Homily for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 22.19-23 Psalm 128 Romans 11.33-36 Matthew 16.13-20
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily, part of a series of liturgical catechesis in preparation for the implementation of the Third Edition of the Roman Missal.
Same Mass ... Different Words ... Deeper Meaning
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Tearing Down Walls
Homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 56.1, 6-7 Psalm 67 Romans 11.13-15, 29-32 Matthew 15.21-28
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
Fifty years ago Saturday, a concrete wall covered with barbed wire was erected in the middle of Berlin, Germany. For almost thirty years, this wall separating communist East Germany from democratic West Germany was a symbol for the whole world of the deep divisions that had been created by different views of power, government, economy, and even religion. And even though the wall was toppled over twenty years ago, there are still deep divisions in our world – new ways that we continue to separate ourselves from one another. From the violent reaction to a multi-cultural Norway to the famines in Africa that widen the gap between the poor and the rich, the starving and the well-fed – it might seem like that the literal and figurative walls of separation are growing longer, higher, and stronger all over the world.
Our challenge and our call as Christians is to recognize where these walls exist and find a way around them. Scripture could not be any clearer … in Isaiah, “my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples;” … in Romans, God shows his mercy to all people, Jew and Gentile; … in Matthew, Jesus recognizes the faith of a foreign woman, greater faith from this outsider than from many of the insiders he had encountered. Our Church is a catholic Church, which means that it is universal – for all people – because God is for all people. Regardless of politics, or convenience, or economy, or personal preference – our challenge and call as Christians is to be a people that has no divisions, a people that welcomes everyone, a people that does not create walls to keep people out, or to keep people in. Because God does not build walls; He tears them down. God doesn’t separate people based on income, race, or country of origin; He brings people together. And we must do the same thing.
Isaiah 56.1, 6-7 Psalm 67 Romans 11.13-15, 29-32 Matthew 15.21-28
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
Fifty years ago Saturday, a concrete wall covered with barbed wire was erected in the middle of Berlin, Germany. For almost thirty years, this wall separating communist East Germany from democratic West Germany was a symbol for the whole world of the deep divisions that had been created by different views of power, government, economy, and even religion. And even though the wall was toppled over twenty years ago, there are still deep divisions in our world – new ways that we continue to separate ourselves from one another. From the violent reaction to a multi-cultural Norway to the famines in Africa that widen the gap between the poor and the rich, the starving and the well-fed – it might seem like that the literal and figurative walls of separation are growing longer, higher, and stronger all over the world.
Our challenge and our call as Christians is to recognize where these walls exist and find a way around them. Scripture could not be any clearer … in Isaiah, “my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples;” … in Romans, God shows his mercy to all people, Jew and Gentile; … in Matthew, Jesus recognizes the faith of a foreign woman, greater faith from this outsider than from many of the insiders he had encountered. Our Church is a catholic Church, which means that it is universal – for all people – because God is for all people. Regardless of politics, or convenience, or economy, or personal preference – our challenge and call as Christians is to be a people that has no divisions, a people that welcomes everyone, a people that does not create walls to keep people out, or to keep people in. Because God does not build walls; He tears them down. God doesn’t separate people based on income, race, or country of origin; He brings people together. And we must do the same thing.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Participating in the Mass - Body, Mind, and Spirit
Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
1 Kings 19.9a, 11-13a Psalm 85 Romans 9.1-5 Matthew 14.22-33
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
What does it mean to participate in Mass? – say the responses, sing the music, pay attention to what’s going on? When we come to the Mass, we are called to participate fully, consciously, and actively. Why? Because it’s the best way we know to encounter God.
1 Kings 19.9a, 11-13a Psalm 85 Romans 9.1-5 Matthew 14.22-33
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
What does it mean to participate in Mass? – say the responses, sing the music, pay attention to what’s going on? When we come to the Mass, we are called to participate fully, consciously, and actively. Why? Because it’s the best way we know to encounter God.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
The Breaking of the Body of Christ
Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 55.1-3 Psalm 145 Romans 8.35, 37-39 Matthew 14.13-21
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
When we're broken, Jesus doesn’t necessarily put all the pieces back together; sometimes he does, but sometimes he refashions the pieces and forms them into something new, something that we never would have imagined before.
Isaiah 55.1-3 Psalm 145 Romans 8.35, 37-39 Matthew 14.13-21
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
When we're broken, Jesus doesn’t necessarily put all the pieces back together; sometimes he does, but sometimes he refashions the pieces and forms them into something new, something that we never would have imagined before.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Solomon and Harry Potter
Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
1 Kings 3.5, 7-12 Psalm 119 Romans 8.28-30 Matthew 13.44-52
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
The greatest temptation of the modern world is believing that we can conquer death on our own – that we don’t need God and we don’t need anyone else. The ultimate message of the Harry Potter books and movies is that love wins, and the love of family and friends is the only thing that is lasting in life. The Christian gospel takes that one step further – God is love, and the one who shows us ultimately what it means to have sacrificial love is Jesus Christ.
1 Kings 3.5, 7-12 Psalm 119 Romans 8.28-30 Matthew 13.44-52
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
The greatest temptation of the modern world is believing that we can conquer death on our own – that we don’t need God and we don’t need anyone else. The ultimate message of the Harry Potter books and movies is that love wins, and the love of family and friends is the only thing that is lasting in life. The Christian gospel takes that one step further – God is love, and the one who shows us ultimately what it means to have sacrificial love is Jesus Christ.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Listening to the Wisdom of God
Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Wisdom 12.13, 16-19 Psalm 86 Romans 8.26-27 Matthew 13.24-43
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
We are so inundated with information, that this information starts to shape how we think – act – live. And if the information we see and hear and absorb day after day is filled with hatred, judgment, division, and stubbornness – well, then we’re going to start thinking and acting and living the same way. How can we sort out the wheat from the weeds – truth from fiction – good from evil?
Wisdom 12.13, 16-19 Psalm 86 Romans 8.26-27 Matthew 13.24-43
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
We are so inundated with information, that this information starts to shape how we think – act – live. And if the information we see and hear and absorb day after day is filled with hatred, judgment, division, and stubbornness – well, then we’re going to start thinking and acting and living the same way. How can we sort out the wheat from the weeds – truth from fiction – good from evil?
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Seeds, Soil, and the Sower
Homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 55.10-11 Psalm 65 Romans 8.18-23 Matthew 13.1-23
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
Where do you fit into this parable? Are you like the seeds? Or are you like the soil, and if so, what kind of soil? Or are you like the sower?
Isaiah 55.10-11 Psalm 65 Romans 8.18-23 Matthew 13.1-23
Click here to listen to or download an audio (mp3) file of this homily.
Where do you fit into this parable? Are you like the seeds? Or are you like the soil, and if so, what kind of soil? Or are you like the sower?
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