Homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 18, 2024
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Proverbs 9:1-6
Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
The readings that the Church has prepared for our liturgy this Sunday evoke the image of the banquet to which all people are invited to dine but that only those who decide to seek and follow God are able to dine. The Book of Proverbs depicts Wisdom as an elegant woman who has prepared a banquet to which she invites those who lack understanding. They do not yet understand that true wisdom is found only in the search for God. The woman of Proverbs prepares a banquet of wisdom that helps us who dine as her guests to recognize God’s power and to enkindle in us the desire to know Him better.
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Homily for Holy Thursday: Mass of the Lord’s Supper
March 28, 2024
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15
As we have just heard in the Gospel, Peter impetuously remonstrates Jesus for suggesting that Jesus should wash Peter’s feet. Peter is articulating a reverence for Jesus but a reverence that has not yet come to accept the truth that the majesty of God revealed fully in Christ strips itself of all earthly power and manifests itself in humble service and true mercy. When Jesus corrects Peter and tells him that without the washing of the feet Peter would not be able to have any part in him, Peter immediately asks just as impetuously that his head and hands be washed. Then Jesus offers Peter a response that should prompt our reflection in prayer. Jesus says, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so, you are clean, but not all.”
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The Eucharist is the ‘source and summit’ of Christian life. What does that really mean?
This essay was originally published on March 4, 2024, on Americamagazine.org.
This essay is a Cover Story selection, a weekly feature highlighting the top picks from the editors of America Media.
The call for Eucharistic revival we have heard in the church is particularly important to priests. Why? Because we are responsible for presiding and offering the Mass, which priests do in persona Christi. This configuration to Christ as head and shepherd of the church that takes place at our ordination as priests comes to its full expression gradually through our devoted pastoral ministry and care for God’s people. This expression is centered upon Christ present in the sacrifice and offering of the Eucharist that then is extended through the other sacraments and apostolic works that we celebrate and administer to the faithful.
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Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
June 6, 2021
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Exodus 24:3-8
Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18
Hebrews 9:11-15
Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
The chalice is the central image used in the Gospel of Mark to connote the sacrificial suffering of Jesus. In the tenth chapter of this Gospel, Jesus asks the sons of Zebedee — the Apostles James and John — who have asked to sit at His right and His left: “Can you drink the chalice that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” The chalice connotes the suffering that Jesus will experience. Yet, even more than symbolizing existential suffering, the chalice specifically signifies the unconditional love by which Christ conquers sin and death in the free and willing sacrifice of His life in obedience to the Truth of the mission entrusted to Him by His Father. The chalice offered to us by Christ is a share in the ability and willingness to love as Jesus loves.
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Life on the Chrism Trail 