Homilies Along the Way

20th Sunday Ordinary Time, August 18th, 2002--Jesus acts very strangely in today's gospel reading. What happened to the gentle Jesus?

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time, Sept. 1, 2002--When Jesus tells the disciples that he must suffer and die, Peter rebukes Jesus. Peter is told that his attitudes are not of God. Jesus warns anyone who would follow him must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus. Are we up to this daunting command?

26th Sunday Ordinary Time, Sept. 29, 2002--The parable of two brothers who are asked to help their father speaks to us of how our actions speak louder than any words we might utter.

29th Sunday Ordinary Time, October 20th--Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees regarding the payment of tax to Rome. He turns the tables on the Pharisees and challenges them about their rendering to God what belongs to God.

32nd Sunday Ordinary Time, November 10th--The strange parable of the wise and foolish maidens has many levels from which it can be understood. Each offers a different lesson and a different call to hope.

Christ the King, November 24, 2002--A few coins in a bucket or good works alone miss the point of today's Gospel reading. Jesus is challenging us to look at one another in a radically different way.

First Sunday of Lent, March 9, 2003--Jesus went out into the desert to listen to the Father at the beginning of his public ministry. During Lent we are invited to go into the desert and listen to the Father as well. We will find the experience transforming!

Fourteenth Sunday Ordinary Time, July 6, 2003--Jesus had two strikes against him when he began preaching in Nazareth. He was one of them, the carpenter, an ordinary person in an ordinary town. He also was revealing a vision of reality that threatened to turn their lives upside down. The natural reaction was to oppose him. Is our reaction any different?

September 7, 2003 Today's Gospel is about a man who could neither hear nor speak. Jesus healed him by telling him to be open. That is a lesson from which we can all learn.

September 28, 2003 -- 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time God takes sin so seriously that Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, was nailed to the cross for our sin. Do we take sin as seriously as it should be taken?

November 9, 2003 -- Feast of the Dedication of Lateran Basilica Why is the dedication of a church so important that it would be given a major feast day? Perhaps what is being celebrated is a lot more than just the dedication of a church building!

July 11, 2004 -- 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time A closer look at the parable of the Good Samaritan

August 1, 2004 -- 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. If God puts us on Earth for a specific purpose, are we spending the few years we are given achieving that purpose?

February 6, 2005 -- 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time. You are the light of the world! Just what does that mean to you and I?

July 3, 2005--13th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Jesus speaks of easy yokes and light burdens. Yet, life seems to give us burdens that are heavy and yokes that are oppressive.

July 24, 2005--16th Sunday in Ordinary Time. What is your hearts deepest desire? What is your pearl of great price? How does it relate to the Kingdom of God?

August 14, 2005--20th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Another look at the gospel reading for the 20th Sunday. How do we understand Jesus' remarks to the Canaanite woman?

September 25, 2005--25th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Letting go of the obstacles to grace in our life is necessary if we want to be filled with God's grace. Only an empty cup can be filled...

February 18, 2007 -- 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Is Jesus for real when he tells us to love our enemies?

Epiphany 2008. Can people see that we are disciples of Jesus by the way we glow with the light of Christ?