Homilies with Fr John Rutten

Today’s Confirmation is a good moment to reflect upon the May dynamics of Christian life where we have “already” received something we have “not yet” received. List and see if you too live the already but not yet!

God orders us by bestows desires for prayer and healing and longing for Him. He also answers those desires with formulaic prayers like the Our Father. It doesn’t end there, but as we become part of the Body, this Mass is the place we are ordered and reordered.

is it the end of times?

Do you believe your “yes”, even if a little “yes”, impacts people. Both people who are living and people who are deceased?

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector should meet. Each could be changed by the other.

Answers are most received when they are responding to a real, spoken or unspoken, question. How we carry the Gospel to others should respond to what a person is looking for. We too, as missionaries will have questions and in looking for the answers, God can send someone else!

Just as Moses though string and gifted, needed help standing strong in battle. He was aided by Aaron and Hur. Who aids you? Are you prepared to hold others up in their battles of life? Pay attention to your gifts. Pay attention to others. Pay attention to your circumstances. pay attention to Jesus who stands to hold all of us up to the Father.

We are given a gift… GOD! St Paul reminds us to guard this gift and be reminder we have a guide in the Holy Spirit.

What is the Holy Spirit stirring in your desire? What are your gifts? How about the circumstances you live in? St Therese shows us m how each of us can prepare for the Kingdom of God and have Hope!

Do you know it is a Jubilee year? Do you know what a Jubilee year is? I promise listening to this will help you! I didn’t say it in the homily, but the thing that helped me most understand the jubilee year is that indulgences are not the primary point. And secondly, that a main point is that you have a Jubilee year once in your lifetime. Because of how long we live most people experience two or th...

People ask me what the students are responding to with the death of Charlie Kirk. I’m trying to listen to them and understand. I have much yet to learn but I do know the Cross is connected and the Christian needs to widen our awareness to include both Jesus’ saving Mercy and our own person sin.

What ways are we being asked to be his disciples? To follow him requires to give things up, to give up peoples thoughts and opinions. However, how this happens is through a group of people and individually. Consider how this happens. Dawson Lee as a disciple followed Christ into the Catholic Church. Today he received the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist!

when someone gives you a gift and it is apparent they know you, it is such a blessing. But humidity is even great! Jesus is the perfect gift.

Start to the new year and we liked the people in Scripture are gathered from many places. We are called by God to belong to his family. We recognize Jesus today by the signs of Him Presence.

our initial understanding may not be correct. It is helpful to pause and consider if things are meant differently than we first think they are.

With 9 in 10 cradle Catholics leaving the Church, it’s worth asking ourselves why we go to Mass? An interesting insight is offered in the first reading (Joshua 3:7). What helps us understand both why we go to Mass and what we should be doing through our participation?

Our lives have moments that Jesus calls us to be attentive to. Listen to your heart and circumstances in order to know what He is calling you to. Then when your “short” life is at the end, you will be eager for your “forever” to to begin!

We are all rich in various things: amenities of life, intellect, beauty, personality, and of course wealth. what are we to do with these if Jesus says we aren’t to store up treasure?

When death gets close, at times it pierces deeply. It can be hard to believe that God is near. At such times there are two options.

Gardens are beautiful: God places the pinnacle of creation, man and woman, in a garden. However he also suffered in a garden and so did the First Roman Martyrs. They were tortured in Nero’s garden. we too are given beautiful places but to follow Jesus will also lead to places of suffering and pain. Maybe not like actual death but how heard it is to die to our own wills!

Funeral mass for Donna Dieren, June 27, 2025

It’s more work to understand the fruitfulness of God than just a quick observation. It’s a work of the Holy Spirit and requires time and patience and new possibilities. Even the wolf can get caught in brambles and have the coat torn off and exposed. And exposure can bring newness to even the wolf!

May 27, 2025 - A little response to a summer Mass.

June 16, 2025 - Back from vacation! A little word from daily Mass.

This homily was preached at the first Mass of Fr Gerald Thornton.