Homilies
Divine Mercy Sunday
April 12, 2026
April 12, 2026
Just a little over a week ago 16 children and adults came into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil making them members of our parish family. When those who were baptized all their sins both original and personal were washed away. The Sacrament of Baptism is not only the gateway sacrament meaning it’s received before any other sacraments can be conferred it’s also the Church’s primary sacrament of forgiveness of sins.
Unfortunately for these new members of the Church as well as for all of us the new life we received at our baptism doesn’t wash away the frailty and weakness of our human nature, nor our inclination to sin. This proclivity toward sin, also known as concupiscence, is a part of our everyday lives and entails the human struggle of continual conversion toward holiness and eternal life. Needless to say then we’re all sinners, in fact we sin every day and as a result we need to develop a deep sorrow for our sins and regularly seek God’s forgiveness in confession.
In the OT the Jews offered animal sacrifices continually as atonement for their sins. Also as part of the Passover the Jewish people offered an unblemished male lamb as they escaped sinful Egypt through the strength and guidance of Yahweh on their journey to the Promise Land. They slaughtered and ate the paschal lamb and placed its blood on the lintels and doorposts of their houses marking them as a sign to be “passed over” by the destroying angel.
But in the fullness of time God sent his only Son Jesus, the 2nd person of the Blessed Trinity, to assume a human nature which could suffer and to die on the cross as a perpetual expiation for humanity’s sins. In doing so Jesus is the fulfillment of the unblemished male paschal lamb whose blood was shed on the altar of the cross which won our redemption. Consequently at our baptism our souls were marked not with the blood of an animal but with an indelible character signifying our adoption as a child of God.
Catholics commemorate this victorious event every Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter season. Just as the Israelites ate the paschal lamb and the God given manna in the desert to sustain their bodies on their sojourn to the Promise Land here on earth so does Jesus give us his precious body and blood to nourish and sustain our souls marked at our baptism on our earthly journey toward eternal life with God in heaven.
Today many people don’t consider sin for what it truly is. If they actually think and believe they do things wrong they view the things they do wrong as simple mistakes, not sins. But sin is a reality. Sin is an offense against God which impairs our communion with him, with our neighbor and with the Church and her members.
Sin is very subtle. It injures the soul but it’s not like a physical injury. When one say hits their thumb with a hammer you know because you can feel it. But when one commits a sin you don’t physically feel anything and that’s what makes it so subtle. I guess if an unbeliever recognizes doing something wrong they might feel bad for what they did for a bit but that’s about it.
As I’ve mentioned before the human person is an en-fleshed spirit, a perfectly integrated body/soul composite meaning we’re not just composed of flesh and blood but also of spirit, a soul lives within us. Consequently, the Catholic Church has 2 sacraments aimed at healing the human person, the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick for healing the body and the Sacrament of Penance to heal the soul by forgiving sins committed after Baptism.
The grace of the Sacrament of Penance is multivalent. In this sacrament we experience the boundless mercy of God as we obtain pardon from God for the sins and offenses committed against him, we’re reconciled with those whom we’ve sinned against and with the Church herself whom we wounded by our sins and the wounds we inflicted upon our souls are healed.
This sacrament also give us the grace of fortitude which helps us to resist future temptations.
In our gospel today we hear these words from St. John, “Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me so I send you. And he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are retained.”
This is one of the best passages of Sacred Scripture where the Catholic Church derives her teachings on the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation wherein Catholics receive absolution from the priest acting in persona Christi for sins committed after baptism.
The Church teaches only God can forgive sins. But by virtue of his divine authority Jesus, as prescribed in this passage from John’s gospel, has entrusted the exercise of this power of absolution for sins to the apostolic ministry. This divine authority entrusted to his apostles continues to be exercised today by our bishops, the successors to the apostles, who are assisted by priests. Jesus forgives sins, a divine action, through the instrument of human priests in the sacrament of confession.
The main reason I preached the homily series on the Decalogue was to help identify sins one may have committed they were unaware of so that they could make a good confession and cleanse their soul of sin. It’s much better to know what sins we commit now so we can be sorry for them, confess them, be forgiven and with the help of God’s multivalent sacramental grace to try not to commit them again which will lessen our purgatory.
As a reminder reconciliation with God and the Church entails the penitent to make a thorough examination of conscience, to be truly sorry for the sins identified meaning a sincere effort not to commit those sins again, confess all those sins to the priest, yes you must confess them all, receive absolution from the priest and perform the penance he prescribes.
Personally I’ve always felt better after going to Confession and receiving God’s mercy knowing my sins have been forgiven. Just from a mere psychological standpoint confession of sins is liberating as it facilitates spiritual healing and reconciliation with one another.
Every sacrament is a powerful encounter with Jesus Christ. Today is Divine Mercy Sunday which was established by St. John Paul II on the same day he canonized St. Faustina Kowalska. St. Faustina wrote an extensive diary journaling about her intimate experiences of our suffering but merciful Savior. Paragraph 699 is one of the most important passages in St. Faustina’s Diary, when Jesus tells her: I desire the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the Fount of My Mercy.
The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet.
Ok what this means is on Divine Mercy Sunday those who go to confession and receive Holy Communion will receive a special grace which is nothing less than the equivalent of a complete renewal of baptismal grace in the soul which is the remission of all sins and here’s the bonus all punishment due to sin. Our souls become as clean and pure as on the day we were baptized; a soul that’s perfectly conformed and configured to sanctity; a soul that is ready for possible instant entrance into heaven. For most all of us this means the slate of our soul is wiped clean. [well at least until we leave here and head home] All jokes aside this is a huge grace!
Yes we’re all sinners; yes we stain our souls as we offend God and one another. But today on Divine Mercy Sunday the Church entreats us to realize God’s mercy is greater than any sin or collection of sins we may ever commit. And receiving God’s mercy has been made so easy and so accessible. All we have to do is go to Confession and receive the grace of the sacrament, that infusion of God’s divine life, which you cannot get just by telling God you’re sorry.
Children let’s thank Jesus for this great gift. May we avail ourselves often, at least once a month, to this source of grace so that we may enjoy God’s divine mercy and peace; the peace and mercy Jesus won for us through his passion, death and resurrection that we celebrate now during this beautiful Easter season. For as our responsorial psalm today says give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting and his mercy endures forever.
Easter Sunday – Deacon Steve
April 5, 2026
April 5, 2026
Since I had a couple requests for a written copy of last week’s homily, I’m going to try and re-transcribe a copy here.
I know we’ve had complaints about doing Latin. Well, saying a few more Latin words is not making it a Latin mass. So anyway, here comes more Latin, today I want to talk about the church teaching of Extra ecclesium, nulla Salus. I hear you all now “Geez, Deacon, what does that mean?” Yeah, I know what you mean, I spent three weeks learning to say those four words. I’m going to explain them, but before I do, I want to put a disclaimer out there. This, world, not just our nation, but this world, has become extremely polarized. And I will give you a few examples here, if someone was to say, I love vanilla ice cream, somebody else will say, I guess you hate chocolate. No, that’s not what I said, I said, I love vanilla. We also get the complaint that since the church doesn’t accept homosexual marriage. That we Catholics must hate the gays. No – that is not what that means. You can even go into war scenarios, you know, maybe say “I think Israel has a right to defend themselves.” Someone might quickly shout out “Oh, I guess you hope all the Gazan babies need to be starved to death.” No, that’s not what I said, right? We polarize everything, everything. It’s easy because, you know, we just take whatever you say and spin it around and make it hatred. Now I say that because when I explain these four words, the first thing most people want to do is polarize them. What do these four words mean? Outside the church, there is no salvation. I guess you mean all the Baptists are going to hell Deacon. No, don’t polarize it. Only Catholics get to go to heaven. No, don’t polarize it. Okay, but we do need to understand, and we do need to accept this as a teaching of the church. The first account quoted comes from today’s first reading where Peter tells the apostles after Jesus had gone, about the things He had done and the things they had done. Then he says “Jesus commissioned us.” Peter’s talking about them, the first apostles. The apostles who would become the first bishops. Now in 249AD is When Saint Cyril coined the phrase of outside the church, there is no salvation. For so many years, up until the 1960s when Vatican II happened it was a hard truth not to be questioned. It wasn’t meant to be exclusionary, to be prudish or elitist. But for many years, many in the Church expressed it in a manner that only Catholics can get to heaven. There are still a few hold-outs that still teach it as an absolute. Funny thing – for the last 500 years the Protestants were taught just the opposite. If you are Catholic, you don’t get to make it to heaven so there again – things being polarized. So this teaching from 250ish had been used almost like as if it was a weapon for 1950 years, mainly because the Church didn’t do well of explaining what it trulyt means. So if it’s not meant to be exclusionary, what does it mean then, Deacon? The Church relates three scriptures to explain the relationship of salvation to the Catholic Church. The first is from Saint Mark (16:16), He who believes and is baptized will be saved. The next is Luke (13: 3), Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And then the big one, John 6. If you don’t know what it means, learn it, this is one we need to learn. Everybody learns what John 3:16, but we need to learn John 6, y’all, “He who eats my flesh… I will raise him up on the last day.” Jesus didn’t say, think about it. If you remember he lost 70 disciples that day. He didn’t call them back and say I meant “act” like you are eating my flesh or “pretend” He left His statement stand as fact. With these three pieces of scripture in mind, in the first couple 100 Years of the church, where was the only place you can get baptized? The presbyter is what they called him then; we now call them a priest. And yes, you can get baptized in many different places by people other than priests or deacons now, but back then there was only the one place. Where is the only place you can get your sins forgiven? Again, the priest. Where’s the only place you can get the body of Christ, literally do as John 6 tells us and eat his flesh? Yes – again, only in the Church. Now I keep purposely leaving the word Catholic out when I can. That’s because the truest form of Church is only the Catholic Church. Don’t polarize it though. Okay, so what does that mean? Does that mean the only place we can be saved is the Catholic Church? No, but kinda… yes. The key here is not only members but only through the Church’s commission to carry on Jesus’ mission here on earth is a place that graces can come from. The truth is – for any Protestants who make it heaven, they don’t make it there by being a good Baptist or Methodist, they get there by the Grace of God, again the well spring for that grace is the sacraments and those sacraments are kept alive on this earth by the Church. Make no mistake, there is only one source for that grace, if there’s anything, we need to polarize, we need to polarize the one and only source of grace. We don’t get to heaven by being a good Catholic. A Baptist doesn’t get to heaven by being the best Baptist. A Muslim – who can get to heaven – doesn’t make it to heaven because they’re a good Muslim. Anybody who makes to heaven makes it for one reason, and I’ll gladly polarize where the grace comes from and that is Christ on the cross, that’s it. Being Catholic doesn’t promise us the grace, and don’t polarize this, but we have to do something. No, I didn’t just say we can earn our way to heaven. But we can’t just sit here and do nothing. Jesus didn’t give us the Beatitudes to ignore them. God didn’t give us the commandments to ignore them. When Jesus said you must do these three things in Mark, Luke and John, the only place this exists is the Church. Again, I’m not trying to be prudish, not trying to say elitist or exclusionary, but the only place who has that unbroken chain from Peter in today’s first reading to his succesors to the next and the next – remember we know the name of each Pope, from Peter down to Leo. Those who laid their hands on the other bishops, we know their names because they exist. That’s why the Church teaches that there’s no salvation outside of the church, the truth that Protestants don’t like to hear. So what about those outside the Church? The Catechism says they can still make it to heaven. Because we don’t know what God’s will is. The Church tells us of how when we get baptized, if we confess our sins and repent and if we receive the body of Christ that we can receive that grace from the cross. The Church uses a term Invincibly Ignorant. It basically means for those who do not know the truth, they will not be accountable of the truth. When someone is raised to disbelieve a certain teaching, unless they are ever taught the truth, they will not be accountable for that truth. Now this is the part that might strike a nerve. We all know someone who has left the Church. What about Catholics who leave the Catholic Church? Y’all there’s no way to make it nice. I know here’s Easter all the pretty dresses and happiness of the celebration, and the deacon is talking about going to hell. But as a Catholic, we are taught the truth. The truth is Christ Jesus, the cross, Grace for salvation, all that grace only from there, and that it all comes back together right here on this altar. That the truth we are taught. And for the Catholics who leave the Church, those Catholics who reject any of that, they put their souls in danger. This is what we need to tell our brothers and sisters, children, and even our parents. This is what we need to teach our children, and we need to remind them, there’s only one place that does it right. The one thing we do need to polarize is where that grace comes from and the one place the Church teaches that we can get it from.
