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 Red Mass for the Diocese of Fort Worth
September 26, 2024
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28
Psalm 104:1-2, 24, 35, 27-28, 29, 30
Romans 8:14-17
Luke 10:25-37
Our first reading taken from the Book of Daniel begins by describing an elite banquet hosted by the Babylonian King Belshazzar for one thousand of his nobles. As the banquet deteriorates into the haze of inebriation, the king orders brought to him the holy vessels that they had plundered from the Temple in Jerusalem when they vanquished God’s Chosen People. As the Babylonian king, his nobles, and their concubines enter further into debauchery, guzzling from the precious chalices that had been reserved for the sacredness of Temple sacrifice in honor of the one true God, they begin to mock the God of Israel and to praise their material idols of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.
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Homily for Red Mass for the Diocese of Fort Worth
September 28, 2023
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62
Psalm 104:1-2, 24, 35, 27-28, 29, 30
Romans 5:5-11
John 14:15-21
Our first reading today presents a story from the Book of Daniel that seems very worthy for our reflection as we come together both as the Church and as the legal community to invoke the guidance of the Holy Spirit upon all lawyers, judges, and government officials entrusted with the administration of justice among individuals for the sake of both the particular and the common good. The story involves the corruption of two judges who harass the beautiful Susanna and threaten her with false allegation if she does not give in to their harassment. The story continues with the integrity of Susanna upheld in the face of their calumny and slander by the advocacy and argumentation of the young Daniel. It concludes with the demise of the unjust and disordered corrupt officials and the vindication of Susanna.
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Homily for the Feast of Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, and Saint Raphael
Red Mass for the Diocese of Fort Worth
September 29, 2022
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, TX
1 Kings 3:5-12
Psalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 4-5
Revelation 12:7-12b
John 1:47-51
This evening God calls us together to worship Him and to seek the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit on all judges, civic officials, magistrates, and lawyers who are to be engaged in the authentic ministry of justice and law directed to human flourishing and the common good of our society. Divine Providence has designed that we should come together for this sacred mystery on the Feast of the Archangels, Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, and Saint Raphael — who each administer, respectively, God’s power, God’s strength, and God’s remedy, three things that are very much needed today in our society and especially in the lives and work of those committed to the service of law and justice.
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Life on the Chrism Trail 