Homily for All Souls Day
November 2, 2025
Casa Santa Maria
Rome, Italy
Wisdom 3:1-9
Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
Romans 5:5-11
John 6:37-40
Last weekend here in Rome you set your clocks back one hour. This weekend in most of the United States we turn our clocks back one hour to try and rescue some of the daylight that quickly disappears this time of year. We love the daylight because it helps us to use our time better for work and to enjoy our time together. In a certain sense, the setting of our clocks back one hour as part of Daylight Savings Time is an attempt by us to stave off the darkness that inevitably comes with winter. It is as if we compromise with time to negotiate with the darkness instead of simply accepting the light as it is given.
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Homily for the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
World Mission Sunday
October 19, 2025
St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church
Prosper, Texas
Exodus 17:8-13
Psalm 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
2 Timothy 3:14-4:2
Luke 18:1-8
In 1926 Pope Pius XI decreed that each year on the penultimate Sunday of October, the Church would keep a day dedicated to World Missions to remind all Catholics of our shared responsibility to promote the spread of the authentic Gospel in every conceivable way. We can and should support missionary work with our financial gifts, but even more we must seek to live as faithful disciples and loving friends of the Lord Jesus and so bear witness to everyone we meet that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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Homily for the 2025 Red Mass for the Diocese of Fort Worth
September 25, 2025
St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church
Fort Worth, Texas
Micah 6:1-4, 6-8
Psalm 104:1-2, 24, 35, 27-28, 29, 30
Romans 13:1-7
Luke 7:1-10
The passage from the Gospel of Luke which we have just proclaimed describes a story of the Roman centurion who sends some of the local religious leaders to Jesus to ask Him if He will come to the centurion’s home to heal his slave who is suffering and near death. When the religious leaders approach Jesus, they put their own spin on matters. They strongly recommend that Jesus do this for the centurion as they emphasize that he deserves this miracle from Jesus because, unlike a lot of the Roman military force of occupation, this centurion likes them so much that he has paid for the building of their synagogue. It is in their interest that Jesus heal the centurion’s servant.
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Homily for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Celebration of the 130th anniversary of St. Joseph Parish
August 31, 2025
St. Joseph Catholic Church
Rhineland, Texas
Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
Psalm 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11
Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a
Luke 14:1, 7-14
“God in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.” Our responsorial psalm for today’s Mass, taken from Psalm 68, describes the essence of the prayer life of Father Reisdorf’s vision and labor in the foundation of this parish and the community of Rhineland that this parish has served for one hundred and thirty years.
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Homily for the Mass for the Convocation of Teachers of the Schools of the Diocese of Fort Worth
Memorial of Saint John Vianney
August 4, 2025
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church
Keller, Texas
Numbers 11:4b-15
Psalm 81:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
Matthew 14:13-21
Sing with joy to God our help!
In our Gospel reading, we see the disciples come to Jesus with what they surmise to be a problem. The disciples tell Jesus, “This is a deserted place, and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”
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Homily for the Ordination of Permanent Deacons
Feast of Saint Dominic
August 8, 2025
St. Mark Catholic Church
Argyle, Texas
Jeremiah 1:4-9
Psalm 100:1b-2, 3,4, 5
Acts 6:1-7b
John 12:24-26
Today, the Church gathers us together to celebrate the ordination of these seven men, whom with the support and encouragement of their wives and families, have presented themselves and been called by the Church to serve as permanent deacons. We do so today on the Feast of Saint Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers, who is honored and recognized by the Church as a saint who dedicated his entire life as a mendicant priest to charity and to preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. He is certainly an example and friend for our new deacons who today are ordained as ministers of the Word, ministers of the Altar, and ministers of Charity.
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Homily for the Rite of Acceptance for Candidacy
June 10, 2025
St. Peter Catholic Church
Lindsay, Texas
Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
Psalm 24:1bc-2, 30, 4ab, 5-6
1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
John 1:45-51
Those who are to be formally accepted as candidates for Holy Orders today find themselves at a pivotal stage in their priestly formation. They have completed the propaedeutic and discipleship stages and with this Rite of Acceptance of Candidacy for Holy Orders will formally enter the configuration stage of priestly formation. Our reflection upon this stage of configuration and the associated need of prayers for our four seminarians and soon to be candidates: Carson Kitaif, Eric Hernandez, Alex Jansen, and Evan Lang, can begin with the Scriptures proclaimed in our first and second readings.
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Homily for the Priestly Ordination of Isaac Joseph McCracken
May 24, 2025
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Numbers 11:11b-12, 14-17, 24-25
Psalm 111:1, 2, 3, 4
Acts 20:17-18a, 28-32, 36
John 12:24-26
In today’s second reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear Saint Paul’s farewell address to the local Church of Ephesus gathered together: Apostles, presbyters, and faithful. Saint Paul with a heart full of hope directly instructs the presbyters of Ephesus, “Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the church of God that He acquired with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group men will come forth perverting the truth to draw the disciples away from them.”
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Life on the Chrism Trail 
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