I know we’ve had complaints about doing Latin. Well, saying a few more Latin words is not making it a Latin mass. So anyway, here comes more Latin, today I want to talk about the church teaching of Extra ecclesium, nulla Salus. I hear you all now “Geez, Deacon, what does that mean?” Yeah, I know what you mean, I spent three weeks learning to say those four words. I’m going to explain them, but before I do, I want to put a disclaimer out there. This, world, not just our nation, but this world, has become extremely polarized. And I will give you a few examples here, if someone was to say, I love vanilla ice cream, somebody else will say, I guess you hate chocolate. No, that’s not what I said, I said, I love vanilla. We also get the complaint that since the church doesn’t accept homosexual marriage. That we Catholics must hate the gays. No – that is not what that means. You can even go into war scenarios, you know, maybe say “I think Israel has a right to defend themselves.” Someone might quickly shout out “Oh, I guess you hope all the Gazan babies need to be starved to death.” No, that’s not what I said, right? We polarize everything, everything. It’s easy because, you know, we just take whatever you say and spin it around and make it hatred. Now I say that because when I explain these four words, the first thing most people want to do is polarize them. What do these four words mean? Outside the church, there is no salvation. I guess you mean all the Baptists are going to hell Deacon. No, don’t polarize it. Only Catholics get to go to heaven. No, don’t polarize it. Okay, but we do need to understand, and we do need to accept this as a teaching of the church. The first account quoted comes from today’s first reading where Peter tells the apostles after Jesus had gone, about the things He had done and the things they had done. Then he says “Jesus commissioned us.” Peter’s talking about them, the first apostles. The apostles who would become the first bishops. Now in 249AD is When Saint Cyril coined the phrase of outside the church, there is no salvation. For so many years, up until the 1960s when Vatican II happened it was a hard truth not to be questioned. It wasn’t meant to be exclusionary, to be prudish or elitist. But for many years, many in the Church expressed it in a manner that only Catholics can get to heaven. There are still a few hold-outs that still teach it as an absolute. Funny thing – for the last 500 years the Protestants were taught just the opposite. If you are Catholic, you don’t get to make it to heaven so there again – things being polarized. So this teaching from 250ish had been used almost like as if it was a weapon for 1950 years, mainly because the Church didn’t do well of explaining what it trulyt means. So if it’s not meant to be exclusionary, what does it mean then, Deacon? The Church relates three scriptures to explain the relationship of salvation to the Catholic Church. The first is from Saint Mark (16:16), He who believes and is baptized will be saved. The next is Luke (13: 3), Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And then the big one, John 6. If you don’t know what it means, learn it, this is one we need to learn. Everybody learns what John 3:16, but we need to learn John 6, y’all, “He who eats my flesh… I will raise him up on the last day.” Jesus didn’t say, think about it. If you remember he lost 70 disciples that day. He didn’t call them back and say I meant “act” like you are eating my flesh or “pretend” He left His statement stand as fact. With these three pieces of scripture in mind, in the first couple 100 Years of the church, where was the only place you can get baptized? The presbyter is what they called him then; we now call them a priest. And yes, you can get baptized in many different places by people other than priests or deacons now, but back then there was only the one place. Where is the only place you can get your sins forgiven? Again, the priest. Where’s the only place you can get the body of Christ, literally do as John 6 tells us and eat his flesh? Yes – again, only in the Church. Now I keep purposely leaving the word Catholic out when I can. That’s because the truest form of Church is only the Catholic Church. Don’t polarize it though. Okay, so what does that mean? Does that mean the only place we can be saved is the Catholic Church? No, but kinda… yes. The key here is not only members but only through the Church’s commission to carry on Jesus’ mission here on earth is a place that graces can come from. The truth is – for any Protestants who make it heaven, they don’t make it there by being a good Baptist or Methodist, they get there by the Grace of God, again the well spring for that grace is the sacraments and those sacraments are kept alive on this earth by the Church. Make no mistake, there is only one source for that grace, if there’s anything, we need to polarize, we need to polarize the one and only source of grace. We don’t get to heaven by being a good Catholic. A Baptist doesn’t get to heaven by being the best Baptist. A Muslim – who can get to heaven – doesn’t make it to heaven because they’re a good Muslim. Anybody who makes to heaven makes it for one reason, and I’ll gladly polarize where the grace comes from and that is Christ on the cross, that’s it. Being Catholic doesn’t promise us the grace, and don’t polarize this, but we have to do something. No, I didn’t just say we can earn our way to heaven. But we can’t just sit here and do nothing. Jesus didn’t give us the Beatitudes to ignore them. God didn’t give us the commandments to ignore them. When Jesus said you must do these three things in Mark, Luke and John, the only place this exists is the Church. Again, I’m not trying to be prudish, not trying to say elitist or exclusionary, but the only place who has that unbroken chain from Peter in today’s first reading to his succesors to the next and the next – remember we know the name of each Pope, from Peter down to Leo. Those who laid their hands on the other bishops, we know their names because they exist. That’s why the Church teaches that there’s no salvation outside of the church, the truth that Protestants don’t like to hear. So what about those outside the Church? The Catechism says they can still make it to heaven. Because we don’t know what God’s will is. The Church tells us of how when we get baptized, if we confess our sins and repent and if we receive the body of Christ that we can receive that grace from the cross. The Church uses a term Invincibly Ignorant. It basically means for those who do not know the truth, they will not be accountable of the truth. When someone is raised to disbelieve a certain teaching, unless they are ever taught the truth, they will not be accountable for that truth. Now this is the part that might strike a nerve. We all know someone who has left the Church. What about Catholics who leave the Catholic Church? Y’all there’s no way to make it nice. I know here’s Easter all the pretty dresses and happiness of the celebration, and the deacon is talking about going to hell. But as a Catholic, we are taught the truth. The truth is Christ Jesus, the cross, Grace for salvation, all that grace only from there, and that it all comes back together right here on this altar. That the truth we are taught. And for the Catholics who leave the Church, those Catholics who reject any of that, they put their souls in danger. This is what we need to tell our brothers and sisters, children, and even our parents. This is what we need to teach our children, and we need to remind them, there’s only one place that does it right. The one thing we do need to polarize is where that grace comes from and the one place the Church teaches that we can get it from.
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
March 29,2026
March 29,2026
Today is the last Sunday of Lent also known as Palm or Passion Sunday. Today we begin the most solemn week of the liturgical year. It’s the time when the Church obliges us to remember and relive the events which brought about our redemption. During Holy Week we accompany Jesus as he treads in agony along the Via Dolorosa, the way of pain, wherein he takes upon himself all our sins and defeats Satan, sin and death itself by his passion, death and resurrection.
Today we see how words can kill. Jesus was condemned to death not by what he did but by the spiteful false testimony of the scribes and Pharisees. So now we look at the 8th Commandment as learn how our words can harm and hurt our neighbor who we’re supposed to love as our self.
First of all 2467 man has a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth and once one comes to know it they are obliged to live it.
God is Truth and 2464 the 8th commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth. 2483 Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to deceive someone. 2484 The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims. 2486 A lie affects one’s ability to know the facts which impairs one’s ability to make good judgments and decisions. Lying also undermines trust and harms relationships.
Other offenses against truth include [1] 2476 making false statements in public and when it’s under oath, perjury. This contributes to the condemnation of the innocent, exoneration of the guilty or the increased punishment of the accused.
[2] 2477 rash judgment is when one mistakenly assumes as true the moral fault of a neighbor
[3] calumny is false statements made which harms the reputation of others
[4] detraction is when one discloses another’s faults to persons who have no need to know them
[5] flattery, excessive praising and bragging and demeaning sarcasm harm truth
2478To avoid rash judgment one should be careful not to always think the worse of our neighbors’ thoughts and actions but try to view them in a favorable way unless otherwise noted.
2492 Everyone should respect a person’s private life and 2479everyone is entitled to the honor of his good name and reputation. 2487 Every offense committed against truth entails the duty of reparation either publicly if the incident was public or if not possible secretly.
