Go Into the Desert

Homily for Thursday of the 3rd Week of Advent In our Gospel this morning Jesus poses a question to the crowd, asking them: “What did you go into the desert to see?” It’s actually a question that He asks them three separate times. I wonder if Jesus does that because He wants to not only…

Echoing Mary’s “Yes”

Homily for Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which also happens to be the patronal feast day of the United States. So, happy feast day. This particular feast of the Blessed Mother has deep roots in the…

St. Nicholas

Homily for the Memorial of St. Nicholas As we have already heard in our opening prayer for this morning, today we celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas. On this day every year, I think about my favorite story of St. Nicholas. Growing up, Nicholas was a very devout young man who lived with his uncle…

God is Present

Homily for the Memorial of St. Francis Xavier Throughout this first week of Advent, we have been reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, hearing of the promises that the Lord would bring His people out of misery, suffering, and darkness. The Lord assured His people that He would bring about their liberation and…

Have Pity on Us

Homily for Friday of the 1st Week of Advent In our Gospel this morning, two blind men approach Jesus and ask Him to heal them. They wholeheartedly believed that Jesus was the one who could bring them to freedom from the literal darkness that they had lived for such a long time. Because of their…

Faith of the Centurion

Homily for Monday of the 1st Week of Advent Our first reading this morning from the Prophet Isaiah really sums up what we are looking forward to during this Advent season. In this particular passage, God is speaking through the prophet about the promises that He has made to His people. It’s a message that…

Watchful. Hopeful.

Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent Throughout history, there have been countless times when people have said that the end of the world would happen. In 1910, people thought that Halley’s Comet was going to crash into the earth resulting in some apocalyptic explosion bringing about the end of civilization as we know it.…

Presentation of Mary

Homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Today we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of Mary, when Mary was presented in the Temple by her parents, Joachim and Anne. It is one of those extra-biblical events that the Church remembers each year to honor the life of the Blessed…

The Lion of Judah

Homily for Thursday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time | Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary This morning we have another example of how our readings are speaking to us of the end times. In the Gospel, we hear Jesus foretelling the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, which will happen about 40 years…