Shawn The Baptist - Sunday Scriptures

Even Catholics who go to Mass regularly sometimes have a problem with confession. Today's homily offers some helpful tips.

When we think of Christmas, we normally think of the Christmas Tree. Today's readings give us two other trees to think about this Advent.

As Advent begins, this homily considers how the ancient gesture of the priest and people facing "East" for Mass reminds us where we're going.

We've spent a lot of time lately focusing on political power and who should be allowed to exercise power. In some ways, the same questions that have existed from the founding of our country continue to be debated. How much power should the government have? Should the federal government be strong or weak? Part of the reason for these debates is because we fear what might happen if a tyrant would be...

The readings this weekend remind us of the reality of heaven. There really is life after death. The brothers in our first reading are willing to lay down their lives because they trust so much in the life to come. This week, our country honors our veterans. They too have been willing to make great sacrifices, even that of their own lives, in defense of others. The number one thing that disrupts ou...

Today we give thanks for the priesthood, instituted by Jesus Christ, and continuing to bring his power to the world 2000 years later. When we think of priests, we probably think first of the ones we have known. Jesus chooses some diverse men to be priests, and today we stop and give thanks. We thank most especially the great high priest, Jesus Christ.

For the past six weeks, we have been reading from the letters of St. Paul to Timothy. Today we come to the end of these letters, wherein Paul gives us what is often referred to as his "last will and testament." He knows he's about to be executed, and he sums up his life saying, "I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith." What a blessing to come to the end of life with...

In today's second reading, St. Paul reminds St. Timothy about the importance of Sacred Scripture. As Catholics, we can fall into the tendency of focusing on Mass and the sacraments and thinking that these are the primary tools for growth in holiness. What a terrible thing it would be for us to neglect the Sacred Scripture in favor of things that seem more routine. While the Mass is obviously fille...

Both the first reading and the gospel today involve lepers as the star characters. Today's homily highlights three lessons that we might learn from the figures. First, humility. It's takes great humility for the lepers to come out of their hiding and protected places to seek healing. They know they are sick and are humble enough to get admit they need help. Second, identity. When you read the Scri...

The first Sunday in October has been designated in the United States as "Respect Life Sunday." While much progress has been made in this area since the passing of Roe v. Wade, there remain many causes for concern. At the time of the Civil War, many people fought to protect the right to own slaves using the false teaching that African Americans were not actually people. Kansas can be proud that we...

In today's second reading, St. Paul writes to St. Timothy, who he has appointed Bishop of Ephesus, to give him some advice on how to be a good bishop. St. Paul urges St. Timothy, "Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses." This "noble confession" to which Paul refers is most likely a reference to the day of Timothy's ba...

One of the great story lines of all time can be summed up by the phrase "The Journey Home." The protagonist has somehow wound up far from home and struggles to make it back. We can can think of many great movies along this theme, but one of the classics in the genre is the famous story of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. A tornado has taken poor Dorothy far from Kansas and now she has to brave the Wi...

Imagine someone you know is interested in learning what Christianity is really all about. What would you tell them? What's the core message? Probably most of us could think of some attractive good thing to share. However, in today's Gospel, we see the message Jesus shared with the crowds that were following him. "If you want to follow me, you have to be willing to sell all your possessions, hate y...

The scene described in today's Gospel reminds me a lot of the political atmosphere in Washington, DC: people jockeying for positions of influence, throwing parties to make allies. It can be a very self-centered culture. Jesus tell us, as Christians, that our lives cannot be like this. Rather than looking to be exalted, we should humble ourselves. Rather than always looking to get something, the jo...

In today's First Reading from the prophet Isaiah, we hear God's desire to "gather the nations" and to send people out "to the nations." In this we see, even in the Old Testament, a missionary effort to bring more people into God's family. In Christianity, some of our most famous saints were missionaries. All endured great struggle and some even gave their lives to spread the Gospel to people who h...

I, like many people, have spent a lot of time this last week watching the Olympics and marveling at the great ability of the athletes competing. I especially like it when they do a sit-down interview and you can learn a bit about the person behind all the medals and hear how they got to where they are. Some, like Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles, you find out are committed Catholics. With all the at...

In the Old Testament story of the Exodus from Egypt referred to in our First Reading today, God's chosen people are safe from the Angel of Death. They were warned ahead of time of this approaching 10th plague. Having followed God's instruction, they watched the Angel of Death "pass over" their houses while the first-born of the Egyptians all died. In a similar manner, Jesus gives us a warning in t...

"Teach us to pray!" This is the request Jesus gets in today's Gospel. When we think of learning to pray, we might call to mind learning our basic prayers when we were young: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, or and the Glory Be. Yet, it seems like Jesus is being asked something deeper than this. The apostles often saw Jesus in prayer, wrapped in intimate conversation with his Heavenly Father. This is...

The famous motto of the Boy Scouts is "Be Prepared." This admonition is deliberately vague, meaning that a scout should be prepared appropriately for anything. New scouts (and leaders) often get the practical details of the this wrong by bringing way too much stuff on a campout. Experienced scouts know how to be prepared by bringing just the right gear and knowing what they should leave behind. In...

Normally, when a "Scholar of the Law" is mentioned in the Scripture, he's not held in a very favorable light, at least not by Jesus. Yet, in today's gospel, one such lawyer has a very interesting encounter with Jesus. Perhaps it's party because I just spent three years studying very hard to become a "scholar of the law," but I think this guy in the gospel today is actually one of the good guys. I...

Last week at the beginning of camp at the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation in Osceola, Missouri, I talked about the importance of loyalty, the ability to stick by our commitments. This week's homily at the end of camp focuses on the 10th point of the Scout Law, "A Scout is brave." Loyalty and fortitude are great virtues for keeping us on track. However, it is possible to be loyal a committed to goa...

Many people today are afraid of making commitments. There seems to be a fear that if I commit to something then I'll be missing out on something else. Many express a desire to "keep all my options open." Yet, the secret to real happiness in life is not keeping our options open, but finding something worthy of a commitment and then giving it our all. The ability to stick by our commitments is the e...

One day as I was visiting the Library of Congress in Washington, I noticed an exhibit on "Thomas Jefferson's Bible." I was very intrigued to see this relic, looking forward to what margin notes the founding father might have written. Instead, I found that what Jefferson had done was to take the Bible from different languages and then literally cut it all to pieces so as to save only those parts th...

It's the end of the world. And we can find some wisdom from an unexpected place, the recently deceased pop singer, Prince.

Do we minimize sin saying, "it's not really that bad?" Not only are we lying to ourselves, but we can't really experience the mercy of Jesus.