04/27/14 Follow Through: Pick A Target

Homily from the 2nd Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday.

"A lot of times, when it comes to Lent, we just do something that's hard. We don't do the thing that actually helps. Maybe you got to the end of Lent and you were able to check that off the list. "I said I was going to do this [give up chocolate], check! I did it." And that was the whole point, just to do something hard? Or was the point to do something that would actually help you? Giving things up is not bad and doing things that are hard is not bad. Giving up something just to check it off the list because it is hard is not very helpful. But to give up something and to say, 'I'm going to unite the pain that it causes me, even if it is something small, even if it is something great...,' that has power! That's not just hard, it actually helps."

Mass Readings from April 27, 2014:
Acts 2:42-47
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31

04/20/14 What If It's True?

Homily from Easter Sunday.

"This story is true for all of us. How has that story, how has that truth changed my life, how has it changed your life? Because I can hear it and it doesn't do anything. I can even find myself in prison. But here is the crazy thing: if this story is true, you can find yourself imprisoned, and that is not the end. This is amazing! On this day, right now with the bishop there are a number, a bunch of men who were caught in the act, and they are now in prison. And because of Jesus Christ, this story is true: that is not the end, prison is not the end. That's the crazy thing: if this story is true, there is NO prison that can hold you. If this story is true, there is no sickness that can defeat you. And if this story is true, there is no sin that can keep you from God's love. If this story is true, it can change everything about your life. As long as we don't let it get wasted on us."

Mass Readings from April 20, 2014:
Acts 10:34, 37-43
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-9

04/18/14 No One Can Be Holy Without Suffering

Homily from Good Friday.

"[Referring to the "COEXIST bumper sticker, see link below] You have to understand this, that when it comes to all of these ideas, every thing represents a certain idea. But when it comes to the Cross, when it comes to Christianity, it's not an idea! It's reality. There's this crazy difference, yes, we do want to get along, absolutely we want to get along and be peaceful. But at the same time, we realize the crazy difference between the idea of a God, or the idea of a life, or the idea of redemption, or even the idea of forgiveness. Christianity, the Cross at the end of that word, which is beyond an idea, it is reality. The reality of redemption, the reality of forgiveness is the Cross. ... If I want to belong to God and actually be like Him, that means I have to go where He goes. So we actually can't be holy without what? Without the Cross."

Mass Readings from April 18, 2014:
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42

To view the bumper sticker, visit this link: http://www.umdcatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/coexist2.jpg

04/17/14 "Before I Go"

Homily from Holy Thursday.

"We are called to remember Jesus. He is the One that, on this night, at the Last Supper before He left, His whole plan was this: 'I am taking off. But I need my people to know My Love.' That's the gift of the Eucharist. 'I'm taking off. But I need My people to know My healing.' That's the gift of Confession. 'I'm taking off. But I need people to have access to Me and to My Grace. And so I need you men to be priests.' ... It's His work, it's His action. If you get called to be a priest, if you ever get to know one, you realize that that's not his job, that that's not his work, but it's worth an entire life."

Mass Readings from April 17, 2014:
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15

To read the writing of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI that was referred to in the homily, click here!

04/13/14 The Condition

Homily from Palm Sunday.

"If I have a condition when it comes to following Jesus, I am not really following Jesus, am I? If my condition is, 'If You give me what I want, then I will follow You,' I am not really following Him, I am just doing what I want to do. Do you have a condition? When it comes to taking the next step, you're already at Sunday Mass, so well done, maybe that's not your issue. But then do you have a condition when it comes to giving Him more? When it comes to actually really following Him, is there a condition?"

Mass Readings from April 13, 2014:
Isaiah 50:4-7
Philippians 2:6-11
Matthew 26:14-27:66

To watch the video of the priest singing at the wedding, copy this address into your address bar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYKwqj5QViQ

To watch the video of Sr. Cristina singing on the Italian version of The Voice, make sure you are watching with subtitles turned on, and copy this address in your address bar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpaQYSd75Ak

To download the 40 Days of Lenten Mass Readings (now a ONE-page handout!), click here!

04/06/14 The God of the Broken Heart

Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Lent.

"And again, someone could say, 'Honestly? Why [go to Confession]? I'm not telling God anything He doesn't know.' You're right. You won't be telling God anything He doesn't know. And you won't be showing God something that He doesn't already see. What you'll be doing is you'll be giving God something He doesn't already have. Again, when we go to Confession, we are not telling God something He doesn't already know and we're not showing Him something He doesn't already see. We're giving Him something He doesn't already have. What He doesn't have, is He doesn't have your broken heart yet. What He doesn't have is He doesn't have what's dead in my life and what's dead in your life. But in Confession, we actually get to hand that over, what's broken in our heart, to the God of the broken heart."

Mass Readings from April 6, 2014:
Ezekiel 37:12-14
Romans 8:8-11
John 11:1-45

To download the 40 Days of Lenten Mass Readings (now a ONE-page handout!), click here!