Homilies

Homily for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, January 11th, 2026

When I was a kid, I thought that nuns, priests, bishops and, naturally, the pope, were sinless. They did not need to go to confession.  Of course, now, as a priest ordained 53 years ago, I can assure you that we are as beset by miseries and sins as you are. We priests are not an elitist group when it comes to slavery to sin and all the devastation that even minor sins create.  There is, indeed, “sin solidarity.” We can pick the holiest person we can find and state with certainty: “there goes a sinner.” And b

Homilies

Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany, January 4th, 2026

Let me read to you a more complete text of today’s 2nd reading. I suppose, you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for your benefit, 3 namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation, …which was not made known to human beings in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, 6 that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. Ephesians 3:1-6 

Homilies

Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family, December 28, 2025

Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways. Psalm 128  We all want to be blessed by our Lord God, right?  Today, feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth, we need to learn how to walk in his ways as we, assisted by his divine grace and guided by Holy Scripture, find out his plan for our own family.  In docility of heart, from the 1st reading (Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14) we learn that, from the dawn of humanity and into the end of time, the Lord God

Homilies

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent, December 21, 2025

Whenever our life is altered by the presence of a very important person in our home, by a significant event, or by something of considerable value, every aspect of our day is also affected.  "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means "God is with us." Matthew 1:23  Speaking of significant presences that alter our lives, this one tops them all: God is with us, God is Emmanuel.  We can be a little or a lot nervous for as long as som

Homilies

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Advent, December 14, 2025

The word “patient” is repeated several times in this very short reading from St. James’ letter, which is today’s 2nd reading. (James 5:7-10)  True patience is required while waiting for the “coming of the Lord.”  In our age of instant gratification, genuine patience has become a foreign, practically obsolete concept that we, as believers, ought to recover.  It is patience that is lived out with firmness of heart.  It is patience that is continuously tested

Homilies

Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, December 7, 2025

We shall try to pick up the relevance of today’s message for our daily life and personal situation.  In poetic form, the 1st reading describes for us God’s dream about creating a new world free of devastation, grief, divisions, strife, tears and death.  This dream is about a world better than the original one which he had created at the beginning of time, with the Garden of Eden in it, before sin ruined everything.  It is a picture practically flaunted before our ey

Homilies

Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent, November 30, 2025

Today, the first Sunday of Advent, we begin a new year as a community of faith.    We are opening a brand-new chapter of our spiritual journal.    Yet, we realize that, most likely, what we are about to write might be a lot like some of our past entries.    For some it will be uneventful—again; for others boring, flat—again; still, for others, scary, painful—again.  Then, for the few lucky ones, it will be exciting, promising, successful, rewarding.  That’s life, we might say. That’s the way it goes:

Homilies

Homily for the Feast of Christ the King, November 23, 2025

On the solemnity of Christ the King seated on the “throne” of the cross, we shall try to look at pain and suffering from within the Church, the Body of Christ.  Looking at what unfolds on Mount Calvary, seeing three people suffering excruciating pain and dying in a most horrific fashion, all fair-minded persons would conclude that only the thief on the right and the thief on the left of Jesus are receiving retribution for their misdeeds and crimes.  However, they would be at a total

Homilies

Homily for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 16, 2025

There are several prominent Protestant leaders who believe that the Temple destroyed in the year 70 A.D. by the future emperor Titus, will be rebuilt.  However, the truth is comfortingly different. Jesus Christ is the New and Eternal Temple of God. This Temple was destroyed on the cross but rebuilt by God the Father on Easter morning.  And we, believers, are all living stones of this new and eternal Temple which has Christ as its capstone and the 12 Apostles as its foundation.  This is the context in which we ought to read today’s prediction by

Homilies

Homily for the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, November 9, 2025

Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 47:1-12) reveals to us the riches and the blessings that God makes available to us in his Temple.  There is an overabundance of life-giving water flowing from this mysterious Temple and spilling over the whole land. That overabundance must make us wonder about God’s intention.  As we reflect on this uplifting vision of water flowing from this mysterious Temple, we realize that, even as far back as at Ezekiel’s time, God had in mind his version of a