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Luke 7:31–35 Friends, in today's Gospel, the Pharisees compare the eating habits of John the Baptist, who fasted, and Jesus, who dined with sinners. In the carefully stratified society of Jesus' time, a righteous person would never associate with the unrighteous for fear of becoming unclean.But here is Jesus, scandalizing everyone because he does indeed break down these barriers. How would you feel if you saw me socializing with prostitutes and drug dealers, eating and drinking with terrorists? Would it shock you, dismay you, disappoint you? But this is what Jesus did, precisely because he is the Incarnation of the...

Today’s Sermon builds on the Gospel of the Pharisees accusations that Jesus’ Disciples are not following the ritual dietary laws. He teaches us in scripture that the sin that defiles our being, comes from within- from our hearts.. and from anything that is exterior to us.14 min. YouTube video below:The Goodness- and Dangers- Of The Law

Matthew 16:13-19 Friends, today’s Gospel spells out the importance of Peter’s confession. For it is upon this inspired confession that the Church is built. Not, mind you, on popular opinion, which is shifting and indecisive, and not on personal holiness, which is all too rare. It is built upon the inspired authority of Peter—and I say, “Thank God!” We make this troubling and extraordinary claim that it is through a special charism of the Spirit that Peter and his successors govern the Church. Now, I realize that I have many Protestant readers and that this text has been, between Catholics...

Very insightful Sermon on the Gospel story of Jesus Calming the storm. 3 very important interpretations are fleshed out for the viewer. Possibly interpretations you NEVER thought, or heard of. It's worth the watching.14 min. YouTube link below.Peace In The Storm

A homily from Trinity Sunday that hopefully helps some understand, the most fundamental aspect of the Triune God we believe in. While maybe pedantic for some, hopefully this homily can help some understand the Trinitarian nature of God, in away that we no longer have to pretend knowing such a significant part of our Faith.14 min YouTube link below:Three Ways of Approaching The Trinity

Pope Francis has once again come out strongly against an ordained female diaconate, reiterating what for the Holy Father has been a consistently firm stance against women becoming clergy. .... “You will have many young boys and girls that will come here at the end of next month for World Children’s Day,” O’Donnell said to the pope at one point during the interview. “And I’m curious, for a little girl growing up Catholic today, will she ever have the opportunity to be a deacon and participate as a clergy member in the Church?”"No,” the pope replied.

The Pentecost Mass Sermon reminds ALL of us what an important day it is for the Churc:And it was intended for us to be truly Christian, and how to live it out as well. Tough questions we must ask of ourselves within. 15 min. YouTube video link below. Fruits of The Spirit- Works of The Flesh"

John 15:1-8 Friends, in our Gospel passage today, Jesus declares that he is the vine and we are the branches, adding that“anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither.”It’s odd that we accept this sort of language very easily when it comes to our bodily health,while we balk at it when it comes to spiritual or supernatural health. Doctors and health specialists can say, with a clarity and matter-of-factness, that certain practices and behaviors are absolutely essential if one wants to maintain physical well-being. Unless you eat a balanced, nutritious diet, you...

John 14:27-31a Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us an antidote for fear. Who or what are you afraid of? That is a very important spiritual question. One way to understand our lives is to look at those things that we seek: wealth, power, privilege, honor, pleasure, friendship. But another way is to turn that question around and determine what or who it is that we fear.We might fear the loss of material things, the loss of a job, the loss of physical health, the loss of the esteem of others, the loss of personal intimacy, or ultimately, the loss...

John 14:1-6 Friends, in today’s familiar and majestic passage, Jesus exhorts us to trust him: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”So much depends on the spiritual meaning of the little word “trust.” Jeremiah the prophet laid it out as starkly and simply as possible: “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” And conversely, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, the Lord will be their trust.”What does it mean to trust, to turn one’s...

Mark 16:15-20Friends, today’s Gospel gives us Mark’s very laconic account of the Ascension:“Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God.”We should think of it as Jesus’ going to his heavenly place in order to reign over the earth.Now, don’t literalize this language—there aren’t chairs in heaven—but take it very seriously indeed. What Mark is suggesting is that Jesus is now reigning; he’s in the attitude of a king on his throne. This means that he is directing the things of earth from his place...

