Shawn The Baptist - Sunday Scriptures

Learning and Living the Faith This week we celebrate the ongoing legacy of a system of education that has been handed on to us as a treasured gift from past generations. Our Catholic schools continue to exist for one reason: to pass on the faith. This begins with outstanding teachers who form the minds of young Catholics in our great Tradition. Yet, intellectual knowledge of the faith is not enoug...

The Prophetic Witness of Celibacy People are often confused by the meaning of celibacy practiced by those in religious life. Sometimes people think that priests are celibate because it gives them more time to devote to ministry. Sadly, sometimes people might assume that marriage is less holy than priesthood. Neither are the real reason for the celibate vocation. Rather, the celibate person serves...

Explore the significance of Epiphany and the journey of the magi toward a personal encounter with Jesus in Bethlehem.

Explore the title 'Mother of God' and its significance in understanding Jesus' divine nature and Mary's role as His mother.

In whatever situation we find ourselves this Christmas, God comes to us just as he did in Bethlehem 2000 years ago.

Our Gospel mentions Gabriel, Nazareth, Joseph, Mary... Yet, the most important to a Jew at the time of Jesus would have been that of David.

This weekend's homily provides some practical tips and an explanation of the basics of making a good confession.

We all love the symbol of an Advent wreath, but in today's homily I introduce my favorite Advent symbol... the orange construction cone.

Jesus tells us over and over in the Gospel today to "watch." This is our attitude for the season of Advent.

Pop Quiz Like a pop quiz or a thief in the night, Jesus will return. The good news is that we know the questions that are on the test. We even know the answers. In the evening of life we will be judged on our love. How well did we care for the least of those among us? How well did we use the gifts God gave us? That is the emphasis of today's Gospel. God has given each of us special gifts according...

Those Who Have Fallen Asleep Paul uses the language of sleep to describe death. This makes death sound so temporary and indeed it is. The early Church had seen firsthand how Jesus could raise someone from the dead. They had experienced the resurrection of Jesus, a word literally meaning "to get up again." It is not surprising then that the Christians refused the pagan practice of cremating the rem...

Prayer in Communion Yesterday we honored the Church in Glory, the saints in heaven. Today we commemorate and pray for the Church Suffering, all those who have died and await the full glory of heaven in purgatory. There is a tendency today to "canonize" everyone who dies and talk as though it is certain that they are in heaven. Yet, the Scriptures tell us plainly that nothing imperfect can enter he...

Like the crowd in the stadium at a sporting event, the saints in heaven cheer us on as we compete well for the faith.

Sharing Our Very Selves St. Paul tells us in the second reading today that he is proud that he shared with his disciples, "not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well." We all love teachers who put themselves into their teaching and give us more than just the words in the textbook. I think we love this quality in our priests as well. We love priests who understand us and with whom we h...

Affliction and Perfect Joy St. Paul gives us what appears to be a paradox in the 2nd reading today. He praises the Thessalonians for accepting the Word "with affliction and joy in the Holy Spirit." How can affliction and joy exist together? St. Francis of Assisi is a great model for solving this riddle. In his own unique way, St. Francis shows us how to radically live out the call of today's Gospe...

Who would have thought that Arrowhead Stadium would be such a great place to learn about the Mass? Is a Chiefs game Catholic?

The One Thing I was conducting a parish retreat last weekend and so didn't have a Sunday homily. As a bonus then, here is the homily I have at Bishop Miege High School for the homecoming Mass on the Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi. May we be like Mary in the Gospel and know how to find the one thing that is most important among the many. When we find that it is God that we need, may we be like S...

In the greatest role reversal in history, God became man in Jesus. But wait until you see the role reversal this enables for us!

God has called each of us into his vineyard, some early in life, some later. Whenever called, our response must be the same...gratitude.

Honor the anniversary of 9/11 by understanding what 'Never Forget' truly means for our nation and our hearts.

Corrective Action A popular philosophy plaguing our society today is the idea of moral relativism. This way of thinking says that there is no truth; it's all relative to whatever morality an individual person might want to create. The supreme virtue in such a society is that of tolerance. We should condemn nothing and tolerate everything since nothing is objectively right or wrong. We often hear t...

That Desire Might be Enkindled In today's gospel a Canaanite woman comes to find Jesus and asks healing for her daughter. Surprisingly, Jesus won't even talk to her. When he does finally talk to her he calls her a dog. In the very next sentence he then praises her for her faith in a way that we don't even see him compliment his disciples. What is going on here? First, we have to see that this woma...

Where is God? In today's first reading, the prophet Elijah has an amazing encounter with God. Mt. Horeb was the famous mountain where God appeared in smoke and fire to give Moses the 10 commandments. Elijah would have been full of expectation, and indeed while on the mountain he experiences some powerful signs. There is a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire...all powerful signs that God had use...

Satisfaction for the Thirsty Maybe we've never experienced a lack of water in our lives, but all of us experience thirst. We have a spiritual thirst put in us by God that only he can satisfy. Society gives us all kinds of things that it says will satisfy us, but they ultimately leave us unfulfilled. Today God invites us to "come to the water." After we have found the life giving water in our faith...

What's in Your Field? Jesus speaks today of a treasure hidden in a field. Hopefully we get the point that our faith is a treasure and our relationship with God worth "selling" everything. Truly there is wisdom in our Church beyond what Solomon could have imagined. Yet, do we realize this? Can we really say that our faith is what we value most of all? We tend to focus on the man in the story who fi...