This Sunday we come to the end of what we call the ‘liturgical year.’ We call this Sunday the feast of Christ the King. We see two images of Christ in today’s reading. In the second reading Paul gives us his vision of the Cosmic Christ. “Christ is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created; things visible and things invisible – all things were created through him and for him. Christ is before all things and in him all things hold together – for in Christ the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things.” (more…)
Archive for the ‘Homily’ Category
Homily – November 21
Sunday, November 21st, 2010Homily – October 31
Sunday, October 31st, 2010The people who lived at the time of Jesus and for hundreds of years before had a simple view of what we call cosmology. Have you ever looked up at the blue sky on a perfectly cloudless day? The sky looks like an upside down cup, like a canopy covering the earth. That’s just about how those people saw things. The sky was like a ceiling and above the ceiling was water. It was known as the waters above whereas the seas were known as the waters below. Rain came when God opened the heaven’s floodgates to water the earth so the earth could be productive. They saw no connection between sun and moon. God made the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night and the stars were just there. Yet people had a great sense of reverence for God’s creation. For them the heavens proclaimed the glory of God, for them everything gave witness to the wonder of God and spoke to them of God. (more…)
Homily – October 24
Sunday, October 24th, 2010We’ve just listened to another great parable of Jesus. We can just imagine these two men approaching the temple. We can wonder what was it that brought them to this house of God, this house of prayer. We can just hear the Pharisee singing his own praises. He was a faithful Jew. He kept the law and was faithfully observant; he fasted on the days commanded, he supported the temple financially with his tithing. He felt good about himself. He was sure God was pleased with his way of life. He topped off his litany of self praise by thanking God he was not like other people, people he listed as thieves, rouges and adulterers. He was especially grateful he had nothing in common with that tax collector hanging around the back of the temple. (more…)
Homily – October 17
Sunday, October 17th, 2010Jesus tells this parable to encourage all those who have lost heart and are tempted to give up on praying. We can remember his promise: for everyone who knocks the door will be open, everyone who searches will find, everyone who asks will be answered. We remember the promise but we wonder if it was meant for us. We can remember knocking til our knuckles were bare, asking til we were hoarse, we remember searching in vain and we wonder what’s going on here. Today’s gospel encourages us not to give up. If an unfeeling, unjust judge will give way to the unrelenting demands of a widow, a non person, how much more will God listen to the prayers of those he has embraced as his cherished sons and daughters. (more…)
Homily – October 10
Saturday, October 9th, 2010The obvious lesson from today’s scripture is the importance of showing gratitude. Naaman wants to shower Elisha with gifts and the Samaritan returns praising God for God’s kindness. He bows to the ground and thanks Jesus from the bottom of his heart. We are a blessed people and as I’ve said so many times we must try to develop an attitude of gratitude for all the blessings with which we have been blessed.
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Founded by St. Paul of the Cross, every Passionist takes a special vow to spend his or her energies in promoting remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus, the memory of the Cross, and reflection of the meaning of the Cross for the world.
