29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 18 Homily

October 18

It’s been a little while since I mentioned Discovering Christ.  So, I thought I’d give you a little update.  Today we had our retreat with 100 people in attendance.  And one of the things people like a lot about Discovering Christ are all the terrible jokes.  Well, I don’t have a terrible joke for yout his evening.  But instead, I’d like to present you with a riddle.  Ready?  “I have rivers without water, forests without trees, mountains without rocks, and towns without houses.”  What am I?  Do you know?  A map!

You know sometimes in the Scriptures, it seems like Jesus styles His answers to questions in the form of a riddle.  If you look, He rarely gives a yes-or-no answer – I think, because He wants to invite the questioner more deeply into the divine mystery, not just merely satisfy their curiosity.  So often, Jesus answers in a way that really makes you think.  Well, enter our Gospel passage today, where Jesus answers those who were trying to trap Him.  He says in reference to whether or not they had to pay the census tax to Caesar, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”  By His answer, Jesus makes clear to pay the taxes due to Caesar.  But, it’s the second half of that statement that really would have stung those trying to trap Him – because what belongs to God, as our Creator and Redeemer, is our hearts and our entire beings, and therefore, our true and sincere worship – not just merely going through the motions, as so often the Pharisees would do.

  Worship.  As Catholics, the highest form of worship we give to God is the praise we offer Him at Mass.  Why at Mass?  Because at Mass, the one sacrifice of Jesus on the cross at Calvary, which even though it happened once, nearly 2,000 years ago, is again made present each time we offer up that very Paschal meal, the Last Supper, when Jesus first commanded His Disciples: “Do this in memory of me.”  And, in obedience to Christ, we do that at every Mass.  We don’t crucify Jesus again and again when we celebrate the Eucharist.  Rather, we enter into that one moment in history, and the God who lives and reigns outside of history, makes present again that one, unique sacrifice, so that we can continue to receive His gift of salvation.

For us Catholics, worship is more about what God has done for us, than it is what we can give to God in return.  In fact, we really have nothing to offer God – because everything that is good comes from Him.  And the “goodest” good the Father has given to us is His Son’s sacrifice on the cross.  And at Mass, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we offer up the sacred Body and Blood of Jesus, joining to it the sacrifice of our very own hearts and lives and beings.  Now, that’s what we call worship!

But, for as truly awe-some as Mass is, is your experience of Mass ever more like awesome than AWESOME! ?  Has Mass ever lost the “magic” for you?  Or maybe you’ve never even knew that Mass could be so much more.  But it can!  

If you were to go to a concert by your favorite singer, would you just stand there with your hands in your pockets, thinking about what you’ve got to get at the grocery store on your way home?  Are you just going to be bored out of your mind?  No way.  You’re going to be singing at the top of your lungs, swaying back and forth, and maybe even jumping up and down.  Well, then why do we find ourselves so bored at Mass sometimes?  I mean, Jesus is way more important than any singer.  And the depth of what He did for us on the cross and gives us at Mass is deeper than all the songs ever written combined.  

“Well, if Mass were just more interesting, I wouldn’t get bored.”  Ever hear that one before?  The thing is if we’re looking for Mass to entertain us, make us laugh, give us foot tapping music, all in one hour or less, then we might just find ourselves disappointed, and even bored.  But really, Mass shouldn’t be any of that stuff.  We can find it all elsewhere.  Rather, Mass makes present what Jesus did for us, which is unlike anything else ever done.  What we need, then, in worship is what is unlike the other stuff.  We need what we aren’t always looking for, which is exactly what Mass provides: an opportunity to slow down and explore, not the newest experience or the next trend, but to focus on that which matters the most.

The repetition of Mass is not meant to bore us.  Rather, it’s meant to offer us a familiar rhythm that is essential for really connecting with God in prayer.  The Mass opens us up to that quiet interior space within each of us where we are truly “alone with God whose voice echoes in our depths.”  

If I could make a suggestion that I have personally found very enriching in my own experience of Mass – don’t just say the words; pray the words of the Mass.  If you really focus on what you’re saying, it becomes a true conversation between you and God – one that we are all having together!  And if you happen to find yourself in one of those “boring” moments anyway, just let God speak to your heart.  You don’t have to fill the silence with any thoughts or some activity.  Just be.  With Him.  That’s all.  God bless you.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 11 Homily

October 11, 2026

Homily in English

There’s something about weddings that bring such joy.  Certainly in the time of Jesus, the Jewish people knew how to celebrate the coming together of husband and wife as one with joyful festivity.  You’ve probably heard before that wedding celebrations of that time often went on for days.  

Well, given its rich symbolism, a wedding is also used to describe God’s Kingdom.  For the Israelites, the Chosen People, there was the grateful realization that they already possessed an invitation to the messianic wedding feast prepared by God Himself.  And so Jesus’ parable today, addressed to the chief priests and the elders, reveals what they ultimately think of God’s invitation to accept Jesus as the Messiah, the Savior.  

Jesus came first to the House of Israel, God’s People, to tell them that the wedding feast had now begun.  But at the instigation of the religious leadership – those who were supposed to be the groomsmen, so to speak – they largely rejected Jesus.  But God didn’t just give up.  And so, in the parable, He sends His servants out again to invite any and every person they come across.  And who would those servants have come across?  The outcasts of Israel – the tax collectors, the prostitutes, even the Gentiles.  In other words, sinners.

