Sunday Homilies

"Jesus approved of marriage" -- this is like saying "Jesus approved of sunshine." In the analogy of the Church as the Body of Christ, all Christians in their various states of life contribute to the well-being of the whole body.

Solidarity with the human race is what Jesus expresses, both in his birth at the beginning of the Christmas season, and in his baptism on its last day. We are called to exercise solidarity with one another as well, for the sake of securing justice.

Making your child a public figure in infancy is probably not what you want to do. The Christ Child, on the other hand, was a public figure from birth, because of his identity as the unique Savior of all the nations of the earth.

All of us, by reason of our baptism, are living out our call to holiness. There are some highly visible vocations (e.g. priesthood) which we need to pay special attention to. All of us, living out the universal call, act with freedom so that, with the help of God's grace, "what we shall later be" can joyfully surprise us.

The Christmas Curmudgeon of the 21st century asks: What does it mean when people say, "I can't believe that Christmas is here already!"? It may be a good experience for us to perceive the recurrence of great feast days and to lift our gaze to the eternal truths that they reveal to us.

"Your redemption is at hand." Instead of denying the fact that each of us faces a moment of ultimate truth before God, we who acknowledge our God as the Lord of all time and history look forward to God's work of fulfilling all of creation.

"You say I am a king." We are challenged to imagine a different sort of kingship in the Son of God who in ruling us has become the ultimate servant.

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0261i.htm The above takes you to the speech of Pope John XXIII which I referenced in today's homily. We all seek meaning in the span of days which is ours. We trust in the one sacrifice of Jesus, as discussed in today's passage from the Letter to the Hebrews.

Money is the reward for our personal labors, and we consider the disposition of our money to be quite a personal (and painful!) undertaking. We seek to trust that, if we are devoted to the Kingdom of God, we will discover that God is more devoted to us than we had imagined.

Human history is loaded with anonymity. Think of your multiple-great grandparents whose names you do not know. Think also of how Christian faith was passed on to you, and realize the greater difficulty of tracing your faith-genealogy. All Saints is about the witness of anonymous people, upon whom we depend absolutely for the gift of faith.

James and John last week did not perceive what Bartimaeus this week does perceive: that before one makes elaborate plans for the future, one must make sure of the way that he is traveling.

Christians must not settle for "generic religion," but must plumb the depths of the shocking, personal nature of faith in Jesus Christ.

Fr. Kevin has given this talk dozens of times to engaged couples; it's time he recorded it so he won't have to keep giving it.

The Word of God cuts through joints and marrow. We are more than naked in the sight of God: our most hidden thoughts and attitudes are known to him. Let us take advantage of this direct and frank relationship, opening ourselves to the help of the one who knows us well.

High ideals for marriage are accompanied by the assurance that the Word Made Flesh is pleased to be called our brother.

Seek consensus and unity, not division. This is a fairly obvious expectation for human collaboration. We have a maddening propensity toward ignoring this expectation, however.

It is typical of all of us that, when someone brings up a topic we don't want to think about, we change the subject. The Twelve can do this just as well as we can.

It is permitted to move a popular solemnity or feast of the Lord to a nearby Sunday. What could be more popular than the parish's own feast day?

As we hear of Jesus' healing of a deaf and speechless man, we ask how well we are hearing the Church's teaching of the truth about economic matters.

In the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, today was set aside for special readings and prayers for a new bishop. The readings were from Isaiah 61, Hebrews 5, and John 17. The podcast includes a few thoughts on the bishop as someone who is first a good administrator of what's going on in his own heart.

Our affiliations speak about our life priorities. We are free to join ourselves to God or not. Whether we do or not makes all the difference for the direction and meaning of our lives.

We open ourselves to wisdom as we acknowledge how little wisdom we have. We develop our hunger and thirst for Jesus. Some thoughts today on health care and the common good, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and Buzz Aldrin.

If we speak of something as "merely a symbol," we don't understand symbolism and its power. Some etymologies say that the word "manna" itself means "what is it?" God's people keep on asking for the food that nourishes to eternity. When Jesus said, "I am the bread of life," he meant it, absolutely.

What can we define as "a lot of food"? Given the insatiable appetites of human beings, it's hard to say that any quantity is a lot. Obviously, our God is calling us to be less concerned about stockpiles and more concerned about our relationship with the one who feeds us.

There were no homilies the last two weekends, as I was at work camp. Gathering the flock together and making sure that they are fed: these are the responsibilities of the shepherd. Even the shepherd is changed by his interaction with the sheep.