enough? He famously said, "one more dollar." For us Christians, if someone asked how much Jesus is enough, our reply should always be similar, "More Jesus!" More Jesus will always satisfy the human heart more than "one more dollar."  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilies are shared freely thanks to gene...

Jesus Christ reveals the Father's heart for you and I. That is why he sends his son into the world, to seek and gather the lost. That's the drama of Christianity, pure and simple.  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilies are shared freely thanks to generous listeners like you. If his words have blessed you, consider supporting this volunteer effort. Every gift helps us conti...

Expecting miracles is part of our Christian DNA. Story after story in Scripture, we see the disciples of Jesus Christ acting boldly, reckless in faith, to the point of looking ridiculous. Yet, this should not surprise us. God has come down to his people and empowered them with his creative, healing Holy Spirit. We must act accordingly.  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilie...

When I was in junior high, I started to despise going to Sunday Mass. When I heard my parents footsteps walking towards my room in the morning to wake me up, I would pretend I was in a deep sleep, “Brian it’s time to get ready for church.” I didn’t answer. Fifteen minutes later, my mom would knock on my door again, “Are you still sleeping? Get up!” Still no answer. Ten minutes later, my dad would...

People who say religion is a "crutch" that we use to feel better about ourselves, like a warm bottle of milk or a bedtime story, have no idea what they're talking about. Following Christ on the narrow road always involves risk. It commands sacrifice of the highest degree and the dethronement of my will. To put it simply, Christianity asks of me to die.  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Fathe...

From the papacy to the Eucharist, to the Sacrament of Confession to the resurrection itself, the scandalous disagreements between Christian denominations can boiled down to our minuscule preconceived notions of God. In other words, we like to put God in a box.  --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian’s homilies are shared freely thanks to generous listeners like you. If his words have...

It may be strange to say this but we were never meant to die. In fact, death is unnatural. We have grown so accustomed to thinking that dying is a part of what it means to be a human being, as if it's part of our nature, like breathing oxygen. Not for us Christians. We have an entirely different way of approaching the “end.” “God did not make death”, says the author in the Book of Wisdom. He revea...

Why does God allow our suffering? It’s a question that every single one of us will eventually grapple with sooner or later, if we have not already. Whenever someone makes an appointment with me in my office, I always prepare myself for a heavy conversation. Rarely does anyone come in to tell me about how everything is going great in their lives. On the contrary, my office can be a house of tears....