Homily Archive

Today we continue our celebration of the birth of Christ and I want to look at that special event from the viewpoint of the magi. Perhaps you have noticed that the magi have finally made it into our nativity scene. The magi were scientists who were following the path of a new star in the sky. They believed that every king has his own star.   So the appearance of a new star in the sky told them that there must be a new king somewhere. They came from the east and they travelled

Our Church calendar calls us to participate in three celebrations today: the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, the World Day of Prayer for Peace, and the beginning of the New Year. We begin with the Prayer for Peace. Our first reading today came to us from the Book of Numbers. After wandering in the Sinai Desert for more than 39 years, the followers of Moses were completely demoralized. They were saying to each other, “We are a worthless bunch of nomads. We have no power.

I wish to begin with a modern-day parable. Think of yourself as a juggler. Someone has handed you four balls to juggle and that person tells you to keep all four in the air at all times. One is your car. Another is your family life. Another is your home. And Number Four is your faith. The one called “car” is a rubber ball and if it falls to the ground it will bounce back. When you lose your car in a car crash, you will find another one. The second one is your home. It is als

Way back in the year 1849, a ship was sailing in the South Pacific when it suddenly sprang a leak, took on water and sank. Only one sailor, John Brown, survived and he ended up on a small island. He survived, but he had lots of problems: no food, no drinking water and no shelter. His first task was to find a spring with fresh drinking water. Then he collected driftwood and built a little hut so he could get out of the rain on rainy days. The hardest part was to find food. Aft

My topic today is the family tree of Jesus. Today’s Second Reading told us that Jesus was a descendant of David in the flesh, meaning he was fully human and had a family tree just as we do. The family tree of Jesus contains the names of several people who had great faith, such as Abraham and Sarah, Rebecca and Isaac, Rachel and Jacob, and Mary and Joseph. However, it also includes people who had very little faith, like Tamar and Judah, Rahab and Joshua, and David and Bathshe

My key word for today is Joy. I will begin with a true story from when I was serving as the pastor of two small parishes in Nebraska about 40 years ago. In one of the parishes, I baptized a baby named Jason. Jason had only one parent because his father had run away and disappeared before Jason was born. When Jason was 13, his mother dropped him off at her parents’ house and then disappeared. Six weeks later, she left a message on their answering machine: “I’m in Detroit now a

I wish to begin with the story of Isaiah, the prophet. He was living in Jerusalem at a time when many countries were at war. But not his country. The People of God were not at war and things were going along quite nicely until the king of Israel said to Isaiah, “I have decided to go to war.” Isaiah said to the king, “You shouldn’t do that. You should put your trust in God and God will continue to grant us peace.” The king said, “Too late. My mind is made up. We are going to w

My topic today is messages from God. We often say that prayer is a conversation with God and we know that it takes two parties to have a conversation. We often have a list of things that we tell God; but that is not my topic for today. Rather, I want to look at what God is telling us. I will begin with our First Reading taken from Isaiah chapter 2. In the eighth century before Jesus was born, God was upset with his people. Why? Because they had placed their trust in treatie

My topic today will be images of God.  But first I need to clarify what I mean by images.  We need to remember that an image is not the real thing.  An image is a representation of a person, place or thing.  Let’s say that you are driving down the highway and you see a large truck in your rear-view mirror.  If you touch the mirror you are not touching the truck.  You are only touching an image of the truck.  The Bible contains many images of God but I want to look at only thr

My topic today will be reversal stories.  The history of our salvation is filled with reversal stories.  Both the Old Testament and the New Testament contain stories in which the outcome is the reverse of what people expect.  In each case God moves in and creates a big surprise.  Let’s begin with Chapter 39 in the Book of the prophet Jeremiah.   One day Jeremiah gave a sermon in which he held up a clay pot and then smashed it against a rock.  He said, “Our city and our commun

We need parables.  That is my topic for today.  We need parables Jesus used them frequently in his public ministry.  His parents taught...

Today I will talk about throwing stones because that is the topic of today’s gospel.  It seems that throwing stones was quite popular in...

“Change of Heart.”  That will be the focus for my homily today: change of heart.   When Noah was their leader, the People of God were not...

My topic today will be covenant relationships.  In the Bible a covenant is a strong agreement between two parties.  It is based on mutual...

My topic today will be the Holy Spirit.  Back in the 1930s, Fiorello LaGuardia was the mayor of New York City.  He enjoyed walking...

I will begin with the Word of the Day.   And it is a Greek word…The word is “phan.”  P   H   A   N.  Phan means to “see through.”   This...

My topic today will be visiting.  When I was a child we did not have telephones or email or texting.  So we had to do our visiting in...

Hills and valleys.  That will be my topic for today.  Hills and Valleys.  Let’s begin with a picture of the geography of the Middle...

My key word for today is DECIDE and I begin with the most important decision of all time, the decision that Jesus made on the night of...

My key word for today is Thanksgiving and I wish to look at two celebrations of Thanksgiving.  Namely: the Jewish Passover and the...