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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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