The thing is, the chief priests, the elders, the entire Jewish people, and indeed, every human being – we’re all sinners.  But those who were notorious and public sinners certainly knew it.  Everyone did!  The problem is, God’s People could so easily just hide behind just that – “Well, I’m a son or daughter of Israel.”  Just like so many Christians today hide behind that very label, Christian.  “I’m a good person”, so many say.  But the reality is that we are all still sinners in need of mercy.  And so by virtue of being a sinner, we all have extended to us an invitation from Jesus to be gathered in to His Church – no one excluded.    

But between the giving of an invitation to a wedding and the showing up there, some prep work is necessary.  For example, taking a shower, combing your hair, putting on clothes worthy of such a joyful and dignified celebration.  You know, you’re invited just as you are because you have some connection to the bride and groom.  But to accept the invitation, some cleaning up is necessary.  The point is, if you don’t show up prepared, you can’t fully take part.  And this is what Jesus is getting at today with this whole “wedding garment” thing that we hear about in the parable.  

So, how are we supposed to be prepared?  Well, the wedding garment that Jesus is speaking about is an image of our baptism – when we were washed by the very blood of Jesus, by which our sins were washed away.  But because we continue to sin, Jesus has give His Church the Sacrament of Reconciliation to restore that baptismal grace.  Confession is where we go, after we’ve received the wedding invitation of baptism, and before coming to the great wedding feast of Holy Communion.  

But too many people downplay their sins today as nothing more than “bad choices”.  But that’s not what the Church teaches.  Rather, when we’ve committed sin – especially serious, that is mortal sin – we are obliged the best we can to go to Confession first before receiving Holy Communion.  So, even though everyone is invited, and welcome to Mass, we first need to be properly prepared to fully take part.  Otherwise, we should refrain from the Eucharist until we have sacramentally repented first.     

My friends, it is not enough for us just to say, “I’m Catholic.”  It’s not enough for me to say, “I pray” or “I go to Mass”.  The Christian life, above all, is about growing in the image and likeness of God – of being conformed to Jesus Christ – of growing in real holiness.  Therefore, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is so important.  It’s in this beautiful sacrament of peace, then, that we receive God’s mercy, and are readied for the great Eucharistic banquet of the Mass.  God bless you.  

Homilía en español

Las bodas tienen algo especial que transmite una gran alegría. Sin duda, en tiempos de Jesús, el pueblo judío sabía celebrar con júbilo la unión de marido y mujer en una sola carne. Probablemente hayan oído decir que las celebraciones nupciales de aquella época solían durar varios días. 

Pues bien, dada su rica simbología, la boda también se utiliza para describir el Reino de Dios. Para los israelitas, el Pueblo Elegido, existía la conciencia agradecida de poseer ya una invitación al banquete de bodas mesiánico preparado por el mismo Dios. Así, la parábola de Jesús de hoy, dirigida a los sumos sacerdotes y a los ancianos, revela lo que realmente piensan sobre la invitación de Dios a aceptar a Jesús como el Mesías, el Salvador. 

Jesús acudió primero a la Casa de Israel, el Pueblo de Dios, para anunciarles que el banquete de bodas ya había comenzado. Sin embargo, instigados por los líderes religiosos —aquellos que, por así decirlo, debían haber actuado como padrinos de boda—, rechazaron mayoritariamente a Jesús. Pero Dios no se rindió. Por eso, en la parábola, envía de nuevo a sus servidores a invitar a todas las personas que encuentren a su paso. ¿Y con quiénes se habrían encontrado esos servidores? Con los marginados de Israel: los publicanos, las prostitutas e incluso los gentiles. En otras palabras, con los pecadores. 

Lo cierto es que los sumos sacerdotes, los ancianos, todo el pueblo judío y, de hecho, todo ser humano, somos pecadores. Pero aquellos que eran pecadores públicos y notorios ciertamente lo sabían. ¡Todo el mundo lo sabía! El problema es que el Pueblo de Dios podía escudarse fácilmente en ese simple hecho: «Bueno, soy hijo o hija de Israel». Del mismo modo que hoy en día muchos cristianos se escudan tras esa misma etiqueta: «cristiano». «Soy buena persona», dicen muchos. Pero la realidad es que todos seguimos siendo pecadores necesitados de misericordia. Y así, por el hecho de ser pecadores, todos recibimos la invitación de Jesús a congregarnos en su Iglesia; nadie queda excluido. Sin embargo, entre recibir la invitación a una boda y asistir a ella, es necesario realizar ciertos preparativos. Por ejemplo, ducharse, peinarse y vestirse de manera adecuada para una celebración tan alegre y digna. Sabemos que se nos invita tal como somos, debido al vínculo que tenemos con los novios; pero, para aceptar la invitación, es necesario asearse y prepararse. La cuestión es que, si uno no se presenta preparado, no puede participar plenamente. Y a esto es a lo que se refiere Jesús hoy con el tema del «traje de boda» que aparece en la parábola.

¿Cómo debemos prepararnos, entonces? Pues bien, el traje de boda del que habla Jesús simboliza nuestro bautismo: aquel momento en que fuimos lavados por la propia sangre de Jesús, quedando así purificados de nuestros pecados. No obstante, como seguimos pecando, Jesús ha otorgado a su Iglesia el sacramento de la Reconciliación para restaurar esa gracia bautismal. La confesión es el paso que damos después de haber recibido la invitación bautismal y antes de acudir al gran banquete de bodas de la Sagrada Comunión.

