Gospel Homily for 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Gospel-based homily for this Sunday is entitled No Cross, No Crown .

A nun was explaining the Stations of the Cross to her class. They got to the fourth Station were Jesus on the road to Calvary meets his mother. The nun explained that even though they could not talk to each other, mother and son spoke just using their eyes. “What do you think they said to each other?” she asked the pupils. The class gave many different answers. One kid suggested that she said, “This is unfair.” Another kid suggested that she said, “Why me?” Finally a sickly little girl raised her thin hand, got up and said: “Sister, I know what the Blessed Mother told Jesus. She said to him, ‘Keep on going, Jesus!’” Why would a mother encourage her only son on the way to crucifixion to keep on going? Because the mother understands the Christian principle of “no cross, no crown.” ... Read more .

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Epistle Homily for 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Epistle-based homily for this Sunday is entitled Offering Living Sacrifice in Spiritual Worship .

A story is told of the Medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri. One day during a church service, Dante was deeply immersed in meditation and failed to kneel at the proper time. His enemies hurried to the bishop and demanded that Dante be punished for his sacrilege. Dante defended himself by saying, “If those who accuse me had had their eyes and minds on God, as I had, they too would have failed to notice events around them, and they most certainly would not have noticed what I was doing.” Dante is right. True worship of God is not simply a matter of performing certain actions at certain times. It is first and foremost, a matter of the heart. ... Read more .

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Gospel Homily for 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Gospel-based homily for this Sunday is entitled Building the Church of Christ .

John XXIII was pope during the turbulent 1960s when it seemed that everything was falling apart. The priesthood was in crisis, religious life was in crisis, marriage was in crisis, faith was in crisis, the church was in crisis. The pope worked long and hard hours trying to address these problems. One evening, after an exhausting day in the office, he went to his private chapel to do his daily Holy Hour before retiring but he was too exhausted and too stressed out to focus or pray. After a few minutes of futile effort, he got up and said, “Lord, the church belongs to you. I am going to bed.” Difficulties might have driven the Pope to acknowledge that the church belongs to Christ. But Jesus himself said it 2000 years ago: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18)." ... Read more .

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Epistle Homily for 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Epistle-based homily for this Sunday is entitled How Inscrutable Are God’s Ways .

St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica is one of the most important theological books ever written. For many centuries it remained for Catholics the beginning and end of theology. What many people do not know is that St Thomas did not complete that work. You see, Thomas was a theologian as well as a mystic. Toward the end of his life, Thomas had a mystical experience in which he was granted a glimpse of the divine glory. In comparison with what he saw, he felt that what he wrote about God in the Summa was thrash. His theological treatise was such a poor representation of the mystery of God that Thomas wanted to burn the book. Fortunately, his brother friars prevented him from doing so. ... Read more .

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Gospel Homily for the Assumption of Mary

The Gospel-based homily for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Sunday is entitled The Gospel of Jesus and Mary .

There is an old story about a workman on a scaffolding high above the nave of a cathedral who looked down and saw a woman praying before a statue of Mary. As a joke, the workman whispered, "Woman, this is Jesus." The woman ignored him. The workman whispered again, more loudly: "Woman, this is Jesus." Again, the woman ignored him. Finally, he said aloud, "Woman, don't you hear me? This is Jesus." At this point the woman looked up at the crucifix and said, "Be still now, Jesus, I'm talking to your mother." Why do Catholics treasure Marian devotions and doctrines that their non-Catholic brothers and sisters do not? It is because, I think, the Catholic Church is trying to tell the full story, to proclaim the full gospel. ... Read more .

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Epistle Homily for 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Epistle-based homily for this Sunday is entitled God's Love Is Irrevocable .

According to a Jewish story, Rabbi Joshua ben Hanania once went to Athens to dispute with the Greek philosophers. There they asked him many questions and he was able to answered them all. One of the questions they asked him was: "Where is the centre of the earth?" Rabbi Joshua pointed with his forefinger to a spot on the ground where he stood and said, "Here." They said to him, "How do we know that you are right?" He answered, "Bring your measuring rods, and measure it for yourselves." ... Read more .

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Gospel Homily for 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Gospel-based homily for this Sunday is entitled The Faith of the Canaanite Woman .

Mahatma Gandhi in his autobiography tells how, during his student days, he read the Gospels and saw in the teachings of Jesus the answer to the major problem facing the people of India, the caste system. Seriously considering to embrace the Christian faith, Gandhi attended church one Sunday morning intending to talk to the minister about the idea. On entering the church, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and told him to go and worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned. “If Christians have caste differences also,” he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu.” ... Read more .

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Gospel Homily for 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Gospel-based homily for this Sunday is entitled Walking on the Sea .

Visitors to the Holy Land like to take a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee, the sea on which Jesus walked. A certain tourist wanted such a ride and the boatman told him the fare was fifty dollars. “Fifty dollars!” exclaimed the tourist, “No wonder Jesus walked!” A proper understanding of the gospel story of Jesus walking on the sea has a lot to teach us about who Jesus is, but also about the church in its journey through the world, and about the life of faith of the individual believer. ... Read more .

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