Knowing and telling the truth has limits. Discretion is required. 2489 The good and safety of others, respect for privacy and the common good must be taken into consideration. As in the case of detraction, no one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who doesn’t have the need or the right to know it.
2491 This also includes professional secrets – those of politicians, soldiers, physicians, lawyers, a company’s intellectual property or confidential information given under the seal of secrecy must be kept unless doing so would cause grave harm to the one who confided it, to the one who received it or to a third party. 2490 What a penitent confesses in confession and what is discussed in spiritual direction is protected by the sacrament seal of the confessional and although currently there are legislative threats to divulge such confidential matters, they are sacred and cannot ever be violated under any pretext.
2493Society has a right to information based on truth [no fake news].2494 The information provided by the communications media should be conveyed honestly, respecting the rights and dignity of people by 2497 not stooping to defamation of character. 2498Nothing can justify manipulating public opinion through the media.
2499Totalitarian regimes which systematically falsify the truth, exercise political control of opinion through the media, manipulate defendants and witnesses at public trials, attempts to secure their tyranny by spreading disinformation and repressing everything they consider “thought crimes” is condemned. Censorship and hate crime legislation is a way to silence social and political free speech.
If you’ve followed closely this homily series on the Decalogue you will think well Father left out the 6th and 9th commandments which deal with sexual immorality. Well rest assured I’m going to summarize them by just making a couple of points.
[1] God created man in his image and likeness, male and female he created them. Therefore, by natural law there are no other biological alternatives.
[2] Marriage is a divine institution between a biological man and a biological woman. Since it’s a divine construct man in his pride cannot change it. There’s no such thing as same-sex marriage
[3] 2358 Homosexual acts are contrary to the natural law and are gravely sinful. However, as always, we love the sinner but hate the sin and the harm the sin does to one’s soul.
[4] Sexual intercourse is permitted only in the context of marriage, that’s why it’s called the marital act. When a couple gets married the husband gives the exclusive rights to his body to his wife and only to his wife and no one else. The wife gives the exclusive rights to her body to her husband and only to her husband and no one else. No other person has the right to either of their bodies and it’s only when a couple gets married that these rights over their bodies may be granted and exercised. Thus cohabitation or trial marriages is morally wrong. Every marital act is to be open to life without the use of any artificial barrier to fertility.
[5] I think we can all agree purity of mind and heart has never been more difficult than it is today. 2348 Everyone whether single, married, religious or ordained are called to chastity. 2517 The virtue of temperance helps a person govern one’s natural appetite for the pleasures of the senses. The grace of the virtue of temperance assists us in the struggle for purity.
Children ever since The Fall, man is subject to temptation and we commit sin. Today as we recall our Lord’s atoning passion and death let’s on this most holiest of weeks accompany Jesus on his Via Dolorosa and relive and contemplate the events which brought about our redemption.
Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 22, 2026
March 22, 2026
Death and resurrection are the themes that permeate today’s scripture passages. In the first reading God promises restoration from death to life through the words of the prophet Ezekiel “I will open your graves, have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.”St. Paul in today’s epistle assures the early Roman Christians who were facing death by persecution (and us who live in a culture of death today), that the same Spirit Who raised Jesus from the dead and Who dwells within us, will raise our mortal bodies to life on the last day. In today’s gospel through the raising of Lazarus from the dead Jesus demonstrates his power over death and prefigures his victory over death by his own resurrection.
With that we continue our homily series on the Decalogue with the 5th Commandment. Almighty God has known and loved every person before he ever considered creating the universe. Gen 1:27 God created man in his own image: in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. Jer. 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you. 2319 Every human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, is sacred unto the Lord and is loved by God. As such God is the author, giver and sustainer of all human life. Therefore 2261the deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person who’s loved by God from all eternity and to the charity inherent in the golden rule.
2269 The 5th commandment forbids doing anything with the intention of directly or indirectly bringing about an innocent person’s death. 2265 Legitimate defense and 2263 the preservation of one’s own life can be not only a right but a grave duty for whoever is responsible for the lives of others and the common good. 2264 Therefore someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he’s forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow 2321 or to render an unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm. However, one is not exonerated from grave offense if he has acted in a way that brings about someone’s death, even without the intention to do so e.g. someone is killed because of reckless drunk driving.
2266 Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense. The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending innocent human lives against an unjust aggressor. If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect public safety from such an aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means. In other words use of the death penalty here in the U.S. should be extremely rare whereas this may not be the case to safeguard people in under developed 3rd world countries.
Anger is a God-given emotion and in certain circumstances is appropriate. However, it’s gravely sinful if it reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound someone. The Lord says, “Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.” Mt.5:22
2303 Hatred of neighbor is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil. It’s a grave sin when one deliberately desires him serious harm. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” Mt.5:44-45
The Church teaches God is omniscient, he knows everything. He knows when every life begins. The Church teaches at the moment of conception God infuses the conceptus with a human soul meaning at the very instance of conception the conceptus is a human being which 2270 must be respected and protected as having the rights of a person including the inviolable right to life. The conceptus is not just a blob of cells as society wants us to believe; it’s a human being!
2271 The Church from her inception has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion as gravely contrary to the moral law. The Didache, the first catechism of the Church dating back to the late 1st century or early 2nd century states “You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.” Sinful culpability includes any direct or indirect cooperation in the procurement of an abortion.
2273 The inalienable right to life of every person must be recognized and respected by society and the political authority. Unfortunately, although guaranteed by our nation’s Constitution here in the U.S. and in many other countries this basic human right to life is violated with pro abortion legislation which must be opposed.
2274 Since the embryo is considered a human person he must be cared for as any other human being. Prenatal diagnosis is morally licit if it’s directed toward safeguarding or healing. Modern medical technology amazingly can now perform surgery on an embryo in-utero. However, it’s gravely immoral when prenatal examinations are done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion depending upon the results. A great majority of downs syndrome embryos are aborted.
2275 Regardless of the healing benefits it’s immoral to produce human embryos intended for medical research. Also attempts aimed at producing human beings according to sex or other predetermined qualities is contrary to the dignity of the human person. This also includes alternative reproductive technologies such as IVF, in-vetro fertilization. The Church opposes IVF and teaches every human life is to be the result of marital love between husband and wife and is not to be “produced” in a laboratory. Multiple embryos are produced and frozen in the IVF procedure many of which invariably will not be used resulting in abortion.
The Catholic Church teaches all human life is sacred and should be preserved from conception until natural death. Euthanasia is defined as an action or omission that intentionally causes death. 2277 Whatever its motives euthanasia, also known as mercy killing, whether it’s to eliminate suffering, putting an end to the lives of the handicapped, sick, or dying persons is morally unacceptable and constitutes murder.
2279 Even if death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted. The use of painkillers to alleviate the sufferings of the dying, even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in conformity with human dignity if death is not willed as either an end or a means, but only foreseen and tolerated as inevitable. Palliative care should be encouraged.
However, 2278 discontinuing medical procedures that are financial burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate. Again one does not will to cause death; one’s inability to impede death is merely accepted.
2280 We’re obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for the salvation of our souls. We’re stewards, not owners, of the life God, has entrusted to us. 2281 Suicide contradicts the natural inclination to preserve one’s life. 2282 Severe psychological distress which causes grave fear of hardship, suffering or torture can diminish the culpability of one who commits suicide. 2283 God has extraordinary means known to him alone to offer redemption to everyone so we shouldn’t despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. The Church encourages the faithful to pray for persons who have committed suicide as we should pray for the repose of the soul of all our beloved dead who may still be purgatory.
2290 The virtue of temperance disposes one to avoid every kind of excess namely the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or drugs. Remember all things in moderation.
2292 Scientific, medical or psychological experiments performed on individuals or groups can contribute to healing the sick and the advancement of public health. However, it’s morally illicit if it exposes one to disproportionate or avoidable risks to one’s health and if it takes place without one’s informed consent.
2296 The Church being pro-life encourages organ donation if the donor has given explicit consent and the risks to the donor are proportionate to the good sought for the recipient. One cannot accelerate the time of death in order to harvest the organs.
2300 The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and dignity. The burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy. 2301 Autopsies can be morally permitted for legal inquests or scientific research, i.e. giving the body to science. The Church permits cremation provided it doesn’t demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body. The cremains should be treated like a body and interred intact. Sprinkling of ashes on land or over water or placed in any kind of jewelry is forbidden.
Well that was fun wasn’t it? It’s always fun to talk about death, right? I realize this homily series is delivered like a lecture but I think it’s good to hear some of the catechism as it’s written.
In closing brothers and sisters God out of his great divine love gives life to all men and we’re to respect that love by honoring the life of our neighbors made in his image and likeness. Because of sin man deserves death. But our readings this weekend give us assurance redemption can be ours if we live and die in a state of grace anticipating the resurrection Christ won for all the faithful and which we’ll celebrate in a couple of weeks on Easter Sunday.
Fourth Sunday of Lent – Laetare Sunday
March 15, 2020
March 15, 2020
Our readings this weekend are all about light and darkness, good and evil, the physical and spiritual, God’s ways and man’s ways. In our first reading we hear how God chooses differently than man as he selects David over his older brothers. St. Paul exhorts us to live as children of light for light produces every kind of goodness, righteousness and truth exhorting us to learn how to please God. In the gospel Jesus encounters a man born blind; a man who has experienced physical darkness his entire life. Jesus sees him and heals him of his physical blindness but he doesn’t stop there. Jesus never does things only half way. The blind man is made whole getting a double dose of healing of both his physical and spiritual blindness.
Speaking of spiritual blindness we now continue with our homily series on the Decalogue. Today we’ll examine the 4th Commandment in more depth 2197 which opens the second tablet of the Decalogue addressing how we’re to love our neighbor whereas the first tablet comprising the first 3 commandments deal with proper honor to God himself.
God has willed that after him we should honor our parents. While addressed expressly to children it addresses the order of charity to our neighbor whom we’re to love as our self. It emphasizes the ties of kinship between members of the extended family requiring honor, affection, and gratitude toward elders and ancestors. It also extends to whom God has vested with authority over us for our good such as pupils to teachers, employees to employers, citizens to country, subordinates to leaders.
The 4th commandment demands children to obey their parents which as St. Paul says pleases the Lord Col. 3:20 and doing so 2200 brings a reward: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” Ex. 20:12, Dt 5:16.