Sin embargo, hoy en día muchas personas restan importancia a sus pecados, considerándolos meras «malas decisiones». Pero eso no es lo que enseña la Iglesia. Al contrario: cuando hemos cometido un pecado —especialmente uno grave, es decir, un pecado mortal—, estamos obligados a acudir a la confesión antes de recibir la Sagrada Comunión, en la medida de nuestras posibilidades. Por tanto, aunque todos están invitados y son bienvenidos a Misa, primero debemos estar debidamente preparados para participar plenamente. De lo contrario, debemos abstenernos de recibir la Eucaristía hasta habernos arrepentido sacramentalmente.

Amigos míos, no basta con decir: «Soy católico». No es suficiente afirmar: «Rezo» o «Voy a Misa». La vida cristiana consiste, ante todo, en crecer a imagen y semejanza de Dios —en configurarnos con Jesucristo— y en avanzar hacia una santidad auténtica. Por eso es tan importante el sacramento de la Reconciliación. Es en este hermoso sacramento de la paz, pues, donde recibimos la misericordia de Dios y nos preparamos para el gran banquete eucarístico de la Misa. Que Dios los bendiga.

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 4 Homily

The parable Jesus tells in today’s Gospel is addressed to the “chief priests and the elders of the people”. Of course this was the same body of people, who would reject Jesus as the Messiah and call for Him to be crucified before Herod. And so, it was to them that Jesus addresses this not-so-veiled parable.

Now, just to make sure everybody’s on the same page, the landowner is the God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The vineyard represents the Jewish people, whom God delivered from slavery in Egypt – as the responsorial psalm puts it today, “A vine from Egypt you transplanted; you drove away the nations and planted it.” Then, at harvest time, God first sends His servants, that is, the Old Testament prophets. And in history, we know that they indeed killed Isaiah, stoned Jeremiah, pursued Elijah, and beheaded John the Baptist. And clearly the son sent by God, is none other than the very Son of God, who came by the will of the Father to His vineyard, the Jewish people. It was Him the people would seize and crucify outside the city of Jerusalem.

Now, in the parable, the tenants thought they would get a monetary inheritance by rejecting and killing the son. However, Jesus reveals what will ultimately happen to those who reject the Son – the kingdom of God will be taken away from them. But to those who would accept Him and believe in Him, His Father would work all things for good by bringing about their eternal salvation through His very death and resurrection on the cross.

Now, we might think to ourselves, “Why would the landowner send his son, knowing how the tenants of the vineyard treated the servants? Didn’t he know they would do the same or worse to him?” Similarly, perhaps we wonder about God, “Why did the Father send His only-begotten Son to us, knowing how our ancestors in the faith had treated the prophets and other people of God? Why? Love.

Now when we think of one reality, it often calls to mind its opposite. Let’s try this out: Tall...short. Happy...sad. Love...hate. And, at first that last one might sound right. I mean, God the Father perfectly loves His children, sinners though we are. And yet it was out of hatred that lawless men crucified His Beloved Son. But on a much deeper level, I would propose to you, in the words of St. John Paul II, that the opposite of love is not to hate someone, but rather to use that person. To use someone means to treat them as a means for an end – to treat them as an object to get what you want – to objectify them. This powerful teaching was illustrated in John Paul II’s book, Love and Responsibility.

Now certainly when I use that word objectify, you might be able to imagine what I’m getting at. One of the first things that come to mind when I say objectifying someone is to lust after someone. By lust, a person is not treated as a human being with the full dignity that is theirs, as a subject. Rather, they are reduced to particular body parts or physical features – an object.

Using someone, however, clearly goes much further than that. We can use someone to get what we want – maybe a job or a promotion at work – to get ahead. Or we can use another for a friendship of convenience if the friend we really want to hang out with isn’t available.

I’ve been noticing this type of stuff more and more as the years go by. And I’m afraid that we’re becoming too familiar with using others – not treating them with the full dignity that is theirs. The cashier at the grocery store – treated just like a cash register with arms. The person on the other end of the line of customer service – treated with annoyance. An athlete on a sports team – just someone to score points.

The sad reality of this culture of using others is that it ultimately leads to the culture of death, as people get more and more selfish and self-absorbed. Is a baby in= her mother’s womb, at whatever stage of development, a sacred life to be preserved? Or is it a thing that can be disposed of if she’s not wanted or convenient or has a birth defect? Is a terminally ill person at the end of his life still worthy of compassion and dignity as he unites his sufferings to Christ Crucified, who died for him? Or is he a burden on the health care system and is going to die anyway? Can we manufacture human life to create the perfect child or a designer baby? Or, are we to love each person as the unique, irrepeatible gift that they are?

My friends, during October in a special way, we celebrate Respect Life Month. Respecting life is something that must do if we are to truly be Christians. To respect someone is not to treat them as an object, but to see them in the full dignity that is theirs. In the words of Pope John Paul II: “We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures. We are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His son.”

How we treat our family members and complete strangers; how we support charitable causes; even how we vote in our elections – these are all ways that we can concretely respect life. All of this is about the culture we are creating. Either we protect and promote life, or we will end up using and destroying it. God bless you.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 27 Homily

Homily in English

“You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!”  Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?”

