Homilies

Homily for The Third Sunday of Easter, April 14, 2024

Almost every day the news media bring into our living rooms immediate images of harrowing pain, hardships, and death from our country and from other parts of the world.  We love Jesus too much to be able to turn away from those horrible scenes unfazed, unaffected.   The most painful aspect of our empathy for these unfortunate people must be our powerlessness to do something tangible and concrete to alleviate their suffering besides our thoughts and prayers, and the occasional donation.  Today’s readings underscore a very comforting truth:

Homilies

Homily for The Second Sunday of Easter, April 7, 2024

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." John 20:19  The first thing that might strike us as relevant in this passage from today’s gospel could be that the doors of the Upper Room were locked.  Yet also in this environment of defeatism, fear and failure, the Risen Lord says: "Peace be with you."  It is a greeting repeated more than once and, thus, becoming almost an order given to convince u

Homilies

Homily for Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024

The book of Genesis tells us that, at the end of each creation day, the Lord God, stepped back to admire his handiwork and declared it “good.” However, at the end of the sixth day in which he created male and female human beings, stepping back, the Lord God declared his masterpiece “very good.” This must have been the reason why, St. Irenaeus (130-202), bishop of Lyon, wrote this famous phrase: “Man fully alive is the glory of God.” St. Irenaeus knew that to give the glory due to our Creator God, as disciples of Christ, we ought to live our ordinary, daily life,

Homilies

Homily for the Palm Sunday, March 24, 2024

The Passion Narrative acquires a totally new meaning within the context of Holy Week.  We feel shame and regret for all the sufferings Jesus had to endure to save us; we grieve over our broken promises, and we wonder what we should do to show him our sincere gratitude.  These feelings are correct, yet we should have them within the context of his resurrection and glorification as Head of the Mystical Body at the right hand of the Father.   Consequently, we must remember that all that we feel reading the Passion Narrative should be relived for

Homilies

Homily for the 5th Sunday in Lent, March 17, 2024

In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death… (Hebrews 5: 7)  This powerful statement underlines forcefully how close to our flesh, to our predicaments, to our fears, to our anguish God made himself in the flesh of his only begotten Son, Jesus.   We must be heartened by Jesus’ loud cries and tears to ponder existential questions that we might ask ourselves only very rarely—if ever:  The inevitability of death; what expects us be

Homilies

Homily for the 4th Sunday in Lent, March 10, 2024

Decades ago, a familiar sign held by bold believers at major sports events, simply read “John 3:16.” For those unfamiliar with the Bible, it refers to these words: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” But what are we to understand by the words “everyone who believes in him?” Taking into consideration the pattern of Jesus’ public life and his horrific death on the cross, I submit to you that the bottom line for a true disciple is still the same as ever: anyone who

Homilies

Homily for the 3rd Sunday in Lent, March 3, 2024

“You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth.” Exodus 20:4 It should be obvious to us believers that no human being can adequately create an image of God. God’s full revelation of himself was recorded by John in his first letter. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8.             We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in

Homilies

Homily for the 2nd Sunday in Lent, February 25, 2024

The Preface of the second Sunday of Lent tells us that the impressive display of breathtaking glory enveloping even the body of Jesus at the Transfiguration, was shown to Peter, James, and John to help them (and the rest of the group) to get over the scandal of the cross. (cf. Mark 9:2-10)  To fully appreciate the intensity of today’s readings, we need to become a bit familiar with their colorful oriental symbolism.  A high mountain: God reveals his presence on high mountains as, even physically, they are closer to heaven…  However, closeness t

Homilies

Homily for the 1st Sunday in Lent, February 18, 2024

Today’s readings leave us feeling uneasy, somewhat uncomfortable and with troubling questions in our minds.  The 1st & 2nd readings (Genesis 9:8-15 and 1 Peter 3:18-22) mention the global devastation caused by the flood survived solely by Noah and seven others.  However, confronted by havoc, at times, we dare to question the promise made by God himself: …there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth..." (Genesis 9:11).  The 2nd reading also mentions the Risen Lord descending into a mythical underworld prison to inform the disobedi

Homilies

Homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinal Time, February 11, 2024

To better appreciate this page of the gospel of Mark, I was thinking of the emotions which, most certainly, would grip the heart of a person with an irresistible passion for gardening and who, one morning, wakes up to the horrific sight of her garden in a mess: the gorgeous flowers whacked, plants mercilessly uprooted and trampled upon. In the beginning, before original sin devastated everything, God’s creation was like a most beautiful garden. In this passage about the healing of a leper (Mark 1:40-45), we should understand the verbs used by the evangelist Mark t