02/21/10 Suffering: The Heart of Belief

Homily from the First Sunday of Lent.

"When God looks at our suffering, when He looks at our pain, it's not like He stays aloof and says, "Seriously, why are you getting all worked up?" When Jesus encounters death the first time He cries, the second time, He dies. Why? Why does Jesus go into the desert to be tempted every way that we are? So that we can learn to trust Him."

Mass Readings from February 21, 2010:
Deuteronomy 26:4-10
Romans 10:8-13
Luke 4:1-13

02/17/10 Let Go and Grab On

Homily from Ash Wednesday.

"The Church says this, 'You guys, if you want, today you can let go and God will be there. If you want, whatever is killing you, whatever is causing anxiety in your life, whatever is stressing you out, whatever might be choking your soul to death, if you want to, you can let go of it, and guess what? When you let go, God will be there.'"

Mass Readings from Wednesday, February 17, 2009:
Joel 2:12-18
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

02/14/10 Say What You Need to Say

Homily from the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

"If I pursue fun or pursue laughter in order to forget the bigger things, the absolutes, things like beauty, and truth, and compassion, and the fact that 30,000 kids die every day, if I use laughter to forget about things that are important like joy or love or death, then woe to me: because I might spend my whole life going after the next laugh and missing the whole point of life."

Mass Readings from February 14, 2010:
Jeremiah 17:5-8
1 Corinthians 15:12,16-20
Luke 6:17,20-26

02/07/10 "Let Me Set You Free."

Homily from the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

"'Do not be afraid: because I am bigger than your weakness. Do not be afraid: because I am more powerful than your sin. Do not be afraid: because my love is greater...so much greater...than whatever failure you may have done.'"

Mass Readings from February 7, 2010:
Isaiah 6:1-8
1 Corinthians 15:1-22
Luke 5:1-11

01/31/10 Self-Giving Love

Homily from the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

"Our vocation is love. Man's highest destiny, male and female, is love. That doesn't mean that your highest destiny is to fall in love: it means that your highest destiny is to make yourself into a gift for the other."

Mass Readings from January 31, 2010:
Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
Luke 4:21-30