As soon as I heard this passage, my mind went right away to the complaints of children sometimes.  How often do we hear kids say, “That’s not fair!”?  For example, one child gets a piece of candy, but the other doesn’t – “That’s not fair!” 

Well, as adults, we’re still children – Children of God – and sometimes not so innocent Children of God, but childish Children of God.  I guess we all have our issues to contend with.  But, as we prepare to enter Respect Life month in October, which calls us as Catholics to build up the Culture of Life in society, I’d like to talk about that which Proverbs 18:21 says has “the power to deal death or give life” – namely, the tongue.  And in particular one way the tongue deals death – namely, gossip.  As I read on a homemade decoration at a previous parish: “Small towns.  There isn’t always much to see.  But what you hear more than makes up for it!” 

“The story is often told of the most unusual penance St. Philip Neri assigned to a woman for her sin of spreading gossip.  The sixteenth-century saint instructed her to take a feather pillow to the top of the church bell tower, rip it open, and let the wind blow all the feathers away.  This probably wasn’t the kind of penance this woman, or any of us, would have been used to – we’d probably just be hoping for a few Our Father’s or Hail Mary’s!

But the penance didn't end there.  Philip Neri gave her a second and more difficult task to follow.  He told her to come down from the bell tower and collect all the feathers that had been scattered throughout the town.  The poor lady, of course, couldn’t do it.  And that was the point St. Philip Neri was trying to make in order to underscore the destructive nature of gossip.  In fact, when we detract from others in our speech, our malicious words are scattered abroad and cannot be gathered back.  They continue to dishonor and divide many days, months, and years after we speak them as they linger in people's minds and pass from one tale-bearer to the next.”

Yes, gossip is most unfair.  And with gossip, I’ve learned, comes a subtle form of pride, where we think we’re better than others in a judgmental sort of way.  Gossip in this way shows how stubborn we are in our ways, thinking I’m right and everyone else is wrong.  This is really pride.  But today’s Psalm says because the Lord is good and upright, He guides the humble to justice and teaches the humble his way.  This means the proud are left to the injustice of their ways.  And so, the sense of belonging we seek to foster through gossip, eventually will lead to feelings of emptiness. 

My friends, as I mentioned before, gossip is often an issue that is a struggle for many smaller communities – within families and within our social circles – yes, even parishes.  To counter this very real temptation, St. Paul gives us absolutely essential advice in our second reading.  He pleads, “Be of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.  Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others.”

And so I ask all of you: Are we working to foster unity in your relationships, in a special way as a parish family here at St. Francis Xavier?  Is there real unity coming about in the big picture as well as between individuals?  Is there still gossip and rifts, in place of being “of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing”?  Or is there selfishness and vainglory, rather than humility and putting others first?

Our Lord Jesus Christ, “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…and he humbled himself.”  He was obedient to His Father’s will to the point of death.  And it was because of this that God greatly exalted him. 

My brothers and sisters, as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to imitate Him – in word, in deed, even in thought.  May this Eucharist we receive today strengthen us in our desire to become more like Him – in charity, in unity, and in peace, so that we may truly be one Body united in Christ.  God bless you. 

Homilía en Español

Tan pronto como escuché este pasaje, mi mente se dirigió de inmediato a las quejas que a veces tienen los niños.  ¿Con qué frecuencia oímos a los niños decir: “¡Eso no es justo!”?  Por ejemplo, un niño recibe un dulce, pero el otro no: “¡Eso no es justo!”.

Pues bien, como adultos, seguimos siendo niños —hijos de Dios—; a veces hijos de Dios no tan inocentes, sino más bien hijos de Dios con actitudes infantiles. Supongo que todos tenemos nuestros propios problemas que afrontar.  Pero, al prepararnos para entrar en el mes de octubre, dedicado al Respeto por la Vida —que nos llama a los católicos a construir la cultura de la vida en la sociedad—, quisiera hablar de aquello que, según Proverbios 18:21, tiene “poder para dar muerte o dar vida”: la lengua.  Y, en particular, de una forma en que la lengua causa muerte: el chisme.  Como leí una vez en un letrero hecho a mano en una parroquia anterior: “Pueblos pequeños.  No siempre hay mucho que ver.  ¡Pero lo que se oye compensa con creces esa falta!”.  

Se cuenta la historia de la penitencia tan inusual que San Felipe Neri asignó a una mujer por su pecado de difamación.  El santo le indicó que llevara una almohada de plumas a lo alto del campanario de la iglesia, la rasgara y dejara que el viento se llevara todas las plumas.  Probablemente, esta no era la clase de penitencia a la que ella —o cualquiera de nosotros— estuviera acostumbrada; ¡lo más seguro es que hubiéramos esperado simplemente rezar unos cuantos Padrenuestros o Avemarías!

Pero la penitencia no terminaba ahí.  Felipe Neri le encomendó una segunda tarea, más difícil aún: le dijo que bajara del campanario y recogiera todas las plumas que se habían esparcido por el pueblo.  La pobre mujer, naturalmente, no pudo hacerlo.  Y ese era precisamente el punto que San Felipe Neri quería transmitir para resaltar la naturaleza destructiva de los chismes.  De hecho, cuando hablamos mal de los demás, nuestras palabras maliciosas se dispersan y ya no pueden recogerse. Siguen deshonrando y dividiendo mucho tiempo después —días, meses y años— de haberlas pronunciado, pues permanecen en la mente de la gente y pasan de un chismoso a otro.