2203 In creating man and woman, God instituted the human family. 2202 A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family. 2205 The Christian family as a communion of persons, is a sign and image of the communion of persons of the Blessed Trinity. Married, familial love is to imitate Trinitarian love. 2204 The Christian family constitutes a domestic church 2207 and is the original cell of societal life. It is the family where from childhood one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, respect for one another and make good [and proper] use of authentic human freedom all of which begets healthy communities whereas the breakdown in the traditional nuclear family of husband/father, wife/mother and children begets cultural chaos which unfortunately we witness so much of in society today.
2214 The respect of children, whether minors or adults, for their parents is nourished by the natural affection born of the bond uniting them. 2215 Parental respect derives from the gratitude for the gift of life, their love and their hard work of raising them. 2218 The 4th commandment reminds grown children of their responsibilities toward their parents at every stage of life. As much as they can, they must give parents material and moral support in old age and in times of illness, loneliness, or distress. Sirach 7:27-28. “With all your heart honor your father, and do not forget the birth pangs of your mother. Remember that through your parents you were born; what can you give back to them that equals their gift to you?”
2228 Parental respect and affection are expressed by the care and attention they devote to bringing up their children and providing for their physical and spiritual needs. 2223 The primary role of parents other than providing the basics of food, clothing and shelter is the education of their children which should start in their earliest years. This instruction begins by creating a home environment well suited for education in the virtues, how to pray, teaching the basics of our Catholic faith and for children to discover and appreciate their vocation in life as adopted children of God. Parents are to be good role models for their children.
The parish is the heart of the liturgical life of Christian families which nourishes the spiritual life of the family. It’s also a place which supplements the catechesis of children and parents. You can’t teach what you don’t know. Learning, knowing and living the Catholic faith is vital in living a good moral life and knowing where society departs from it in order to avoid it.
In educating their children 2229 parents have [a fundamental] right to choose a school for their children which corresponds to their own religious and ideological convictions that will best help them in their task as Christian educators e.g Oxrose Academy, Seton homeschools. Public authorities have the duty of guaranteeing this parental right. It’s wrong for schools to impose their secular morality which we know today in many cases contradicts Catholic doctrine.
2230 Adult children have the right to choose their own profession and their state of life. Parents should be careful not to exert [undue] pressure on their children either in the choice of a profession or of a spouse. Of course this doesn’t prevent them from giving their children judicious advice.
2253 Parents should [foster] vocations 2232 to the consecrated life [and] priestly ministry. Parents should respect and promote this call with joy and encourage their children to follow it.
2210 As mentioned earlier the importance of family life and well-being is crucial for the moral health of society. Good families make good citizens. Civil authority should foster, protect, support and strengthen the true nature of traditional marriage and the family, to safeguard public morality, and promote domestic prosperity. It doesn’t take a village, it takes good moral families. 2211 The state has a duty to honor the family, to assist it, and to ensure without excessive interference:
– the freedom to establish a family, have children <exception China>, and bring them up in keeping with the family’s own moral and religious convictions;
– the protection of the stability of traditional marriage and the institution of the nuclear family; so called same sex marriage may be legal but it’s immoral;
– the freedom to profess one’s faith, to hand it on, and raise one’s children in [freedom of not from religion];
– the protection of one’s security and health, especially with respect to dangers like rampant crime, proliferation of illegal drugs and pornography and all woke ideology
2212 The 4th commandment addresses other relationships in society. In our siblings we see the children of our parents; in our [uncles, aunts] cousins, the descendants of our ancestors; in our fellow citizens, the children of our country; in the baptized, the children of our mother the Church; in every human person, a son or daughter of the One who wants to be called “our Father.” In this way our relationships with our neighbors become personal in character which foster love and care for them. All humanity is then seen as one big communion of persons.
2246 It’s a part of the Church’s mission “to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. All authentic authority is derived from and is given to others by God. No one, no entity, no government can command or establish what is contrary to the dignity of human persons and the natural law. The natural law is under severe attack today. St. Paul in 1Tim. 2:2exhorts us to offer prayers and thanksgiving for government leaders and all who exercise authority, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.”
With that said however 2242 the citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. One is not obliged and should not obey an immoral law, e.g. the government mandating certain abortifacient drugs be included in health insurance policies and during covid mandating untested vaccines and the prohibition of going to church. Mt. 22:21 “We must obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29
With that said we need to continue learning more about what the Church teaches about the Decalogue so that we know more about the difference between light and darkness, good and evil, the physical and spiritual, God’s ways and man’s ways which leads ultimately to pleasing God as we strive daily toward holiness of life.
Second Sunday of Lent
March 1, 2026
Ladies and Gentlemen this week we have a really, really big show. In our first reading we have Abram being blessed; in our epistle we have St. Paul preaching about our call to a holy life and in today’s gospel we have the dream team of oldies but goodies Moses and Elijah along with Jesus and his inner circle of Peter, James and John. So yes we have a really, really big show this week. Ok I know that’s a horrible rendition of Ed Sullivan? Sorry!
Anyway we hear of a theophany in today’s gospel. A theophany is a visible manifestation of God to man often accompanied by an extraordinary phenomenon such as fire, clouds, or thunder. But in the case of The Transfiguration it’s the radiant glow of Moses, Elijah and Jesus.
In this theophany we have the old covenant law giver, Moses, and the new covenant law giver, Jesus, who fulfills the old covenant law. This is another good segue into our homily series on the Decalogue with the 2nd and 3rd Commandments today.
2143 The 2nd commandment forbids profaning God’s name which is holy and should be respected. Any and every improper use of God’s name is forbidden. 2162 Blasphemy is the use of the name of God, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints in a disrespectful way. This also includes flippantly saying Jesus Christ, OMG, etc. The gravest violation is GD. Honestly, I can’t stand to hear it. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t go to movies [another is I don’t fund the enemy] because they say it all the time and they curse terribly which also is against this commandment.
The Jews took this commandment very seriously so much so that if a Jew were to say the name Yahweh he would be stoned to death. The use of God’s name should be used only to bless, praise, and glorify his name.
2152 Perjury is when one makes a promise under oath either with no intention of keeping it or afterwards doesn’t keep it. Perjury and swearing false oaths demonstrate a grave lack of respect for the name of God which is holy.
2158 The name is the icon of the person. It should be understood as a sign of the dignity of the one who bears it. 2165 The Church strongly encourages infants be given a Christian name. Their patron saint can be a role model which will encourage them to try to emulate their holy way of life. With this said I encourage you to learn what your name means.
The 3rd Commandment is to keep holy the Sabbath. In the story of creation in the book of Genesis we recall God made the heavens and the earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th, making the Sabbath day holy. 2172 God’s action is the model for human action. If God “rested and was refreshed” on the 7th day, man too ought to rest and should let others rest and be refreshed. The Sabbath brings everyday work to a halt and provides a much needed respite.
2190 The Sabbath, which represented the completion of the first creation, has now been replaced by Sunday, the Lord’s Day, which recalls the new creation inaugurated by Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Inscribed in the human heart by nature, man is to render to God an outward, visible, public and regular worship as a sign of justice and gratitude to God who gives us everything we are and everything we have. 2180 The Church specifies the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass on all Sundays and holy days of obligation. 2181 Unless prevented from attending because of sickness, care of a family member, work or there’s no Catholic church anywhere around those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.
Attendance at Mass is not predicated on whether it’s convenient, fits one’s schedule or if one simply feels like going or not. As I’ve mentioned before the human person has a dual nature, physical and spiritual. So whereas the physical mind may determine one gets little or nothing out of coming to Mass, the spirit, the soul that lives within us, craves coming to Mass and receiving the spiritual food of the body and blood of Christ which nourishes it. Don’t you think your eternal soul deserves at least one good meal a week?
Public worship means we gather together to worship God in church. St. John Chrystostom states: You cannot pray at home as at church, where there is a great multitude, where exclamations are cried out to God as from one great heart, and where there is the union of minds, the accord of souls, the bond of charity, the prayers of the priests.
This negates the adage oh I can worship God in nature or playing golf or any other excuse or substitute. True one can experience God in nature but those who think that deprive their soul of the supernatural power of sacramental grace which is absolutely necessary to live a good and holy life. Also at the consecration of every Mass one is mystically present at the Last Supper; where heaven descends to earth; where angels and the souls of saints surround the altar. So why would anyone not want to be here? Additionally, public worship as a community, as a family affirms the faithful spiritually, emotionally and psychologically. Please watch the short video The Veil Removed and then tell me it’s no big deal to miss going to Mass. Actually after viewing it you’ll never want to miss it!
As mentioned the faithful are to refrain from work on Sundays. Sunday is not the catch all day when we do everything we couldn’t get done during week. Rather it’s a time for worshipping God in church and silent reflection which furthers the growth of one’s interior life. Again Sunday is a day of recreation wherein we re-create ourselves by enjoying rest and leisure activities to cultivate our cultural, social and religious lives. I strongly suggest doing something to make Sunday special such as preparing a special meal, go on a picnic, attend a sporting event or visit a museum in addition to going to Mass. Every family is different so no matter what you decide to do just do it to help to make Sunday the high point of your week.
The Church also recommends Sunday is a day to perform corporal and spiritual works of mercy by devoting time and care to one’s extended families and relatives, often difficult to do on other days of the week. One can also sanctify Sunday by performing good works and humble service to the sick, shut ins and the elderly.
Do yall remember when we had blue laws; when businesses were required to be closed on Sundays? I used to think that was absurd, but I don’t anymore. 2195 Since blue laws have fallen by the wayside we should try our best to avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hinder them from resting and observing the Lord’s Day.
Ok just some additional points: every Friday is a day of penance and sacrifice meaning you’re to give up something calling to mind Jesus gave up everything for you on Good Friday; remember to fast at least one hour from food and drink prior to receiving Holy Communion; it’s disrespectful to arrive late to Mass and leave Mass early-remember Judas left the first Mass early; always be reverent to the Blessed Sacrament by a reverential quiet and to genuflect before entering your pew; to come early to Mass and spend some time in reflective prayer preparing your soul to celebrate Mass and ingest the King of the Universe into your soul; spend time after receiving Holy Communion in quiet prayer and then spend a couple of minutes in thanksgiving after Mass in gratitude for the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist and lastly to reflect on the awesomeness of being present at Holy Mass which truly is the really, really biggest show in the entire universe
First Sunday of Lent
February 22, 2026
February 22, 2026
Our world today like all the ages past has formed a vivid although false image of God. It portrays God as a stern old bearded man with a scowl on his face and a big black ledger with pen and ink ever at the ready to log in our sins and misdeeds at the instant we commit them. Anytime anyone tries to have a little fun, he’d shout “Thou shalt not!”
