Life on the Chrism Trail

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 3, 2026
Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church
Fort Worth, Texas

Acts 6:1-7
Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19
1 Peter 2:4-9
John 14:1-12

Today we celebrate together the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Fort Worth. This parish was established to provide particular ministry for the Vietnamese Catholic Community in East Fort Worth and has done so through the generous collaboration of the priests and brothers of the Congregation of the Mother of the Redeemer.

May 3, 2026

Homily for the Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Opening Mass for the National Association of Diaconate Directors Conference

April 28, 2026
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Acts 11:19-26
Psalm 87:1b-3, 4-5, 6-7
John 10:22-30

“It was winter.” These are the words we read in today’s Gospel as written by John the Evangelist. “It was winter.” It was a winter not so much of discontent but of disbelief. It was a winter of cold disbelief among those who saw the works of Jesus but refused to understand them. It was a winter of cold disbelief among those who heard the words spoken by Jesus but refused to listen to them or to recognize His voice. It was a winter of suspense and anxiety among those who waited for the Christ but would only recognize and accept Him on their own terms. “Tell us plainly.” It was winter.

April 29, 2026

Homily for the Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

Eighth Grade Vocations Mass

April 23, 2026
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 66:8-9, 16-17, 20
John 10:11-18

We all need to earn money to live, but money cannot satisfy our deepest desires. A true vocation has nothing to do with money because it comes from love. Most people are called to love another person in Holy Matrimony, and then husbands and wives love their children. That kind of love cannot be bought. And other men and women are called to love without being married, and they become priests and religious sisters. That kind of love cannot be bought either. Vocations, either to married life or priesthood and religious life, cannot be bought just as Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd teaches us: someone who works because of a desire for money is not following a call from God.

April 23, 2026

Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter

April 19, 2026
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Acts 2:14, 22-33
Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
1 Peter 1:17-21
Luke 24:13-35

It is in the light of Jesus’ revelation as experienced by Cleopas and his fellow traveler on the way to Emmaus and recorded in Luke’s Gospel that Peter — the first pope — preaches in both the first and second readings from today’s Liturgy. In these first two readings, Saint Peter speaks to all the nations of the world that this Man, Jesus Christ — the One they had crucified and seen suffer and die — has been raised from the dead. As a witness of the Resurrection, humbled after his cowardice on Good Friday, Peter preaches to the world that “our futile lives and conduct have now been ransomed because of the precious Blood of Jesus Christ.” The Cross and Resurrection of Christ have changed everything, including our destiny and our capacity to act morally as redeemed human beings. The Death and Resurrection of Christ is what now informs our conscience.

April 19, 2026

Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter

Divine Mercy Sunday

April 12, 2026
Confirmations in Sacred Heart Church in Seymour; St. Joseph Church in Rhineland; and St. John Paul II Church in Denton

Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31

Saint Thomas not only doubts the Resurrection of Christ; first, he doubts and disbelieves the witness of the other Apostles who have received the gift and power of the Holy Spirit as breathed upon them by Christ Himself. He sets his own conditions for belief by establishing the criteria that he first probe the wounds in Christ’s hands and side with his own fingers and hands in order for him to believe. It is only after Thomas encounters Jesus Christ risen from the dead that he comes to recognize the pride of his own disbelief and he repents and converts. The Resurrection of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit given to Thomas and the other Apostles for the sake of sharing with their successors and with all the followers in the Church introduces an entirely new reality in which truth, love, and mercy conquer deception, hatred, and sin.

April 12, 2026

Homily for the 2026 Mass of Reparation for Sins against Victims and Survivors of Sexual Abuse

Saturday of the Octave of Easter

April 11, 2026
St. Mary of the Assumption Church
Fort Worth, Texas

Acts 4:13-21
Psalm 118:1 and 14-15ab, 16-18, 19-21
Mark 16:9-15

We offer this Mass during the Octave of Easter, the highest of the holiest season of the Church’s liturgical season, in which we enter more deeply into the mystery of Christ’s triumph over sin and death. The readings proclaim with confidence Christ’s triumph of Mercy over Sin, His triumph of Life over Death, His triumph of Truth over Deception.

April 11, 2026

Homily for Easter Sunday

April 5, 2026
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
Matthew 28:1-10

Matthew’s Gospel account of the empty tomb and the encounter with the Resurrected Lord that we have just proclaimed includes a detail that grounds the truth and power of the Resurrection of the Lord in reality: “Jesus met [the women] on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.” Why did they embrace his feet? The feet are the parts of the body closest to the ground. As we recall, it was the feet of the Apostles that were washed on Holy Thursday. Feet ground a human being in reality. Feet represent the human condition, never totally clean, highly sensitive and always in need of cleansing. Today’s actions by the women in the Gospel reveal that in Jesus, our human condition is redeemed and cleansed.

April 5, 2026

Homily for the Easter Vigil

April 4, 2026
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Genesis 1:1-2:2
Exodus 14:15-15:1
Isaiah 55:1-11
Romans 6:3-11
Matthew 18:1-10

The element of water is present in each of the readings from the Old Testament that we have proclaimed during this Vigil. In Genesis, we hear of how God created the waters and separated them, forming the sky and the sea, and declaring them to be good. We hear how the waters of the sea were created to sustain the life of other creatures, including human beings. There is a mixed relationship between water and human beings that exists since the fall of our first parents in the Garden of Eden.

April 4, 2026