Sí, el chisme es sumamente injusto.  Y he aprendido que, con el chisme, surge una forma sutil de soberbia: creemos ser mejores que los demás y los juzgamos.  Así, el chisme revela nuestra obstinación al pensar que nosotros tenemos la razón y que todos los demás están equivocados.  En realidad, eso es soberbia.  Sin embargo, el Salmo de hoy dice que, “el Señor es recto y bondadoso… guía por la senda recta a los humildes y descubre a los pobres sus caminos”.  Esto significa que los soberbios quedan abandonados a la injusticia de sus propios caminos.  Por tanto, esa sensación de pertenencia que buscamos fomentar mediante el chisme acabará conduciéndonos a un sentimiento de vacío.

Amigos míos, como mencioné anteriormente, el chisme suele ser un problema que afecta a muchas comunidades pequeñas —ya sean familias o círculos sociales— e incluso, sí, a nuestras propias parroquias.  Para contrarrestar esta tentación tan real, San Pablo nos ofrece un consejo absolutamente esencial en nuestra segunda lectura. Él nos exhorta: “Tengan todos una misma manera de pensar, un mismo amor, unas mismas aspiraciones y una sola alma.  Nada hagan por espíritu de rivalidad ni presunción; antes bien, por humildad, cada uno considere a los demás como superiores a sí mismo y no busque su propio interés, sino el del prójimo.”

Por eso les pregunto a todos ustedes: ¿Estamos trabajando para fomentar la unidad en nuestras relaciones, y de manera especial como familia parroquial aquí en San Francisco Javier?  ¿Existe una unidad real, tanto en el panorama general como entre las personas?  ¿Persisten los chismes y las divisiones en lugar de tener “una misma manera de pensar, un mismo amor”?  ¿O acaso hay egoísmo y vanagloria, en vez de humildad y de poner a los demás en primer lugar? 

Nuestro Señor Jesucristo “se anonadó a sí mismo, tomando la condición de siervo… y se humilló a sí mismo.”  Fue obediente a la voluntad de su Padre hasta la muerte.  Y fue precisamente por esto que Dios lo exaltó sobre todas las cosas. 

Hermanos y hermanas, como discípulos de nuestro Señor Jesucristo, estamos llamados a imitarlo: de palabra, de obra e incluso de pensamiento.  Que esta Eucaristía que recibimos hoy nos fortalezca en nuestro deseo de parecernos más a Él —en la caridad, en la unidad y en la paz— para que seamos verdaderamente un solo Cuerpo unido en Cristo.  Que Dios los bendiga a ustedes.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 13 Homily

Homily in English

She heard the killers call her by name with contemptuous, determined voices.  “She's here ... we know she’s here somewhere. ... Find her – find Immaculee,” one of them said.  They were carrying machetes, spears, garden tools – anything that could strike a hard blow into human flesh.  Some of those voices were her former friends and neighbors – people who Immaculee Ilibagiza had grown up with, played with, and went to school with.  Now, she was hiding in a 3-foot-by-4-foot bathroom with a group of other women, powerless as she heard the cries and screams of people out on the street being killed – virtually every member of Rwanda's minority Tutsi tribe that the murdering mobs could find.

In 1994, over the course of just 100 days, well over 500,000 Rwandan Tutsis were brutally killed by Hutu mobs in one of history's worst cases of genocide.  The murdered included nearly all of Immaculee's family.  And for three, horror-filled months, the Hutu mobs repeatedly searched the home where Immaculee and the others were hiding, sometimes coming just inches from the wardrobe that hid the bathroom door.

Yet, nearly 30 years later, Immaculee has dedicated her life to spreading God's message of mercy – His call for us to trust in Him, and His call for us to forgive those who have hurt us.  But how?  How could she ever forgive such atrocities?  She tells us in her book, Left to Tell.    

While in hiding, Immaculee struggled to cling to her sanity.  She endured an intense internal battle between trusting in God and succumbing to paralyzing fear and despair.  Nearly all of her waking hours were spent in prayer.  But she started realizing that some of the words she prayed rang hollow in her heart, particularly the words in the Lord's Prayer about forgiving “those who trespass against us.”  She actually felt hatred toward the killers and had dreams of revenge.  Yet amid the repeated doubts that surged, she prayed more intensely, “Touch my heart, Lord, and show me how to forgive.”  

Then one day, she had reached an epiphany.  Suddenly, those words in the Our Father that once rang so hollow to her now resounded in her soul as the chimes of salvation.  You see, she realized that hating the killers was preventing her from trusting God.  Hatred was an obstacle she was allowing that prevented her from receiving the help God wanted to give her.  At that moment, she prayed for the killers, that their sins be forgiven, and that they recognize the horrific error of their ways before their time on Earth expired.  She held onto her rosary beads and again heard God's voice, this time saying: “Forgive them; they know not what they do.”
Forgiveness is so important.  And yet it’s so often misunderstood.  For example, forgiveness is not about somehow circumventing God’s justice.  It’s not letting the guilty off the hook.  It’s not excusing sinful behavior.  It’s not pushing your anger down.  It’s not about being a doormat.  And ultimately forgiveness is not a mere feeling, because if we wait until we feel like forgiving, we may never get there.  

