Homily for Midnight Mass
December 25, 2025
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Isaiah 9:1-6
Psalm 96: 1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” What is this darkness into which streams such brilliant light? What is this gloom prophesied by Isaiah? This darkness and gloom is the experience of a newborn child being born in a filthy stable and resting in a trough because he and his parents are not wanted so that there is no other room for them within a human society; valued only for enumeration in the census ordered by Caesar. The gloom of rejection that will shadow this child’s life through His Passion and Death is present even tonight.
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Homily for Midnight Mass
December 25, 2024
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Isaiah 9:1-6
Psalm 96: 1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14
“Today is born our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord.” The message of Christmas is that because God became fully human through the freely given “yes” of the Blessed Virgin Mary, born amidst the darkness in Bethlehem, and given the name Jesus, human beings no longer have to be defined according to their sins. Since the time that our first parents gave into the temptation of the devil and disobeyed God, the devil’s lie had its sway over human beings resulting in our being terrified by God. Venerable Fulton Sheen wisely taught that when the devil tempts us, he convinces us that our sins are no big deal and of little consequence, but immediately after we sin, he tells us that our sin is so horrible that even God cannot forgive it and there is no hope. The lie of the devil is that our sin defines us, the truth revealed tonight in the tender Infant of Bethlehem is that humanity belongs to God and that our relationship with God through Baptism in Christ is what defines us.
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Homily for Midnight Mass
December 25, 2023
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Isaiah 9:1-6
Psalm 96: 1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14
We heard in our second reading the words of Saint Paul written to Titus, “The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ.”
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Homily for the Nativity of the Lord
Mass at Midnight
December 25, 2021
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Isaiah 9: 1-6
Psalm 96: 1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13
Titus 2: 11-14
Luke 2: 1-14
We listened moments ago to Saint Paul’s Epistle to Titus, “The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.”
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Homily for the Nativity of the Lord – At the Midnight Mass
December 25, 2020
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Isaiah 9:1-6
Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14
“In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.” The intention of Caesar was to count and to number those under his power as the Emperor of Rome. This census was a common experience for every person from every ethnic group throughout the Roman Empire. In so doing, Caesar imposed himself upon the people universally. In being forced to be enrolled, the people were reminded through the common experience of oppression and fear that they were to adhere to Caesar’s power as the universal emperor.
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Life on the Chrism Trail 