November 2022 – Life on the Chrism Trail

Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

November 20, 2022
St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church
Prosper, Texas

2 Samuel 5:1-3
Psalm 122:1-5
Colossians 1:12-20
Luke 23:35-43

To reveal the exact nature of the Kingship and sovereignty of Jesus, Saint Luke presents the last moments of Jesus life as He is dying on the cross. The religious leaders, most of whom rejected Jesus during His earthly ministry, were mocking Him as He is dying. They believe that they have overcome Him by their political maneuvering and will be rid of Him as a nuisance. Jesus always spoke with them directly and honestly about God and their need for conversion, and now they were publicly degrading Him, rejecting Him as the Messiah sent by the Father to save them.

Homily for the Funeral Mass for Jennifer Pelletier

November 15, 2022
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, TX

Revelation 21:1-5a, 6b-7
Psalm 103
Romans 14:7-9, 10c-12
John 11:17-27

We have read the passage from the Gospel of John, in which Jesus speaks to Martha, just before He restores life to her brother Lazarus who has died. In Luke’s Gospel, we read that Jesus restores life to the son of a widow from the village of Naim. In each of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we read that Jesus raised the daughter of the synagogue leader named Jairus.

Homily for the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

November 5, 2022
St. Michael Catholic Church
Bedford, TX

2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15
2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
Luke 20:27-38

The gift of our faith reveals and provides in Christ a unity between our life on earth and our future destiny. Today, in our readings we have two different considerations of what follows for human beings after death. First, we see illustrated in our first reading from the second book of Maccabees the martyrdom of seven brothers. Seven brothers with their mother were arrested because they would not disobey God or His Covenant by eating pork. Reverent and obedient to God’s law in this life, they had confidence in Him that they would share in His life in the next. They valued God even more than the great gift of their lives and they did not want to reject Him even under great suffering.