In truth, forgiveness is an act of the will – a choice we make not to hold the past against a person anymore – not because they deserve it – but because if we don’t, then we’re the ones mercilessly trapped and tortured in the prison of the past, letting those old wounds fester and embitter us.  And isn’t this what Jesus says at the end of today’s Gospel?  Referring to what happened with the merciless servant, who was handed over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt, Jesus declares: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”  

Forgiveness, then, is about dismissing the “debt” owed to you – releasing the offender from the obligation to repay you.  It’s not demanding that they pay for what they did.  Forgiveness is giving up the option of holding on to the offense, and instead giving it to God.  Forgiveness is possible even if it’s never earned or requested – it doesn’t have to be a two-way street.  And, in the end, forgiveness involves changing your thinking about the offender, seeing him or her as someone in need of forgiveness, just like you and I are.

And this is why Jesus says we have to forgive from the heart.  It means we forgive when we don’t want to – when we don’t feel like it.  It means we pray for the person.  It means we don’t gossip about them, or smear their reputation.  And if we’re really stuck, then we ask God for the grace to even be willing to forgive them in the first place.    

Is forgiveness easy?  Often times, no.  But, it’s something that each one of us must grapple with frequently in our lives.  Whether it’s wounds from childhood, or something that just happened last week.  Whether it’s hurts caused by a family member, a friend or even a stranger.  No matter the details, in the face of anger, resentment, and a whole host of other negative emotions, forgiveness is the only way to the abiding peace that God alone can give us.

We’ve all heard it said before that “I can forgive, but I can’t forget.”  It’s natural for us to remember something or someone that hurt us.  But what this means, then, is that every time you see the person’s face, or hear their name, or remember a detail, the choice is presented to you again – forgive or hold on to hate?  And then it’s presented again and again and again.  And, you might have to make this choice 77 times on some days; but that’s OK.  

God will truly give you the grace so that you can forgive your own debtors.  How can he not?  The Father has forgiven us the eternal debt of our sins by the sacrifice of His Son on the cross.  In turn, He wants us, not to choke the fellow servant who owes us.  Rather, we are called to no longer hold the unchangeable burden of the past against them anymore.  Truly, in forgiveness is real freedom found.  God will be faithful to His part.  He just asks us to be willing partners in the process with Him.  God bless you.

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 6 Homily

September 6, 2026

Did you ever hear the voice of God?  Or, did you ever hear someone say: “The Lord told me such and such”?  If you’ve heard His voice – you know that you know that you know it’s true.  But still, we might wonder – “Have I heard God’s voice, or was that just me?”  

Now, when I say I’ve heard God’s voice, I mean, as I was sitting silently in prayer, I felt a thought deep in my heart.  That’s right, it wasn’t just a thought that popped into my head.  But it was a word, actually a phrase, that touched my heart.  And what the Father revealed to me in the silence of my heart was that being a follower of His Son is about living a whole new life.  This means, not just living in such a way where we try to live a regular life, but just “gooder”… doing more good things.  But rather a whole new life, where we are centered completely on loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, and by extension, loving others.  

St. Paul makes that reality clear in our second reading today.  There, he tells the Romans that to love is to fulfill God’s Law.  By love, he doesn’t just mean being “gooder” to people.  God’s Commandments indeed teach us how to not sin against another.  But that is just the beginning or the start.  The fulfillment of that Law, then, is to seek their true and eternal good, even above ourselves.  Love causes us to go out of ourselves to seek God’s good will for someone’s life.  But, I have to say, living in such a way really requires a reordering of things on the inside first.    

And Jesus shows us by His own life what He means.  Jesus didn’t come just to teach people how to live a better kind of life.  Like, if I’m just a kinder, gentler, nicer, more forgiving person – then I’m living as God wants.  Even non-Christians can live in this kind of way – nicer, and all the rest.  Rather, Jesus came to give us a whole new life – His life.  The Son of God gave His very life in its totality on the cross.  He gave everything for us.  And so therefore, He doesn’t just want us to give some of ourselves to Him.  He wants us to belong totally, entirely, and completely to Him.  He wants to have the first place in our lives as our Savior who saved us from eternal death to give us eternal life.

The truth of the matter is that Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father.  And through our journey of faith, which begins in baptism, we are adopted into God’s family as sons and daughters of the Father.  The Holy Spirit literally comes to dwell within us, enabling us to cry out, “Abba, Father.”  We become children of God – we receive this new identity – because of what Jesus did for us as Lord.  Then, because of His Spirit living and dwelling in us, we can then do things like keeping God’s commandments, being more merciful and forgiving, acting more kindly and compassionately.  And this is the big paradigm shift to make.  Do I live out of my identity as a child of God, which comes first – making God my first priority in my life – so that I can then live as Jesus commands.  Or, do I try to do the best I can with my own efforts, so that I can hopefully somehow be good enough to earn God’s favor as a good person.  

Do you see the difference?  First, we are children of God because of what Jesus did and our faith in Him, and then we live from that identity – And not the other way around.  It’s like children growing up in a house where they know they are loved by their parents.  That love gives them the safety and security to confidently grow into who they were created to be – reaching their full human potential.  Whereas, a child who is belittled and demeaned by his or her parents lives by either trying unsuccessfully to please them all the time or radically rebelling against them or by trying to prove themselves to others as worthy.