John 6:22–29Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the crowd, which he just fed, to believe in him and relate to him personally. Why is this so hard? Well, it is intellectually counterintuitive. Why would this one figure, this Jesus, be the one and only? Why should I choose to relate to him and not the numerous other religious leaders and philosophers? Are all other religious people just lost or misguided? Wouldn’t it just be easier to relate to Jesus’ ideas and principles, to imitate his style of life? Yes, indeed it would, but that’s not what he says. Perhaps we...

John 3:31-61 Friends, today’s Gospel declares that the Son of God does not ration his gift of the Spirit. At the cathedral in Chartres, the figure of Jesus is surrounded by seven doves, symbolizing these seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. The Messiah will be filled up with all of the powers and energies of God’s Spirit.These seven gifts have played a prominent role in our tradition, appearing in theologians as diverse as Gregory the Great, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas. These gifts are signs that the Christian is participating...

John 3:16-21 Friends, our Gospel passage today includes one of Scripture’s best-known and best-loved lines. The Lord is speaking to Nicodemus, and we read, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”Why does the Son come? Because God is angry? Because God wants to lord it over us? Because God needs something? No, he comes purely out of love, out of God’s desire that we flourish: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that...

Luke 1:26-38 Friends, in today’s Gospel from Luke, we find the Annunciation to Mary. Here is what Gabriel said to the Virgin: “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. . . . The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”No first-century Israelite would have missed the meaning here: this child shall be the fulfillment of the promise made to King David.And this means that the child is, in...

Luke 24:13-35 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus enlightens the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Have you ever tried to solve a puzzle and then were surprised when the various pieces suddenly fell into place? Well, this is what happens to these disciples as Jesus begins to speak: “How slow of heart [you are] to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”The whole of Christianity is hanging here in the balance.The disciples didn’t get it at first. They didn’t get the secret, the mystery, the...

John 18:1-40, John 19:1-42 Friends, today’s Gospel is John’s wonderful narrative of Christ’s Passion.On the cross, Jesus entered into close quarters with sin (because that’s where we sinners are found) and allowed the heat and fury of sin to destroy him, even as he protected us.We can see, with special clarity, why the first Christians associated the crucified Jesus with the suffering servant of Isaiah. By enduring the pain of the cross, Jesus did indeed bear our sins; by his stripes we were indeed healed.And this is why the sacrificial death of Jesus is pleasing to the Father. The Father...

John 13:1-15 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. He is giving them a visual proclamation of his new commandment:“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”When we accept this commandment, we walk the path of joy. When we internalize this law, we become happy. And so the paradox: happiness is never a function of filling oneself up; it is a wonderful function of giving oneself away.When the divine grace enters one’s life (and everything we have is the result of divine grace), the task is to contrive a way to...

John 13:21-33, John 13:36-38Friends, today’s Gospel is from John’s account of the Last Supper, where Jesus acknowledges Judas as his betrayer and tells him to get on with it.God’s desires have been, from the beginning, opposed.Consistently, human beings have preferred the isolation of sin to the festivity of the sacred meal. Theologians have called this anomalous tendency the mysterium iniquitatis (the mystery of iniquity), for there is no rational ground for it, no reason for it to exist.But there it stubbornly is, always shadowing the good, parasitic upon that which it tries to destroy. Therefore, we should not be too...

John 10:31-42 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus declares, “The Father is in me and I am in the Father.”Charles Williams stated that the master idea of Christianity is “coinherence,” mutual indwelling. If you want to see this idea concretely displayed, look to the pages of the Book of Kells, that masterpiece of early Christian illumination. Lines interwoven, designs turning in and around on each other, plays of plants, animals, planets, human beings, angels, and saints. The Germans call it Ineinander (one in the other).How do we identify ourselves? Almost exclusively through the naming of relationships: we are sons, brothers, daughters,...