The theme of this week’s readings is temptation which is a perfect segue into continuing my homily series on the Decalogue. Today we’ll jump all the way up to the 7th and 10th commandments the titles of which are Thou Shall not Steal and Thou Shall not Covet. A more positive way to look at these is to say we should respect the goods of others just as we would want others to respect ours. At any rate we’ll discuss the shall nots but as with every commandment in the catechism, the teaching goes much deeper. This series of homilies are meant to teach and instruct so it may seem as if they’re like lectures. Sorry!
2402 In the beginning God [created the universe and all it contains out of nothing] and entrusted the care of the earth and its resources to man. Thus the goods of creation belong to all of humanity. By God’s benevolence the fruitfulness of the earth has the capacity to satisfy all man’s needs and to sustain all human life from the beginning of time to the end. The universal destination of goods is the principle wherein all the created resources God has given to man are to be shared fairly so that all people may be adequately sustained in their lives. The Church teaches everyone has 2403 the right to private property, but it’s not totally absolute based on this principle of the universal destination of goods.
2401 We all know the 7th commandment forbids theft which includes items borrowed but not returned. The 7th commandment also forbids business fraud; bribery; violating copyrights; pirating software; paying unjust wages; work poorly done; padding expense reports; tax evasion; forgery; willfully damaging property; excessive gambling; artificially raising prices by taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another e.g. price gouging after a natural disaster and willfully failing to honor a contract. Those guilty of theft are required to make restitution. This pertains to all who in some manner took part in and benefitted from the theft either directly or indirectly.
2422 The Church’s social teaching comprises a body of doctrine which includes the following principles: [1] the dignity of the human person which is rooted in our being created in the image and likeness of God. We aren’t a something but a somebody whom Jesus died for our salvation.
[2] The common good concerns the social conditions which allow all people either individually or collectively to flourish more fully and more easily thus seeking the good of all.
[3] Solidarity acknowledges the interdependence among all people wherein each person seeks the good of himself and others meaning we’re all in this together so let’s help each other out.
[4] Subsidiarity which I bet you’ve never heard of is extremely important. It’s the principle wherein the larger, richer, stronger society helps the smaller, poorer, weaker society to become prosperous and autonomous and to be able stay prosperous and autonomous. This includes any economic, institutional and technological assistance necessary to support, promote and develop this autonomy and prosperity. It stems from the Church’s preferential option for the poor.
With that said attempts should be made to support the efforts of poor countries vying for economic growth. 2442 It’s the role of the laity not the institutional Church to intervene directly in these endeavors. An example is to provide assistance to a 3rd world country who has an abundance of necessary and valuable resources but doesn’t have the money or the technology to develop it. So a company from a developed country provides what’s needed and a partnership is formed wherein both parties benefit.
Additionally 2440 the Church suggests direct aid to be given to victims of natural catastrophes, epidemics and the like.
2427 God placed Adam in the garden and bade him to till the soil. Jesus said he and his Father are at work. Hence work is a duty and a means of man’s fulfillment. 2460 Work honors the Creator’s gifts and talents he’s given us. By means of his labor man participates in the work of creation. Work brings dignity to the human person be it employment at a business or the task of a homemaker. Unfortunately, the excessive extent of government social welfare programs although well intended rob people of their inherent human dignity. It’s a grave injustice which has become a hand out instead of a hand up which violates the Church’s doctrine of subsidiarity.
2429 Everyone has the right of economic initiative and to make legitimate use of his talents and as a result to reap the benefit of his work. 2404 An owner of an enterprise, those with practical or artistic skills is a steward of God’s benevolence and is entrusted with the task of using those gifts in ways that will maximize its fruitfulness thereby distributing its benefits first of all to his family and then to the greatest number of others.
2432 Business enterprises have an obligation to consider the good of persons and not focus solely on profits. We must realize profits are necessary because they make possible the capital to ensure the future of a business which results in employment.
As such 2434 employees are entitled to be paid a just wage for their work. 2433 Access to employment and professions must be open to all without unjust discrimination which make the good ole boy system as well as any affirmative action and DEI programs unjust. Merit should be the litmus test not who one knows or what category someone belongs to.
2431 The principal task of the state is to guarantee those who work and produce can enjoy the fruits of their labors. This is why excessive taxation is unjust. Related to this is excessive and irresponsible government spending which weakens the value of a nation’s currency which decreases a consumer’s purchasing power which hurts the poor the most. This too is a grave injustice violating the Church’s doctrine of subsidiarity.
2425 The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated with modem communism and socialism. She has likewise refused to accept unregulated capitalism, which doesn’t exist anywhere in the world today. Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives with a view to the common good, is the ideal which we have here in the United States.
2534 The 10th commandment forbids coveting the goods of another, and inordinate desire for things we don’t have and the desire for things without limit i.e. how many whatevers do you really need? We should be satisfied with a reasonable amount of goods and money.
It also pertains to an inordinate desire for power as well as all forms of greed e.g. it’s wrong to artificially manipulate the price of goods, for merchants to desire scarcity resulting in rising prices, for lawyers to threatened and enact frivolous lawsuits, for doctors to misdiagnose patients in order to render services and prescribe medications for financial gain.
Jealousy is an unhappy or angry feeling of wanting to have what someone else has. Jealousy can be a good thing if it encourages someone to achieve a good or to better oneself whereas it’s sinful when it escalates to envy which is the desire to acquire goods by any means and to keep someone from having it. When it wishes grave harm to a neighbor it’s a mortal sin.
2544 Jesus instructs his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone. In order to be filled with the things of God, one must empty himself of evil, selfish desires and with the help of God’s grace prevail over the seductions of pleasure and power.
Brothers and sisters God is not a crabby prude, but a loving Father. He loves us and knows what’s best for us. So as a good parent he teaches us what’s good and bad, the shall haves and the shall nots, so that our lives will prosper and flourish.
So while Lent begins with the memory of our first parent succumbing under the pressure of lies and pride, we also remember how in today’s gospel Jesus, the new Adam, went head to head in another round with the arch deceiver and vanquished him. Satan is no match for the power of God. We should rejoice and celebrate that we, sons and daughters of the same heavenly Father, can also say “get away Satan” and win the battle against deception and temptation as we pursue holiness. This my children is what the season of Lent is all about.
Ash Wednesday
February 18, 2026
February 18, 2026
Well, shoot, Lent is here again. I guess I gotta try to be good; to pray a little; darn it gotta give up meat on Friday. I guess I’ll give it another try and hope I do better this year. I don’t like Lent.
Is this the way to look at Lent? I don’t think so, so Happy Lent everybody! I realize that may sound strange but I hope these 40 days of Lent that lay before us will be a time of many blessings for all of us. Forty days may seem like a long time to do penance, but Lent is like spring training for the real season of life. It’s a time where as the 13th century monk Thomas A Kempis says bad habits are overcome by developing good habits. Lent may seem to go by very slowly, to just drag along. But if we do Lent right this spring training may go by quicker than you think and before we know it, Holy Week and Easter Sunday will be upon us.
So, let’s take a moment on this Ash Wednesday to reflect on what Lent really means, especially in light of the scripture readings we’ve just heard. And then let’s take another moment to reflect on how we may get the most out of this potentially beneficial season of Lent which is rich in God’s merciful love.
The Old Testament reading from the prophet Joel might serve as a summons to us and to the church throughout the world to engage in a season of repentance. Joel, who prophesied some 400 years before the birth of Jesus, called all the people of Judah to fast, to come together in prayer, and to beg for the mercy of God to end a drought that plagued the land.
Today Joel’s voice is heard in every Catholic Church throughout the world to summon us to a time of fasting and prayer in order to end another kind of a drought – a spiritual drought that leaves our souls dry, parched, barren, and fruitless. He proclaims Spare, O Lord, your people and make not your heritage a reproach.
If the words of the prophet Joel is a general summons to repentance the words of St. Paul serve as a personal summons to each one of us to engage in this season of repentance and conversion. St. Paul appeals to all of us to be reconciled to God and to one another. He appeals to us to open our hearts personally to Jesus Christ who took upon himself all our sins so that we might be free of sin. St. Paul urges us not to put repentance off until another day or another time. He says “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
In other words, let this the Lent be the Lent when we experience a breakthrough in our spiritual life. Let’s begin right now to think about what needs to change in our lives. It might be grudges we’re harboring, anger smoldering in our hearts, relationships in need of repair, indifference toward the poor and needy, some destructive habit or addiction, our favorite sin, all forms of self-centeredness and self-indulgence which is another way of saying pride. In the Responsorial Psalm we prayed, “Thoroughly wash me from my guilt, and of my sin cleanse me” and again, “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.”
All of this brings us to today’s gospel passage from St. Matthew where Jesus tells us how we should use these tools he places at our disposal. These are the same tools of repentance used by the Jews: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Jesus doesn’t say if you give alms, if you fast, if you pray; instead he says when you give alms; when you fast; when you pray.
So if we want to be converted of our sins and to grow in God’s friendship then we should provide assistance to those in need, to share our time, our very selves, with those who need us be they family, parishioners, friends or those on the fringe of society.
If we want to be freed from our sins and have a clean and pure heart, we need to fast – to limit or abstain not just from food but also from the creature comforts and those people, places and things that monopolize our time in order to make room in our hearts for God, for his truth and his love.
If we want to grow in holiness then we need to pray every day. St. Teresa of Lisieux describes prayer as a surging of the heart to God. It’s a dialogue not a monologue where we speak to God about what’s in our hearts and more importantly we to listen to what God wants to say to us.
And if we want to have a fruitful Lent that will bring us to the joy of Easter, we must avail ourselves to the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, the sacrament of God’s mercy, whereby God in his love truly does create in us a clean heart by forgiving our sins.
