Fr. Brian Soliven Sermons

Before you try walking on water, look at St. Peter today in the Gospel reading from Matthew as an example of what not to do. In this famous miracle, the future first pope called out to Jesus to ask if he could join him standing on the surface of the Sea of Galilee. He does. It all goes well until Peter takes his eyes off the Lord. Suddenly he panics at the raging storm around him and beg...

The only miracle of Jesus found in all four Gospels is the multiplication of the loaves and fish (Matthew 14:13-21). It must have left a powerful impression for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to include it. For them, they saw the Old Testament connection and power. Jesus is greater than the prophets of old. Jesus gives them the true bread -- himself. He is the true source of lasting...

Have you ever asked yourself, "What is the deepest desire of my heart?" It's an intense question! It would not surprise if you said "no". However, take a moment to consider it. What is the deepest desire of your heart? What do you long for? What makes you happy? Although only a few people may consciously ask themselves such a dramatic question, the decisions we make i...

My heart is heavy. Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Boston, Massachusetts; Brooklyn, New York; New Haven, Connecticut; St. Louis, Missouri; San Francisco and Sacramento. Nantes, France. Within the past few weeks, Catholic churches and monuments in these cities have either been set ablaze or vandalized. We only hear a scant whimper from the mainstream medi...

This Sunday, we hear in the Gospel reading Jesus' famous Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23). ​​​​​​It's one of my personal favorites. In it, Jesus describes the four main ways people receive the message of Christianity as a seed being planted in soil. Some people outright reject the faith immediately; others, embrace it with fervor in the beginning, but soon fall away. The third grou...

How are we to approach these uncertain times we find ourselves in? We have two fundamental, yet strikingly different options, I believe. One way is summed in the following words which were proclaimed on a major news channel from one of its million-dollar personalities: "If you believe in one another and if do the right thing for yourself and your commun...

Most kids who grew up on Saturday morning cartoons in the 1980's will know the following famous saying, "More than meets the eye." It is part of the theme song of the  Transformers that we all sang along with our little hearts. In many ways, the mission of the Catholic cathedral also matches this song perfectly, especially our own in downtown Sacramento -- T...

The year 2020 should be dubbed the "Year of Fear." This makes the words of Jesus in this Sunday's Gospel reading all the more powerful: " FEAR NO ONE...  do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. " (Emphasis added) Who is this person of which he speaks? The Roman Emperor...

We share many things in common with our Protestant brothers and sisters. In fact, on key fundamentals of the Christian faith, what unites us far outweighs what divides us. Yet at the same time, striking divergent points of contention cannot be swept under the rug. The great Solemnity of Corpus Christi (The Body of Christ) that the Church celebrates this Sunday is one such stumbling...

Just in time to celebrate the "source and summit of the Christian faith," our first public weekend of masses begins June 13th/14th, the great Feast of Corpus Christi (Body of Christ). I AM EXCITED TO WELCOME YOU BACK. A priest without God's people to serve is incomplete. Our new requirements are fairly simple and straightforward. As you come into the church, you will immediately notice certain pew...

Last Sunday, a new priest was created for the Diocese of Sacramento. One of the most moving moments during the Ordination Rite comes before the candidate steps forward before the bishop and impart his hands on his head in that ancient gesture that we get from the original Apostles (cf. Acts 9:17, Acts 13:2-3). In front of the entire church, he lies prostrate...

As if things could not get any worse after the pandemic, the rioting starts. Watching the chaos unfold in cities across our country, I could not help but think, "Jesus we need you now more than ever." In troubled times, in a world seemingly coming undone at every turn, we see again precisely how fragile everything human truly is. We see lives snuffed, livelihoods turned to ash, and the civilized f...

"Where is he going?" That question must have been on the dazed minds of the Apostles, as they watched Jesus ascend into Heaven. In his last parting words to them on earth, Jesus gives his last great item on the "to-do list":  "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obs...

The church was empty as the father of the deceased walked up the main aisle to the open casket. I watched him intensely, careful not to make a sound in my wooden pew. Gently, he put his hand on his daughter's forehead, mouthing some mysterious inaudible words that only a father with a grieving heart can say. He stood there resolute, never breaking his gaze as he looked upon her...

One of my earliest religious memories was as a child finding a tattered prayer card in our house of Our Lady of Fatima. At the time, I had no idea the Blessed Mother had miraculously appeared to three shepherd children in the city of Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. The image on the card terrified my 5-year-old imagination. On July 13th the Blessed Mother showed the ch...

This was a difficult homily to give. My emotions got the better of me. If you can bare the first few minutes of tears, I quickly composed myself and finished strong. To put it mildly, it has been a very difficult week in the lives of my people. Any good priest worth his Chrism (the sacred oil that is used to consecrate his hands at his ordination) bares the burdens and pai...

During the month of May, the Church honors the Blessed Mother in an intensified way. In the example of her life, we see firsthand how to follow God's will. She never doubted, never gave into fear, nor abandoned her son when the storms came. She humbly listened and acted accordingly.  That is why during the month, I have added a new spiritual regiment to my daily prayer discipline --...

If you and I were there at the resurrection, we'd be just as confused as the two disciples we hear about in the famous story of the Road to Emmaus. Dumbfounded and dejected, they walk away from Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the holy city, the city of God, is the city of the utmost importance to Jesus' life. It is here he died and yet now they hear the tomb is mysteriously empty. Like so often happens with...

The perennial problem of man is that we always seek life apart from God. Ever since Adam and Eve made the original mistake in the Garden of Eden, humanity has stumbled along ever since. Through every sin we commit, every turn to our addictions, every blatant rejection of God's moral order, we sever ourselves off from the source of life itself -- God. The revelation of the Divine Mercy that we cele...

“Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prison...

I screamed at my neighbor today as he drove by in his silver convertible, top down, and music blaring. "HEY! Don't you know what happened today?" He just kept driving. Across the distance over the river, I saw another couple walking their dog along the bike path. I yelled again but they pretended not to hear me. "Don't you know who died?" Life seemingly went on a usual, a normal sunny, C...

Holy Week launches with Palm Sunday. With blessed branches in hand, we mimic the exuberant crowds that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem. However, shortly before that, the mood was entirely different. Sacred Scripture tells us that our Lord stood on the Mount of Olives as he gazed over the entire city, and cried: " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent...

Holy Friends, Jesus is a strange fellow. When he is told that " the one you love is ill ,” and in danger of dying, you would think Jesus would act like a normal person, drop whatever he was doing, and go immediately to his friends bedside. After all, he loves him. Any of us would do that if we heard the same. Not Jesus. Oddly, the Gospel says that " he remained for two days in the place where he w...

I'm not going to lie ; having our first official Mass during the quarantine lockdown hurt mightily. Your faces were nowhere to be found. My dear people, the flock entrusted to me by Jesus Christ seemed scattered to the wind, leaving behind only empty wooden pews. "I wonder where you are at this moment?" I thought to myself. Only God knows. Indeed, only He knows the outcome of our current scourge....

"LETS GET (MESSED) UP! LETS GET (MESSED) UP!" , was the chant the crowd deliriously howled at the "Night in the Country" music festival in Yearington, Nevada. In perfect unison, nearly 15,000 concert-goers regurgitated this phrase over and over, but the word they preferred was a tad more expletive. The crude war cry, echoed for miles around that little sleepy desert town. In the midst of it all, J...