Life on the Chrism Trail

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

Homily for Good Friday, Celebration of the Passion of the Lord

April 3, 2026
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42

The celebration of the Passion of the Lord, with all of the prayers and liturgical actions attached to this ceremony, is the Church’s way of displaying the fundamental battle between good and evil, between light and darkness, between love and sin. This is the battle that Christ has definitively won through His surrendering Himself to death and His Resurrection from the dead, putting death to death. Yet it is a battle that remains in the interiority of our souls and in our responsibilities in this world. The heart of our part of this battle is the willingness to decide to place our hope only in God’s power manifest in Christ’s loving action on the Cross and to act accordingly.

April 3, 2026

Homily for Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper

April 2, 2026
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15

“You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him (her) in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him (her) up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?” These words are part of the Church’s Rite of Baptism for One Child. They are addressed by the priest, or in his absence, the deacon, to the parents of the child who is to be baptized. In responding to this question, parents accept their responsibility to set an example for and to teach their children how to keep the Commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor.

April 3, 2026

Homily for Chrism Mass

March 31, 2026
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Isaiah 61:1-3, 6a,8-9
Psalm 89:21-22, 25, 27
Revelation 1:5-8
Luke 4:16-21

Bishop’s homily in English begins at paragraph 7.

Las lecturas de esta Misa Crismal nos hablan, con una profunda unidad, del misterio de ver. El profeta Isaías anuncia un pueblo que será visto y reconocido como bendecido por el Señor. Ya no oculto ni desfigurado, sino revelado en su verdadera identidad.

March 31, 2026

Homily for the Rite of Imposition of the Habit of the Discalced Nuns of the Order of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel upon Sister Veronica of the Holy Trinity

March 28, 2026
Carmel of Jesus Crucified
Muenster, Texas

Ezekiel 37:21-28
Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13
John 11:45-56

We are now on the cusp of Holy Week. Juxtaposed with the figure of the innocent and generous Lord Jesus, the Gospel presents the figure of Caiaphas, the politically pragmatic and cunning High Priest of the Temple who clearly states his strategy in dealing with Jesus, “You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” Thereafter, the plan to kill Jesus is put into effect.

March 30, 2026

Homily for Palm Sunday

March 29, 2026
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Isaiah 50:4-7
Psalm 22
Philippians 2:6-11
Matthew 26:14 – 27:66

Saint Augustine and other early fathers of the Church held that people stand at an intersection between two diametrically opposed forces, almost like the force of gravity. There is the force of evil that pulls us away from God, down beneath our true and unique human dignity inherent in our nature. Then there is the force of God’s unconditional love, that pulls us up towards Him and draws from us the desire to love God in return.

March 29, 2026

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

March 22, 2026
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Ezekiel 37:12-14
Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
Romans 8:8-11
John 11:1-45

We are faced with a question that surfaces when reflecting upon this Gospel reading especially considering the circumstances of today. That question is, “What if when Jesus commanded Lazarus to come out, Lazarus had not bothered to respond and simply remained in the tomb?” This seems like a question that is ludicrous for us to consider. Which one of us would not respond to the command of Christ and instead prefer the darkness of the tomb bound up by the trappings of death? Which one of us would be indifferent to another opportunity to live life?

March 22, 2026