These are the tools which the Lord gives us for a good and holy Lent. But the Lord also instructs us today to do these things not to call attention to ourselves, not to give the impression to others that hey I’m a holy person! No, we give alms, we fast, and we pray to call attention to the Lord who is rich in mercy and who loves us more than we could ever imagine.
As we receive ashes today and hear these somber words, “Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you will return – at that moment God ask for the grace to be humble, docile and contrite before God; ask for the grace to have a Lent marked by real progress in our spiritual lives. Then, if we do this when Easter comes we, who yes are dust and ashes, will rejoice to share in the new and everlasting life which Christ has won for us and in a real way can already be ours.
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 15, 2026
February 15, 2026
The Greek philosopher Plato 400 years before Christ wrote metaphorically of the human heart as 2 horses one named Passion, the other Reason. Passion is the wild untamed horse with incredible strength and energy but very hard to control and guide. Reason is the tamed horse, accustomed to the reins, disciplined in stride and obedient to directions. A chariot hitched to a pair of Passions may go anywhere fast but would surely crash or overturn at some point. A charioteer who selects a pair of Reasons will be too cautious and afraid to go anywhere adventurous. However, if Passion and Reason can be paired up together then the powerful energy is harnessed and the journey of life can be more easily enjoyed.
Today’s readings speak about The Commandments also known as The Decalogue which comes from the Greek words deca and logos meaning 10 words. The Decalogue, a major component of The Mosaic Law, was given to the Israelites and to us, by God through Moses. The first 3 concern love of God and the other 7 love of neighbor. They’re not to be understood only as a list of thou shalls and thou shall nots. Instead all of the Commandments are undergirded with divine love so that man can know how to love rightly and for humanity to flourish if obeyed.
The CCC#2064 teaches in fidelity to Sacred Scripture the tradition of the Church has acknowledged the significance of the Decalogue. #2072 Since they express man’s fundamental duties towards God and his neighbor they are fundamentally immutable and they oblige always and everywhere meaning they cannot change and no one can dispense from them.
While it may seem St. Paul in several of his writings viewed adherence to The Law as being done away with in today’s gospel Jesus tells us he has not come to abolish any part of The Law but to fulfill it. He goes on to state who will be least and greatest in the kingdom of heaven based on one’s obedience to The Law.
With all this said as we approach the penitential season of Lent and our desire to make a really good confession let’s take a closer look at The 10 Commandments. The CCC gives an excellent teaching on The Commandments going much more in depth than their short titles. The CCC is an excellent resource in examining your conscience and I strongly encourage the reading of this part of the CCC in its entirety perhaps making it a part of your Lenten study. In the meantime I think it will be good to bring to mind some decrees that don’t readily come to mind when we think about a particular commandment so I’ll be preaching a series of homilies on them starting today and during Lent.
Ok I’ve mentioned many times we break the 1st commandment every day, we have and honor other “gods” so we’ll start with this one. 2134 The first commandment beckons man to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him above all things. 2135(Mt 4:10) “You shall worship the Lord your God” [and we do this by] adoring God, praying to him, offering him the worship that belongs to him. It acknowledges [we] wouldn’t exist but for God and thus 2099 it’s right to offer sacrifice to God as a sign of adoration and gratitude.
2104 All men are bound to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and his Church, to embrace it and hold on to it as they come to know it. 2088 The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith and to reject everything that’s opposed to it. St. Augustine said we don’t understand in order to believe, we believe to better understand. In other words faith comes first and then hopefully by God’s grace understanding; we believe although we may not understand. I mean how can we finite human beings understand the infinite omniscient God. So there may be church teachings we have difficulty believing, but we give the ascent of faith and believe them all because the Church led by Jesus her divine head can neither deceive or be deceived.
2091 The first commandment is also concerned with sins against hope which is the desire for heaven. The first is despair wherein one thinks their sins are so bad they cannot be forgiven and thus have lost hope for their salvation. The second is presumption. 2092 There are 2 kinds of presumption. Either one presumes upon his own capabilities hopes to save himself without any help from God which is ridiculous, or he presumes upon God’s mercy meaning he expects to receive God’s forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit. It’s like thinking I can commit the sin but just go to confession and get forgiven. Nope that’s not being contrite and you have to be sorry for a sin before God will forgive you.
2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Now I used to ask my broker for a crystal ball so I can know what stock to buy, when to buy it and when and how much to sell it for and of course he’d give that look of come on Michael there aint one. Man is by God’s design curious, we want to know things and some like to know about the future.
In 1 Samuel 28, King Saul consulted a medium at Endor to summon the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel for guidance. God wasn’t pleased with this and it was one of the reason God rejected Saul’s kingship.
2110 The first commandment forbids any type of superstition be it consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm [or tarot card] reading and recourse to mediums [séances]. One may dismiss these as innocent but engaging in some of them may unknowingly open oneself up to the occult which trust me you really don’t want to do.
I can tell you of a personal experience I had as a priest with someone who suffered acute trauma from going to a palm reader who was a wiccan and who could very well have had a spell placed on her. Another incident was a girl who allowed a demon to enter her from using a ouji board. No, no! We trust God and we confidently place into the hands of divine providence whatever concerns we may have about the future and relinquish all unholy curiosity about it.
Another form of superstition is the use of charms. Some examples are a 4 leaf clover, a rabbit’s foot and the Italian horn; using them for good luck is wrong. However, some may wear a blessed medal or scapular with the attitude it will save them from condemnation and if one thinks that it’s a sin of presumption. Rather we wear them to remind us of our love of the saint and ask their intercession for the grace to imitate their life, to be holy.
Lastly let’s consider the so called forbidden worship of graven images as noted in the book of Deuteronomy which many protestants falsely accuse Catholics of doing. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, God ordained or permitted the making of images that pointed symbolically toward salvation, the bronze serpent in the book of Numbers, the ark of the covenant and the cherubim. Hence, 2132 the Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the 1st commandment which forbids idols. St. Basil states, “the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype,” and “whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed.” Thus the honor paid to sacred images is a “respectful veneration,” not the worship and adoration due to God alone.
Today’s readings challenge us to choose freely and wisely to observe the laws given by a loving and caring God. He revealed His laws to His Chosen People through Moses and the prophets in the Old Testament and through His Son, Jesus, in the New Testament. These Commandments were intended to promote the holiness of every believer with whom He had made His covenant.
But outward obedience to the law is not enough; true transformation involves conversion of the heart. Jesus doesn’t just want slavish obedience to the letter of the law. He wants us to see things through his eyes, to live like he did, to do the things he did, to model our lives so closely on him that we become one with him.
Speaking of the heart let’s return to Aristotle’s metaphor. The human heart is extremely complicated and its desires are conflicted making our will, how we make choices, hard to control and guide. So to help us obey the Commandments and to model our lives to Christ’s we need the help of God’s grace to harness the powerful energy of the horse Passion and divine wisdom to direct the horse Reason. His grace is always available to us if we sincerely ask for it and it will help make our journey of life adventurous and more easily enjoyed here on earth leading us to the unimaginable life awaiting the righteous in heaven.
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 1, 2026
February 1, 2026
During the Great Depression in America, a government agency had the task of travelling through isolated mountain areas in search of poor farmers to whom they would give grant money for the purchase of seed or repairing their homes. One agent came upon an old farmer living in a shack. It had no floor and several windows were broken and covered over with tar paper. The old farmer had but the basic essentials and was just barely scratching out a living on a miserable plot of land. The agent asked him, “If the government gave you $200 what would you do with it?” Without any hesitation he answered “I’d give it to the poor.” This poor farmer didn’t consider himself poor proving it’s not money that determines wealth.
Today’s gospel passage is of course The Beatitudes taken from the beginning of The Sermon on the Mount which spans chapters 5-7 of Matthew’s gospel. We’ve heard the Beatitudes many times before, but perhaps gloss over them without really engaging in an attempt to understand them worse less try to make them a part of our lives. We might think of them as just poetic phrases, but they’re actually guides for us on how to be disciples of Jesus.
So how can these teachings help us to be those intentional disciples of Jesus Christ? Well let’s take a closer look, but before we do the term “blessed” can also be translated “happy” meaning holiness and happiness are integrally connected.
Jesus tells us if we’re to be really happy we’re to be poor in spirit. This doesn’t mean having no money. As can be deduced from the anecdote of the farmer one could have lots of money and be poor in spirit at the same time although it’d be more of a challenge. Instead being poor in spirit acknowledges everything we have comes from God, that we trust in God, that we rely on God for his help to get us through life. Being poor in spirit is admitting we’re sinners in need of God’s grace and help. Interestingly, with the other beatitudes the reward is in the future. But in this first beatitude the reward is now, “the kingdom of heaven is theirs” meaning the poor in spirit experience a foretaste of heaven here on earth.
How could Jesus say those who mourn are blessed? We normally understand this as mourning for our own sins and as a result try to repent. What Jesus meant is we are to mourn not only for our sins but for the sins of others because all sin offends God. We mourn because sins committed affect not only the sinner but those whom the sin is committed against. We mourn for those killed in the Ukraine war, we mourn for the thousands killed in Iran fighting for freedom against a repressive government, we mourn for those who have been raped and murdered by illegal aliens all around the world, we mourn for those who live in poverty because despotic leaders of nations enrich themselves and care little for their citizens. We are blessed because of our love for our neighbors who are innocent victims of evil in the world.
Who are the meek? The meek aren’t those who lie down like doormats and allow people to abuse them. The meek are gentle and self-controlled, who accept adversity with courage. The meek defer to God instead of becoming vengeful, aggressive, demanding and assertive. They have goodwill in their hearts and try to change a bad situation into a better one, not returning evil for evil.
Jesus said we will be blessed when we hunger and thirst for what is right. That’s because we have a profound respect for others and we want to treat them with the dignity they deserve. So when we see other people abused in any way we hunger and thirst that their dignity will be respected, for every person is a child of God made in his image and likeness. Respecting others is respecting God, their creator. To be righteous means to do the will of God.
God is merciful and this beatitude praises those who act like God. Everyone knows it’s difficult to forgive and the deeper the hurt the more difficult it is to forgive and the longer it may take to forgive. Jesus is the greatest example of forgiving others: as they crucified him he prayed for forgiveness for his executioners (Luke 23:34). Every time we pray the Our Father we promise God we’ll forgive those who have offended us as we ask him to forgive our sins. As long as we hold something in our hearts against someone we’re neither free nor happy. With God’s grace we can let go of those grudges and forgive from our hearts and then we shall be blessed.
