Gospel Homily for 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C

The Gospel-based homily for this Sunday is entitled The Christian Identity .

The renowned artist Paul Gustave Dore once lost his passport while travelling in Europe. When he came to a border crossing, he explained his predicament to one of the guards. Giving his name to the official, Dore hoped he would be recognized and allowed to pass. The guard, however, said that many people attempted to cross the border by claiming to be persons they were not. Dore insisted that he was the man he claimed to be. "All right," said the official, "we'll give you a test, and if you pass it we'll allow you to go through." Handing him a pencil and a sheet of paper, he told the artist to sketch several peasants standing nearby. Dore did it so quickly and skilfully that the guard was convinced he was indeed who he claimed to be. His action confirmed his identity. ... Read more

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Gospel Homily for Christ the King, Year A

The Gospel-based homily for this Sunday is entitled True Subjects of the Kingdom .

The Salvation Army does not believe in baptism, in the Eucharist nor in the priesthood. Yet you never hear anybody criticizing them. Why? Because what they do speaks so loudly that no one cares what they believe. They provide soup kitchens for the starving. They clothe the naked on our streets. They rehabilitate those addicted to drug and alcohol. They are there wherever disaster strikes. As far as people are concerned these are the things that count. The Parable of the Last Judgment in today's gospel shows that these are the things that count before God as well. For in the Last Judgement no mention whatsoever is made of people's church beliefs but only of the practical help they gave or did not give to the needy and the disadvantaged of this world. ... Read more .

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Gospel Homily for 32nd Sunday in OrdinaryTime, Year A

The Gospel-based homily for this Sunday is entitled Lamp Without Oil Is Dead .

Imagine the bridesmaids leaving their homes to go and await the arrival of the bridegroom. The following conversation takes place among them:
"Do you think we need to take some extra oil?"
"Why? The bridegroom will arrive at sunset anyway. That's what the program says."
"But what if he is delayed. Then we shall not have enough oil for the night?"
"C'mon! Why are you so negative? Why do you always complicate things? You want us to carry extra oil that we are not going to use? Why can't you see the bright side of things?"
"Yes, but you never know! Me, I am taking extra oil, just in case..."

We know the rest of the story. The bridegroom is delayed and the bridesmaids who took extra oil prove to be the wise ones. Wisdom here has little to do with personal intelligence or IQ. Wisdom is a choice -- a choice to do all it takes to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. The foolish ones only hope for the best and do not prepare for the worst possibility.” ... Read more .

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Gospel Homily for 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Gospel-based homily for this Sunday is entitled In Christ, All Brothers and Sisters .

A group of African missionaries were sent to work in a diocese in Zambia. On arrival they discovered that almost all the missionaries in the diocese were Americans. The American missionaries called the bishop, who was African, by his first name. The newly arrived African missionaries thought that this was inappropriate and decided to change it. They taught the people to call the bishop “My Lord.” This was new to the people but they were ready to learn. One day a woman came to see the bishop and the person she met was one of the American priests. She asked him, “Where is Our Lord?” to which the priestly gleefully replied, “Our Lord is in the tabernacle.” ... Read more .

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Gospel Homily for 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Gospel-based homily for this Sunday is entitled Giving God His Due .

Two brothers went treat-or-tricking and collected some eggs. The elder said to his younger brother, “I will give you one dollar if you let me break three eggs on your head.” The little boy knew it was going to be a painful experience, but because he needed the dollar he agreed. The bigger boy then went on to break an egg on his brother’s head. His brother took it with an “Ouch!” Then he broke the second egg on his little brother’s head. This time it really hurt and his little brother cried out in pain. But the young lad was determined to get his dollar. So he braced himself for the third and last egg, but his senior brother walked away laughing. “Come on, bring on the third egg,” said the little boy. “Nope!” said the bigger brother, “I don’t wanna lose my dollar.” ... Read more .

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Epistle Homily for 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Epistle-based homily for this Sunday is entitled Why Worry When You Can Pray? .

The story is told of one of Napoleon’s generals, Massena, who with his army of 18,000 soldiers besieged an Austrian town that had no defences whatsoever. The town council met to discuss how to surrender. Just then an elderly man, the dean of the town church, reminded the council that it was Easter and suggested that they hold the usual Easter services and put the problem in God’s hands. The council took his advice, went to the church and rang the church bell to assemble the townsfolk for worship. Napoleon’s forces heard the joyful ringing of the bells and concluded that the Austrian forces had arrived to rescue the town. Immediately, they broke camp and beat a retreat, and the town was saved. ... Read more .

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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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