I’d like to propose a question that each one of us must settle.  “Do I really want Jesus to be the Lord of my life?”  Do I really want to put God first?  If you’ve never asked yourself that question so bluntly or seriously before, I invite you to do so.  And if your answer is “No”, or “I’m not sure”, then get curious about that.  “Why is it I don’t want to put God first?”  Many times, we may say we want to put God first.  But there’s still parts of us that want to live life on our own terms.  We still want to try to be just good enough, but also still be in charge of our lives too.  The truth of the matter though is quite different.  We can’t just partially be the Father’s children.  We in fact are children of God.  But we often don’t live that fact out, at least fully, because we don’t always live from our truest identity, which no one or nothing can ever take away.  If you want to take a journey from “doing” to “being”, join us for Discovering Christ.  Over 150 people have already signed up.  I can’t wait for us to encounter God together and hear His voice deep in our hearts.   God bless you. 

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 23 Homily

August 23, 2026

We are sinners.  God alone is holy.  Not a news flash.  “We have all sinned and are thus deprived of the glory of God”.  But, what is the result of sin?  Death.  Romans 6:23 teaches that “the wages of sin is death”.  And wasn’t that what God warned Adam and Eve about in the Garden of Eden – that they not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, lest they die?  Yeah, but in Genesis Chapter 3 we learn they did it anyway.  And they didn’t die… well, right away… at least physically.  However, spiritual death did occur right away through their mortal sin, which led to separation from God in this life, and to eternal separation beyond.  We call this bad news.  And our world today tries to sell this bad news as really not that bad.  It tries to seduce us into thinking there aren’t really any consequences for sin – that we can get away with it.  That you just have to try to be good, and then you can go to heaven.  But you know, if we don’t accept the bad news – that we are sinners, and therefore lost for all eternity – then we cannot accept the Good News.  

The Good News comes to us definitively in the person of Jesus Christ.  It’s in Him that God restores us to friendship and union with Himself.  And this Good News is also already foreshadowed in Genesis 3.  Here Adam and Eve learn their fate because of their radical disobedience of God, their loving Father – expulsion from the Garden of Eden, as well as an existence in this life and the next separated from Him, who is the very source of life and love.  Here, God, speaking to the serpent – the devil in bodily form – declares, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel.”  

And here in lies the prophecy of the Good News, which was announced and proclaimed when the Blessed Virgin Mary – the woman – gave birth to Jesus – her offspring – who, as the Savior, has crushed the head of Satan by His very death on the cross and His Resurrection from the dead.  On the cross, on Good Friday, Jesus, who is true God and true man, took upon Himself the punishment of death because of our sins.  But by dying, His death swallowed up death, because death cannot hold prisoner the very Author of Life.  And so in Jesus’ Resurrection, when He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, He broke the bonds of death, and opened the gates of Heaven.  God Himself took the bad news and made it truly good.  And, this is what the word “Gospel” itself literally means: Good News.  

So, what do we do with this Good News?  Once we understand our need for a savior, and recognize that Jesus Christ is that Savior, then what?  Well, the Scriptures themselves tell us what to do: “Repent and be baptized every one of you.”  To repent is to acknowledge that we are sinners, and to ask for God’s forgiveness.  How do we receive God’s forgiveness?  Through the very means Jesus Himself established so that this Good News could be delivered to all people of all ages – the Church.  And, in particular, the sacraments of the Church – the very channels by which God’s grace is given to us personally.  

And this is what we see unfolding in our Gospel today.  Jesus gives to Peter the “keys to the kingdom”.  It’s upon Peter, whose name literally means “rock”, that Jesus builds His Church.  And it’s through Peter and His successors, who are the very visible sign of Jesus’ presence on earth, that Christ still leads His flock.  In other words, the Church was not an afterthought.  As the Body of Christ, the Church is essential for salvation, because it’s the means by which what Christ the Head did for His Body, can be received and participated in by His Body, the Church.  

Now, God’s forgiveness – His free gift of salvation – comes to us, beginning in baptism.  Why baptism?  Well in baptism, we personally enter into the one perfect sacrifice for all that Jesus historically offered on the cross.  We were lowered down into the font, and water was poured over us three times – just as Jesus went down into the grave and was buried for three days.  In baptism, we truly entered into Christ’s death.  And then when we were lifted up from the baptismal font, we were born again by the Holy Spirit, and we began to share in Christ’s very Resurrection.  We became a new creation in Christ.

Our parents gave us natural birth, bringing us into their home.  And for many of us, shortly after birth, they brought us to God’s house, the church, so that we could begin our new life as true sons and daughters of God the Father.  The water breaking at our natural birth, soon lead to our rebirth in the waters of baptism, by which we received the gift of eternal life

But that was just the beginning.  Similar to how as infants, we then need to learn how to walk and talk and do long division and eventually taxes; so we need to grow as children of God.  The gift of the Eucharist, the very Body and Blood of Christ, helps us to grow up big and strong as disciples of Jesus.  The gift of Reconciliation, enables us to receive anew that one sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and know that our sins are truly forgiven – that we still need a Savior.  The gift of confirmation, by which we confirm the very grace given to us in baptism, making a free choice to choose Jesus as our Savior as maturing members of His Body, the Church.  

