Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 21, 2024
Sunday Homilies
You may have been aware that the priests of the diocese were taking part in our annual convocation this past week. In addition, I attended a meeting of the Diocesan Pastoral Council in Springfield yesterday. And some months ago, there was a group of priests set up to study what you might call the use of priest energy in the 28 counties of our diocese. They gave us some interesting figures. First of all, that our weekend Mass schedule is such that we are ready for 112,000 people every weekend. The fact is, however, that we have only about 36,000 people at weekend Mass in our 129 parishes. So...
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Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday Homilies
As I think of a word by which to sum up all of the scriptures today, I believe that word is denial. Denial is a very common aspect of our consciousness. We decide that there are many, many things in life we would prefer to avoid. And so we exercise denial over them. One example is in the letter of James. We have here the image of a brother or sister, and we need to remember those words, "brother" and "sister" who does not have enough to eat or to wear. Denial puts distance between ourselves and this person whom we could help. Somehow we manage to say to ourselves, "It does not concern me. I...
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Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday Homilies
Well, here we are, gathered together in one place. Someone once said that the church could be described as "Here comes everybody." Because we understand this assembly is for everyone. We think in territorial terms, and we say that the people in a particular territory who are Catholic Christians come to this particular assembly or church, because they are members of this particular parish. And we know that we are to find out who we really are when we come together for this assembly, for the Sunday Eucharist, on which we give thanks for the resurrection of Jesus on a Sunday. But there are many...
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Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday Homilies
Have you ever had the experience of someone telling you a joke and you had to think about it for a little while before you got it? I'm thinking about something which I would say is not strictly a joke; it was an exchange between me and a student at a school I ran. This was about 30 years ago. And I asked a student, "What is a defibrillator?" And the student replied, "Is it a lie detector?" I thought that student was pretty sharp. There are things, and we hear this from Jesus today, that you try to say something and make something sink in. It might take a while. And that's what Jesus is saying...
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Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 25, 2024
Sunday Homilies
I hope that everyone has read the cover story of the latest issue of our diocesan magazine Catholic Times. It has to do with a person who was addicted to pornography, and this person is very, very forthright in describing the things which go on in the minds and in the feelings of all of us. And we realize that this is one example of the way in which people chase after various objects which we think will provide us with contentment and turn out to be anything but. We have read from the Book of Joshua near the end of that book. Joshua was the immediate successor of Moses. Now...
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Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 18, 2024
Sunday Homilies
I believe many of you know, because I've spoken about this at times, that I have been helped greatly by the sciences of psychology and psychiatry. And we recognize that these disciplines are addressing the human person in our complexity. And we are the most complex creatures of God. And I bring this up because our readings today mention wisdom. And I am thinking about one school of thought in psychology and it's okay to have many, many different schools of thought. Again, it's because of our complexity. There are so many ways that we can approach the human person. And I'm thinking about stages...
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Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 11, 2024
Sunday Homilies
Jesus ratchets up the tension as he makes declarations which are hard for most of his listeners to accept.
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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 4, 2024
Sunday Homilies
"I am the bread of life." Some notes on how to receive Holy Communion.
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Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 28, 2024
Sunday Homilies
We will get to "the bread of life" next week. Today, I call on a teddy bear to help us focus on "bearing with" each other (Ephesians).
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Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 21, 2024
Sunday Homilies
Ephesians, on the "assembly," fits in well with the other readings' emphasis on shepherding.
info_outlineEphesians: The nations beyond the Chosen People inherit the Good News of Jesus' death and resurrection.