Homily for Thanksgiving Day
November 28, 2024
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Sirach 50:22-24
Psalm 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Luke 17:11-19
Amidst the violence and destruction of the American Civil War in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation establishing Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday. He wrote, “No human counsel hath devised nor any mortal hand worked out these great blessings. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged with one heart and voice by the whole American People … that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to God for singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation.”
Read more…
Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Christ, King of the Universe
November 24, 2024
St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church
Prosper, Texas
Daniel 7:13-14
Psalm 93:1, 1-2, 5
Revelation 1:5-8
John 18:33b-37
Not living in an era of kings, the feast of Christ the King may seem a little foreign to us. The age of kings and queens is past, although the finery and grandeur of that past still captures our imagination. Even more, the power and its benefits that royalty brought is still an object desired by countless men and women. However, the age of kings was also a time of chivalry and courage, honor and obedience, duty and loyalty, virtues that should still be sought. We, though, live in an age that enshrines equality and individualism and that places value on our sovereignty. The ethic of this world is encapsulated by the phrase, “No one has dominion over us, and we are nobody’s servants.”
Read more…
Homily for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 3, 2024
Casa Santa Maria
Rome, Italy
Deuteronomy 6:2-6
Psalm 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
Hebrews 7:23-28
Mark 12:28b-34
The readings of today’s liturgy invite us to ruminate on the significance of repetition in the spiritual life and ministry of priests in leading Christ’s flock as shepherds after His own heart. The first reading from Deuteronomy commands Israel to repeat the words of the Shema every day. Jesus Himself repeats the words of Deuteronomy in answering the Scribe’s theological question, while the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of the unrepeatable character of Christ’s eternal sacrifice.
Read more…
Life on the Chrism Trail 