November 2023 – Life on the Chrism Trail

Homily for Thanksgiving Day

November 23, 2023
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Sirach 50:22-24
Psalm 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
First Corinthians 1:3-9
Luke 17:11-19

We are very familiar with the story of the healing of the ten lepers by Jesus. We remember that the only one to return to thank Jesus is the Samaritan, while those who do not return to Jesus with gratitude are Jesus’ own people. Perhaps our routine familiarity with this story might cause us to overlook the deeper message of this story, that is, that the gifts of God to us prompt us not merely to cherish the gifts but also to cherish the giver.

Homily for the Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time

November 19, 2023
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
First Thessalonians 5:1-6
Matthew 25:14-30

Saint Paul writes to the Thessalonians and through the liturgical proclamation of this epistle, to us, “(We) are children of the light, and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.” This means that through the virtue of faith, that the Holy Spirit gives us as members of the Church at Baptism, we can see the world as it really is, as created by God as good, as wounded by the evil of sin, and as redeemed by Christ who will call us into the eternal Kingdom when this world comes to an end.