Homily for the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome In the first reading, Ezekiel has a vision of the temple of Jerusalem, where water was flowing from below the threshold toward the east, from the right...
The gospel reading for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time is the Parable of the Widow and the Unrighteous Judge (Lk 18:1–8). The figure for God the Father in this parable is, interestingly enough, an unjust judge, that is, one...
In Sunday’s gospel reading, we see that only one of the ten who were cured of leprosy returned to thank Jesus. This is not to suggest that the other nine were without any gratitude—it is hard to imagine that anyone...
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth.” (Mt 23:27-28). The word...
There is a line in the 2nd reading from Hebrews that struck me, and it is the following: “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that...
What is particularly interesting about faith is that most of what we do every day is based on faith, not so much supernatural faith, which is a theological virtue, but natural faith in the sense of accepting as true something...
Homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time “If there are ten righteous people, I will not destroy it.” Abraham intercedes for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He is told that yes, if there are ten righteous people to...
In the book of Leviticus, we read that priests were forbidden to touch a corpse; to do so rendered a person ritually unclean (Lev 21:1–3). The priest and the Levite in this parable, who may have regarded the victim as...
Homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord Recently I drove up to the cemetery to say a rosary and visit my mother’s grave site, as well as a number of other parishioners who are buried there. I...
Reflection on Holy Thursday What is so important about Holy Thursday night is the explicit connection between the institution of the Eucharist and a life of service, that is, the link between the sacrament and works of mercy, works of...
We are all familiar with the parable of the prodigal son, so I would like to focus on just a few key points from this text to bring out its radical nature. The younger son, as we all know, begins...
Homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Readings). The gospel reading on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Lk 2, 22-40) is really about humility. The word humility comes from the Latin ‘humous’, which means...
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