Homilies

First Sunday of Lent
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.