Teaching & Preaching: Deacon Matt's homilies & podcasts

Homily for the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) - this is the opening homily for a parish Eucharistic mission. To request Deacon Matt to speak at your parish, please visit https://matthewnewsome.com/

Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Corpus Christi), preached by Deacon Matthew Newsome on Sunday, June 2, 2024, at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church.

Two of my college students received the sacrament of Confirmation on the 6th Sunday of Easter. This homily was preached at that Mass and focuses on the importance of sacraments of initiation and the role of sacramental preparation and catechesis.

In this short gospel passage, Jesus uses the word “command” or “commandment” five times and the word “love” nine times. For most of us, these two things don’t go together. We have very different reactions when we hear those words.  When someone starts talking about “commands” we tense up. We don’t like being told what to do. We think of commands as hard, rigid things that constrict our freedom, so...

We should honestly ask ourselves, what is the principal thing that is giving direction to my life? Whatever that is, that is your shepherd. That is your god. And if it is anything other than God our Creator, who has revealed himself to us in Christ Jesus the Good Shepherd, you have to wonder where is that false shepherd leading you? And is that really where you want to go? Homily preached on the 4...

God cannot spare us from death without contradicting himself. Nor can he allow death to reign without also contradicting himself. It seems like a paradox. What is God to do? Easter homily preached by Deacon Matthew Newsome at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, March 31, 2024.

Homily preached by Deacon Matthew Newsome at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church in Sylva, NC, on Feb. 25, 2024. To truly understand the Mass, to understand everything that God does for us in Christ, it is so important for us to know the story of salvation history, because this is our story. It’s a story told for us and about us — about God’s eternal love for us. As St. Jerome said, “Igno...

Life is a drudgery? Days without hope? “I shall not see happiness again?” What on earth, we might wonder, is this text doing in the Bible? The Bible, as we are told, is the word of God. The Church encourages us to look to it for inspiration. We open its pages when we feel hopeless, hoping to find hope! We turn to the scripture when we are unhappy for some sense of assurance and comfort. We don’t e...

Proclamation of the date of Easter and the moveable feasts and homily for Epiphany, 2024.

Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent. It is also Christmas Eve. Because this year Advent is as short as it can be, with Christmas falling on a Monday, we don’t really get a “fourth week of Advent.” We only get a 4th Sunday, and even then not the whole Sunday, with our Christmas celebrations beginning with the 4:30  Vigil Mass. Once every seven years we get Christmas and Advent in one Sunday like this...

Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent (Year B), preached by Deacon Matthew Newsome at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church in Sylva, NC. For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven . Today begins the season of Advent; the beginning of a new liturgical year. So what is the reason for this season? Advent reminds us that we have something to look forward to. Isn’t...

We’re sometimes tempted to think of the sin of the Pharisees as being too rigorous when it comes to religious practice. But Jesus never condemned the Pharisees for their religious observances. Rather, he condemned them for hypocrisy. The definition of hypocrisy is to hold others to standards that you don’t observe yourself. It is one of the sins that makes us the most angry when we see it in other...

October is a month dedicated in a special way to the Rosary. Apart from the Holy Mass itself, the rosary is without a doubt the most iconic form of Catholic prayer. In films, if a director wants to show that a character is Catholic, all they have to do is place a rosary in their hands. In a round-about way, I can attribute my own conversion to the rosary.

What is worship? What kind of worship does God ask of us? And how do we offer God worship in a way pleasing to him? Ancient cultures across the globe worshipped their gods by means of offering sacrifice, and God instructed the people of Israel in how to offer sacrifices to Him. But all these ancient sacrifices were but shadows or signs pointing toward the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. How do...

Homily for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A) preached by Deacon Matt Newsome on July 30, 2023, at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church in Sylva, NC. How many of us pay attention to the Collect Prayer during Mass? In case today’s Collect went by you without notice, here it is again: O God, protector of those who hope in you, without whom nothing has firm foundation, nothing is holy,...

Every Christian should be familiar with the two great commandments. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” (Dt 6:5) and, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lv 19:18). Jesus says that, “The whole law and prophets depend on these two commandments.” (cf. Mt 22:36-40). In today’s gospel passage, Jesus is telling us the ramificatio...

Homily preached by Deacon Matthew Newsome on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Sunday, June 4, 2023, at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church in Sylva, NC. Many struggle to understand why the doctrine of the Trinity is relevant. Sure, it might be of interest to theologians, but what does it have to do, practically, with our lives? I’ll give you three reasons why the doctrine of the Tr...

Homily preached by Deacon Matt Newsome at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Annunciation at the Catholic Student Center at Western Carolina University on Sunday, May 7, 2023, for the final Mass of the semester. "Life is full of beginnings and endings. Amidst all this change, what can we hold on to? What can be our sure foundation, our rock, our refuge and our stronghold? What can we really have f...

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter (Year A) preached by Deacon Matthew Newsome on May 7, 2023, at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church. "...this is not a funeral Mass. This is the Mass for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. And this is not a eulogy. This is a homily. And it is my Christian duty in this moment to proclaim to you the good news of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Joe would be...

“Who can climb the mountain of the Lord? Who can stand in his holy place? (Ps 24:3). Who, indeed? Who can climb this mountain with Jesus? Who can approach the Temple and enter the Holy of Holies that is Calvary? Who can bear his suffering? Or who can bear his glory, for that matter? Psalm 24 gives us the answer: “The man with clean hands and pure heart, who desires not worthless things, who has no...

Homily preached by Deacon Matthew Newsome on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023, at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church in Sylva, NC.  "When you commit murder, or steal from someone, tell a lie, or commit adultery, these things are not sins because they are forbidden by the Church. They are forbidden because they are sins . The law is there to help us steer clear of them, but they are wrong with...

When we think about all the things that make Mary great, what is it that merits her the great honor of being the Mother of the Lord? Is it that she was immaculately conceived? No. Is it that she was assumed into heaven? No. Is it because she was a virgin, or that she was descended from the line of David? No. None of these things about Mary caused her to be the Mother of God? So what did? It was he...

Homily preached by Deacon Matt Newsome on Dec. 8, 2022, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church. I aim to answer three questions in this homily. 1) What is the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception? 2) Where does it come from? And 3) What does it matter to us?

Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Advent (Year A) preached by Deacon Matt Newsome on Dec. 4, 2022, at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church in Sylva, NC.  Advent is all about preparing for the coming of Christ; both his first coming in history in Bethlehem at Christmas, but more importantly his second coming at the end of history in glory. The readings for the Second Sunday of Advent begin...

A Thanksgiving Day homily from Deacon Matt. Preached at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic parish on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2022 (the memorial of Sts. Andrew Dung-Lac and companions). In his first letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul teaches that it is the will of God that we give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess 5:18). All circumstances . It’s easy for us to feel thankful when thi...