The word “clean” used by St. Matthew (καθαροὶ) is also used to describe the Jewish purifying rituals. So a clean or pure heart is not just a heart free of impure thoughts but a heart that has been cleansed, consecrated and made ready to receive God’s grace of holiness. The clean of heart are honest and sincere. They possess integrity and a high moral character.
Jesus said we’re blessed when we work for peace. This is not meant to be a passive activity. Instead we’re to be proactive peace-makers who seek to bring about reconciliation among people. Jesus, the Son of God, is the Prince of Peace because he made peace between God and man through the paschal mystery being his sacrificial death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. We are peacemakers when we try to bring people closer to God and in doing so we are true children of God.
Peoples have been persecuted from the very beginning and sometimes people persecute us because we’re followers of Jesus. This beatitude and the next praise those persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for the sake of being a disciple of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God, he is the way, the truth and the life and he told us if we are persecuted for his sake we will be blessed. We are personally persecuted by non-believers, non-Christians and even other Christians. We Christians are also persecuted collectively by the various communications media, by governments and various institutions. Nevertheless, Jesus told us when we’re persecuted to rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven.
The Beatitudes are a sign of contradiction to the world’s understanding of happiness. The world asks how can one possibly find happiness in poverty, hunger, sorrow or persecution? Well God created a beautiful world for us and he wants us to enjoy it. There are so many good things about this earthly life, but the ultimate good, the perfect good the human heart craves and yearns for is God. Only God can satisfy the deepest desires of the human heart.
The Beatitudes are a bridge connecting our earthly life to the life awaiting us in heaven. They embody divine wisdom showing us how to love God by loving our neighbor which was exemplified by that poor farmer. So while the world seeks pleasure and fleeting happiness, we seek holiness, we seek blessedness because it’s to such as these that belongs the kingdom of God.
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 25, 2026
January 25, 2026
Light is a source of great joy. For sick and lonely people the night is the hardest of all. They enthusiastically and gratefully welcome those first rays of sunlight which signal the end of the night and the dawning of a new day! For them sunlight is therapeutic.
To illustrate this, some Alpine valleys are so deep the rays of the sun don’t reach them for days or even weeks in the middle of winter. These days can be very depressing for the people who live in those valleys. It’s almost as if life were one long night.
A priest who ministered in one of those valleys tells this story. One day in the depths of winter he was in the classroom chatting with the children who hadn’t seen the sun for 9 days. Then all of a sudden a ray of sunshine shone into the classroom. On seeing it the children exuberantly climbed up on to their desks and cheered for sheer joy proving even though the sun may not touch the skin, it can warm the soul.
The theme of today’s readings is “light”, the light of God which dispels the darkness of evil. There’s a deep spiritual contrast between light and darkness; darkness associated with gloom and light with rejoicing. Today’s first reading includes a prophetic reference to Christ as this light. The refrain for today’s responsorial psalm reminds us, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” The epistle advises the Corinthians to live as children of the light. In today’s gospel passage St. Matthew explains what Isaiah prophesied has been fulfilled through the preaching and healing ministry of Jesus which invited people to repent in order to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus brought his light of joy to peoples living in the gloom of darkness.
I think we would all agree there’s too much gloom in our world today and there’s an acute need for more joy. God wants us to be more joyful, to bring his light into a dark and gloomy world. So how can this be manifested in our dismal world today? Well the short answer is us, you and me; the ultimate answer is the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church is a hybrid entity; it’s an institution made up of the divine and the human. The institutional part of the church is perfect; she’s perfect because Christ, the bridegroom, is the head of His bride, the Church. Jesus is God and is therefore perfect meaning there can be no change or error and since Jesus is head of his Church it give us Catholics a great deal of comfort knowing we’re members of the Church Jesus himself established which admits of no error.
But this perfect institutional Church headed by Christ, the Son of God himself, is comprised of human beings like all of us from the Pope on down who know we aren’t perfect. With that said we have no idea of the enormous responsibility placed on our Holy Father so we all should pray for Pope Leo as well as all bishops and priests to have the grace of courage and steadfastness to teach with clarity and compassion the truths contained in our rich and beautiful Catholic faith.
Ok so when we say “Church” it doesn’t necessarily refer primarily to a building, but to a communion of persons, of a distinctive group of people with a special relationship to God who are “called out.” The word “Church” comes from the Greek word “ek-klesia” which means those who are “called out.” So does that mean every single member without exception has a call? that every member is called out and if so called out to what? Since Catholics are members of Christ’s only Church and the term Church means those who are called out then that must mean every single member of the body of Christ without exception has a call, everyone has a vocation.
You know one look at the news and we realize how dark and gloomy our world is. Will the Jews and Palestinians ever live in peace? Will the Ukraine war ever end? Will the ICE protestors stop rioting so ICE can do their job? Although we pay almost 2 trillion dollars in taxes annually we’re over 38 trillion dollars in debt some of which is because we have greedy, corrupt politicians in both parties who commit massive fraud by funneling billions of dollars through NGOs [non government organizations] set up by the politicians themselves who reap personal financial and political gain. They should all be investigated and charges brought.
Well things weren’t much different in first century Galilee. Their king was an irreligious adulterer and a lackey of the hated Romans. Greedy tax collectors took a big cut of the little money people managed to earn. If you’ve ever been to the Holy Land you’d know the Sea of Galilee was really only a moderately sized lake and competition to catch its few fish was stiff. Into this gloomy darkness steps someone whose face radiates hope, whose words penetrate people’s hearts. To the people who live in the corrupt kingdom of Herod he announces the kingdom of heaven is at hand. His mission is to call people out of the gloomy darkness into the joy of his radiant light.
To be a Christian means to belong to a group of people who are called to leave behind a community of darkness with its wicked way of life and to join another community dedicated to a new way of living with an entirely different vision of how life should be lived. This doesn’t necessarily mean withdrawing from family and friends, establishing a commune and isolating oneself waiting for the second coming. That’s “cult,” not “Church.”
But neither does “Church” simply mean attending Mass once a week and passively subscribing to a list of dogmas. To respond to Christ’s call to be Church means to be in the world but not of it, to not be manipulated by the culture, to not be motivated by the love of temporal things such as money, pleasure and power. It means to re-form your life, to be more eternity minded. It means to allow your thinking and way of life to be completely reorganized around the truth of God’s word and the teachings of his Church.
Belonging to the Church doesn’t just mean you only have to accept Jesus as Savior and that’s it. That’s false theology. It means not just having him to be a part of your life, but making him the center of your life; it means accepting Him also as your Lord, Lord in the context as meaning one who has dominion over the way you live your life. In other words you have to walk the talk in order to bring light into the darkness.
To respond to the call of discipleship and bring that light into the darkness means to hand over the reins to Jesus trusting he knows what’s best for you. It means willing to change anything He wants changed–from behavior, to ideas, to friends, to career, everything.
Simon Peter, Andrew and James and John were businessmen, running a small family fishing business. They had duties and responsibilities. But Jesus had a different plan for their lives. For them the call meant leaving career and family behind and thank God they had the courage to respond despite the cost. As a result of their answering their call, the Church, the community of those “called out,” grew exponentially and the Church has been growing ever since. Again we have the largest OCIA group in our parish in several years.
But the Lord’s call, also known as “vocation,” is different for each person. When the Lord’s call came to me the first time as a young altar boy I was all in. Then the world got involved convincing me to do everything the world told me I had to do and experience to be successful and happy in life. Being a “suit”, being a professional, making the equivalent of a 6 figure salary, living in an executive neighborhood, driving sports cars and having a healthy dating life [thank God a special one was smart enough to break up with me] were the recipe of success and happiness I engaged in for over a couple of decades. But thank God my career eventually slowed down enough and with the help of a couple of priest mentors and God’s grace I became open again to be called out of the world. God spoke to me again about serving him and his Church. This time I not only listened I acted upon it and here I am a priest, whether you like it or not! lol wink, wink
The point is a vocation is not just something apostles, priests and religious have. We all have one and God has a unique and life fulfilling plan for each one of us that involves both sacrifice, which we dread most of the time, and joys that are well beyond our imaginings. And this calling, this vocation either to married life, priesthood or consecrated life or lay person leads all of us to a realm far beyond our wildest dreams. It’s true, doing God’s will does bring peace and contentment to one’s life.
But to experience the adventure of the journey and arrive at our final destination, we have to accept the invitation to our specific call in life, to our vocation. And that means praying to discern God’s will no matter at what stag in life we may find ourselves and being open and ready to be called out to whatever that may be. For all of us it means being willing to be called out to be one who dispels the gloomy darkness of the world and bring not the sunlight that warms the skin, but the joy of the SON light that warms the soul.
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 18, 2026
January 18, 2026
We all know the account of creation in the book of Genesis wherein God created the universe and everything he created was good. Knowing God created everything good we can attest to God being the source of all goodness and therefore cannot create anything that isn’t good.
We also know the zenith of God’s creations was man, made in his image and likeness. Man also was created good, in fact very good, but through the envy of the devil, who refused to serve this God of goodness, man was tempted and fell into sin. What was created initially good, created in the image and likeness of a good and loving God, had become evil through sin.
Now God did not create evil, God did not create sin. As St. Augustine tells us sin and evil are acts deprived of goodness, deprived of love. He deduces evil is a privation of good and all sin is a privation of love; either love of God, love of one’s neighbor or love of oneself. Therefore, sin and evil could never come from God who is love and goodness itself. The CCC #401 states once the original sin was committed the world was virtually inundated with sin.
As a result the primordial condition of creation, made in and by infinite love and goodness, has become corrupted by human sinfulness. Speaking in a theological sense, creation has become “the world” and “the world” is creation in an estranged state. Creation tainted with sin now turns its back on God and no longer enjoys a state of being open to its divine source, the source of all goodness and love.
God created the human person with an inner voice which the CCC #1776 explains “Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its [persistent] voice is ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil. For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God and #1777 when he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking to him.
In other words man’s conscience is natural to man so when he sins this voice speaks to his soul, his inner being. In ancient times this conception of wrong doing evoked a feeling of remorse resulting in sacrificing something of value and since most people were agrarian at that time, i.e. living off the land many times the something of value offered was an animal.
