Homilies

An Irrevocable Future is Born! Matthew 1:1-25 On this holy night, the “Silent Night” of Jesus’ birth, the Church reads a Gospel that many of us are tempted to skim: names, generations, ancestral lines. Yet Matthew insists that Christmas, the birth of Jesus, must begin here. Before angels sing and shepherds run, before the baby Jesus is born, a history is told. Because tonight is not about escape from the messiness of the world—it is about God entering it, carrying all its weight. Matthew narrates that God works through history, not around it. This genealogy is not tidy. It is marked by scandal, exile, brokenRead More →

Joseph’s Sunday: Faithful Obedience as our only Answer to Crisis Isaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew:18-24 This fourth Sunday of Advent presents us with a crisis situation longing for resolution. It further presents two possible solutions, either human or divine; a “yes” response based on faith and absolute trust in God, or a “no” response because of the fear of the powers that be, and a distrust of God’s power and fidelity. Political and military powers surround King Ahaz. He sees the imminence of an attack and destruction of his people, with no military power of his own to push back. He retires in defeat. HeRead More →

REJOICING AND HOPING Isaiah 35:1–6a, 10; James 5:7–10; Matthew 11:2–11 These days, many prefer to be mournful instead of hopeful, sorrowful rather than joyful. Who can blame them given the state of our tragic world, poverty-stricken families, toxic relationships, and exploitative politics – “man is wolf to man”. Whatever you may be going through, and whatever is going through you: Rejoice! The Lord is already at work in you and in the world to bring about the kind of changes you want; he wants you to be part of the change you expect to see, beginning with asking you to wear hopeful looks and displayRead More →

We celebrate Salvation Day and NOT Doom’s Day: Heaven or Hell depends on you! Malachi 3:19-20a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19 Nigerians are very daring and creative people. Not only on earth, but in Heaven above and in Hell below. Listen to this story about Nigerian bravery. I’ve been laughing since I got this joke…..but are we really this bad? ANGELS: Father! We are tired of these Nigerians in heaven. GOD: What have they done this time? ANGEL: Everything!They don’t listen to instructions. They don’t obey traffic rules. They don’t wait for their turn in anything. They are completely reckless! GOD: Then we better sendRead More →

THE FEAR OF SIN BECAUSE OF THE LOVE OF GOD 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; Lk 20:27-38 “An unexamined life is not worth living,” says Socrates. Roman Catholic liturgical circle takes seriously this saying of Socrates, so she devotes time to the examination or thinking about human life, not just terrestrial life, which is the subject of examination by Socrates, the Catholic Church explores what will happen to human life after its departure from this mundane world; she does this to prepare for life beyond this material world. De novissimis – the last things – instead of a literal translation – the newRead More →

All Souls’ Day: Praying to God on Behalf of the Dead A woman lost her only son to the cold hands of death and she was unconsolable. On the day of the funeral, she wouldn’t allow the body of her dead child to be buried; she held tightly to it. Her only condition for the funeral to go ahead was for her to be buried with her child. Some men were appointed to restrain her while the body of the dead child was yanked from her and taken for burial. The corpse was lowered into a six-feet grave. The men restraining the woman inside theRead More →

“Justice” as Equal Right to Salvation Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14 Today, the book of Sirach addresses the question of favoritism: Does God love some people to the exclusion of other people? Why are some people rich and others poor? How come some persons keep God’s commandments and others do not: that is, some are virtuous and others immoral? Or, why did God fight on the side of Moses and Israel against the Amalekites last Sunday? These questions have plagued generations of believers and have divided Christendom and Christians on how to respond appropriately to them.  We now present a JewishRead More →

Faith: Curing the Human Appetite for War Exodus 17:8–13; 2 Timothy 3:14–4:2; Luke 18:1–8 How does one preach a homily on a reading where God seems to take sides in a war? Our first reading tells us God fought for Israel… and ordered the destruction of the Amalekites? What do we do with that? Because if we take that literally — if we stop right there — then the God of Exodus begins to look like the same God people invoke today to justify genocide, invasion, or massacre. Can God — the Creator of life — take pleasure in death? Can the God who savesRead More →

THE FORGOTTEN BATTLE: YOUR SOUL IS MORE IMPORTANT 2 Kings 5:14-17; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19 Samaria, the capital of Israel, came into international prominence with the Assyrian invasion and the exile of Israelites to Nineveh in 721 B.C. In those days, when a capital city and its king are captured, the battle is over. So, like most capitals of many nations, to conquer Israel, its capital Samaria had to fall. The difference, however, was that the destruction of Samaria, by the Assyrians, was more than a material destruction, the destruction was aimed at her soul and mind, the transplantation of a new mindset andRead More →