The Mosaic Law followed this practice of sacrifice as an atonement for sin. The ordinary ritual offering for sin was also the sacrifice of an animal which was viewed as a substitute, a surrogate or the embodiment of a persons’ sins. Along with that line of thinking a heavy emphasis was placed on the blood of the animal sacrificed because the blood symbolized life Lev. 17:11 “Because the life of the flesh is in the blood I have given it to you that you may make atonement with it upon the altar for your souls, and the blood may be an atonement for your own lives.”
For the Israelites the sacrificial victim’s blood was drained and scattered on the altar of atonement by the priest and then the carcass was placed on an altar outside the temple and burned up which symbolized the eradication of their sins.
This sacrifice of animals, something of value to the sinner, in atonement for ones’ sins is demonstrated best by the Jewish feast of Passover wherein God freed the Israelites from their bondage to sin in Egypt. The Passover account found in the book of Exodus directs all the Israelites to procure and slaughter an unblemished one year old male lamb, sprinkle its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses and to eat its roasted flesh. [Ex. 12:1-24] The Israelites who obeyed this decree were saved by the flesh and blood of this unblemished male lamb and were instructed to observe this rite as an anamnesis, a perpetual remembrance of their deliverance from sin.
The Jewish people anxiously awaited the fulfillment of the Passover lamb, the Messiah, and who better to recognize him than John the Baptist? John the Baptist was the son of Zechariah, a Levitical priest who offered animal sacrifice in atonement for sins. The annunciation by the angel of John’s eventual birth came to Zechariah as he was sprinkling blood on the mercy seat within the Holy of Holies. Later John most probably helped his dad with offering these sacrificial lambs in atonement for the sins of the people.
Moreover, when Mary visited Elizabeth and both Jesus and John were still in-utero, John was filled with the Holy Spirit and as an embryo recognized Jesus, also an embryo, and under the influence of the Holy Spirit he leapt for joy. He recognized the Messiah, the Lamb of God, although he couldn’t physically see him. His recognizing Jesus through an action of the Holy Spirit is passed on to and shared with his mother Elizabeth who as a result proclaims Mary as the Theotokos, the God-bearer, and then Mary responds with her beautiful Magnificat prayer.
So now in our gospel passage today we see these 2 as adults and as John physically sees Jesus he in effect has a prenatal flashback. Once again through the action of the Holy Spirit John recognizes Jesus and proclaims Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the “sin” of the world. Notice John doesn’t say the “sins” of the world but the sin of the world. This is significant because it points to sin being that fundamental alienation of man from God I mentioned earlier.
Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the bridge reconnecting and reuniting mankind to God. The chasm between God and the world is overcome by a divine initiative wherein the Logos, the Word of God, becomes flesh; divinity is clothed, shrouded in our own humanity. Jesus is the way back to God and the door leading to true freedom and life. Jesus truly is the way, the truth and the life.
In calling Jesus the Lamb of God John the Baptist is pointing out to his disciples he not me is the one whose blood has the power to save, to give life, to free humanity from its slavery to sin and evil that has existed since our first parents committed the original sin. Jesus is the fulfillment of the old covenant Passover Lamb; he is the unblemished male Lamb of the new covenant who sheds his life giving blood upon the wood of the cross which eradicates our sins.
At the Last Supper Jesus gives his precious body and blood to the Apostles and tells them as the Israelites were told regarding Passover to do this in remembrance of me, in remembrance of this supreme act of infinite divine love. So when we Catholics partake of the Most Holy Eucharist we partake of the actual flesh and blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God. When we receive Holy Communion our venial sins are forgiven. Now for our mortal sins we need to go to Confession and receive absolution from the priest first before approaching Jesus in the Eucharist.
Now I don’t know about you but for me this is something to get excited about; this is something to celebrate. This is something that should attract each one of us to Mass at least every Sunday. When we attend Mass we in a very real and tangible way re-enter into the paschal mystery of Jesus at the Last Supper and the life-giving, atoning sacrificial death on Calvary of the Lamb of God who takes away our sins.
The celebration of Mass provides us with a foretaste of our own divinization and heavenly glory and in a very tangible way a foretaste of the eternal heavenly banquet. At Mass we receive the most holy body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist which is the source of all graces. This justifying grace puts us right with God.
My dear children do we realize and appreciate the magnitude of God our Father’s unmerited gift to us of his Son, Jesus, sacrificing his life on the altar of the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit raising him from the dead? Do we stop to realize how privileged and blessed we Catholics are to be here in this church to celebrate Holy Mass, the place where angels and saints descend from heaven to earth, who take our offering from this altar up to heaven and then back down here again to our altar so we can partake of and ingest into our very being the God of the universe. Nowhere else in Wiggins/Lucedale/Leakesville, Stone/George/Greene County does this take place! Only here!
With grateful hearts let us call to mind today and every Mass we attend these words of the priest as we prepare to approach the altar to receive the most precious thing in the universe, the body and blood of Jesus: “Behold the Lamb of God. Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”
December 28, 2025
Feast of the Holy Family
Feast of the Holy Family
A primary school teacher asked her pupils to write an essay on, “A wish you want from God?” At the end of the day, the teacher collected all the essays from her pupils and began reading them. After reading a particular one she decided to send it to the pupil’s parents.
The mother opened the essay and began to read it while watching television. While reading it she became very emotional and began to cry. Her husband came and sat beside her and asked what was making her cry and she answered, read this essay.
“Oh, God, please make me into a TV. In my house, the TV is very popular. All of my family members are very interested in it and watching TV makes my parents very happy. The TV is the center of attraction in my house and I want to receive the same special care and attention the TV receives from my parents. They don’t shout at the TV. They don’t quarrel with the TV. They don’t slap the TV. They don’t demean and embarrass the TV.
When my parents come home they immediately switch the TV on and spend hours watching it. While watching it my parents smile and laugh a lot. I want my parents to laugh and smile a lot with me also. God the TV steals my parents time with me. So if I become a TV then they will spend their time with me. So please God make me a TV because if I become a TV, surely I can make my parents happy and entertain them. Lord I promise I won’t ask you for anything more.”
After reading the essay the husband said wow, poor kid! He feels lonely. He doesn’t get enough love, care and attention from his parents. His parents are horrible! Still teary eyed she looked at her husband and said, our son wrote this essay.
On the last Sunday of the year, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. The Church encourages us to look to the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph for inspiration, example and encouragement. They were a model family in which both parents worked hard, helped each other, understood and accepted each other and took good care of their child so that he might grow up not only in human knowledge but also as a child of God.
Today’s scripture passages confirm this. The first reading is a treatise on the 4th commandment: “Honor your father and your mother.” The author of Sirach, Ben Sira, has many good things to say about living virtuously. Sirach reminds children of their duty to honor their parents at all times even when it becomes difficult. He also mentions the two-fold reward which God promises to those who honor their parents. The first reward is “riches,” and the second, long life: “Whoever reveres his father will live a long life.” He reminds children God will bless them if they obey, revere and show compassion to their father. Honoring parents atones for sins.
St Paul, in his letter to the Colossians gives us part of what is called the “Household Code” – the rules of engagement for members of a Christian family. Paul teaches we should learn and practice noble qualities like compassion, kindness, forgiveness and sharing in the warmth of the family. In a truly holy family all members are respected, cherished, nurtured and supported, united in a bond of love. Some may say these qualities are outdated; but remember they’re contained in the bible and therefore pertain to all ages and times.
Today’s feast reminds parents to examine themselves to see how well they’re fulfilling their solemn responsibility which God has placed on them. It’s important to reflect on how one’s family fulfils God’s plan because the family one grows up in influences them for the rest of their lives.
Children are the fruit of their marital love. Children are a gift entrusted to parents who are accountable before God for the love and care they give to them. Parents must understand they’re rearing God’s children entrusted to them and God wants his children back to live with him forever in heaven.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2223) gives the following advice to parents: “Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery – the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the “material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones.’” The CCC adds: “Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children.”
This no doubt sounds quite daunting and it is. But again God never asks us to do anything he doesn’t also give us the grace to achieve it. This begins with the grace given in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. This grace doesn’t guarantee everything will be easy; rather it helps the couple to be faithful to each other and in living family life.
With this in mind every family should avail themselves to the sacramental life of the Church. Grace is an infusion of divine life into the soul and the most powerful source of grace is the sacraments especially the Eucharist. Parents must honor the 3rd commandment and attend Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation and bring their children with them because they all need the abundant graces available with every reception of Holy Communion.
One of the biggest barriers to grace is sin. Again y’all we sin every day so I recommend going to confession at least once a month. The grace of the sacrament of Confession is multivalent. Yes your sins are forgiven if you confess them all and are sorry for committing them but you also receive an additional grace to resist future temptations. It’s like getting a spiritual B12 shot.
Another source of grace is of course prayer. Prayer is our way of reaching out to God every day. Praying daily as a family will bond a family like almost nothing else. Let’s recall the words of Fr. Patrick Peyton a family that prays together stays together.
My family was an example of this. Growing up our family prayed a rosary together nightly. We also had a little place in our house we used as a small makeshift chapel where we could pray privately. It had a couple of small statues, a crucifix, a couple of candles among other things. It was a beautiful reminder to pray. Time spent with God always brings a blessing. This may have been an influence in my becoming a priest because I would play celebrating Mass at it and it only took me 55 years to get ordained.
Brothers and sisters the Holy Family is a model for every family. Like Joseph, fathers are to do everything necessary to provide for and protect his family especially from the evil forces in the world that can harm them. Like Mary, our mothers must embrace their role as nurturers especially teaching their children how to seek and find the presence of God in their lives.
Parents with the help of the parish must teach their children the faith and they’re also to make the faith and the love of God real for their children and they do so when they witness their parents praying, going to Mass, participating in parish functions, choosing right over wrong and selflessly reaching out to care for people in need.
Parents, you will have your children only for a brief time. Make that time special. Don’t be like the parents in my anecdote at the beginning of this homily. Spending quality time together with the family is a way of showing love for them whereas not spending time with them hurts them as it hurt the son in that story.
My dear children just as the Holy Family survived all its crises through love for each other and faith in God, we pray during this Mass that our families will conquer all difficulties through that same love for each other and faith in God. May all of our families be holy families, holy little domestic churches, a communion of relationships of love, revolving around the love of Jesus Christ.