This is the gift of salvation.  One we first received at baptism.  One which is renewed in the worthy celebration of the sacraments.  And one which is held out to us in hope for eternity.  The journey then of this life is meant to allow God’s very Holy Spirit to perfect us, as we, sons and daughters, grow in to the image and likeness of the only-begotten Son of God the Father.  And the sacraments are those preeminent ways that God’s grace comes to us to help us grow in faith, hope, and love, and to truly grow in virtue.  Another valuable means to really growing spiritually is Discovering Christ, which we are offering this September.  I have seen time and again how Discovering Christ has transformed people personally and how it has helped renew parish life.  Will you consider joining me this September 17 as we embark on this journey together of discovering anew our amazing God as revealed to us in the flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ.  God bless you.

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 16 Homily

August 16, 2026

Homily in English

One of my favorite things to eat is bread – banana bread, pita bread, tortillas, – I like it all.  Too bad too much of a good thing is not a good thing!  And, it seems that bread is one of the favorite foods in the Bible too, as it’s mentioned so often.  In fact, in today’s Gospel, a deep theological conversation unfolds between Jesus and a Canaanite woman over the issue of bread.  

As we just heard, this mother, whose daughter was tormented by a demon, cried out for Jesus to have pity on her.  You can probably imagine the frustration, the fear, and the great sense of urgency this mother felt.  And yet, even after a second humble plea, Jesus only responds with the words, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  Wow.  Maybe the first time you heard that, you thought: “How insensitive!  Why would Jesus say such a thing?”  Well, because it was true.  In fact, Jesus, as the Messiah of Israel, was sent to the Jewish people only, who for centuries had been awaiting Him.  It was the Israelites, then, who were to accept Him, and then be a light to all the nations as evangelizers.  But as we know, the Israelites largely rejected the Messiah.

But still, even though this was the way things were, doesn’t it still seem quite inflammatory to say to a person whose child is in great need: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs”?  Ouch.  

And if we only stayed on this surface, we might keep scratching our heads as to what’s really going on here.  But when we dig a little deeper, and turn to the language the New Testament, which is Greek, we find the context of what the Lord really means here.  In fact, just as in English, we have several words for ‘dog’ – like mutt, hound, puppy – so too in Greek.  Now when Jesus said it is not right to take the food – and the Greek word is actually “bread” – and give it to the dogs, He’s not using the word for wild dogs that run in the street.  Rather, He’s using a term, which might best be rendered as “lap dog” – as a household pet.  

And this Canaanite woman obviously understood this nuance.  Jesus referred to her people, the Gentiles, as lap dogs – as household pets.  And so her reply of, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters”, might be translated as follows: “Did you say it would be wrong to take bread away from the children and feed it to the dogs?  You said these dogs were household pets.  And if their master is at the dinner table, they’re under the table, at his feet.  So, if I’m your beloved pet looking up at you, then simply grant me a scrap of bread.  That’s all I’m asking of you.”  Wow!  Obviously this woman got it.  Obviously, she knew her place.  But obviously she had great faith.

You know, maybe sometimes we feel like the Lord deals harshly with us.  Maybe we feel like the dog kicked to the curb, and not a precious little puppy.  Perhaps we ask the Lord for something in prayer, but we feel like He doesn’t answer us in the way we request.  Perhaps we feel like all we get is scraps from God, if we’re lucky.  But the truth of the matter is God cares.  If the conversation between Jesus and “the family pet” elicited such loving concern, how much more for us, who are children of our heavenly Father sitting at the table?  

Today Jesus shows us that even the scraps, even the crumbs, even that little bit of bread goes a long way.  Real faith – no matter how little it feels or seems – believes God for more.  Therefore, faith is precious in the sight of the Lord – because faith is trusting God with what He already knows we need, without knowing how He will provide, but believing all the while that He will work all things for good for those who love Him.  

And so today, as a pledge of God’s infinite love for us, we come to the altar to receive the bread become the Body of Christ.  We receive these sacred crumbs, asking God to increase our faith – to give us the faith of that Canaanite woman, who was not afraid to ask in faith for what she truly needed – but even a deeper faith to know that we are beloved sons and daughters of the Father in Christ.  God bless you.  

Homilía en español

Una de las cosas que más me gusta comer es el pan: pan de plátano, pita, tortillas... me gusta todo.  Y parece que el pan es también uno de los alimentos favoritos en la Biblia, ya que se menciona con mucha frecuencia.  De hecho, en el Evangelio de hoy, se desarrolla una profunda conversación teológica entre Jesús y una mujer cananea en torno al tema del pan.

Como acabamos de escuchar, esta madre, cuya hija estaba atormentada por un demonio, clamó a Jesús para que tuviera compasión de ella.  Se puede imaginar la frustración, el miedo, y la urgencia que sentía esta madre.  Y, sin embargo, incluso después de una segunda súplica humilde, Jesús solo responde con estas palabras: “No he sido enviado más que a las ovejas descarriadas de la casa de Israel”.  ¡Wow!  Quizás la primera vez que escucharon eso, pensaron: “¡Qué insensibilidad!  ¿Por qué diría Jesús algo así?".  Bueno, porque era la verdad.  De hecho, Jesús, como Mesías de Israel, fue enviado únicamente al pueblo judío, que lo había estado esperando durante siglos.  Eran los israelitas, entonces, quienes debían aceptarlo y luego ser luz para todas las naciones como evangelizadores.  Pero, como sabemos, muchos israelitas rechazaron al Mesías.

Pero aun así, a pesar de que las cosas eran así, ¿no parece bastante insensato decirle a una persona cuyo hijo está en gran necesidad: “No está bien tomar el alimento de los hijos y echárselo a los perros”?  Qué duro.

Y si nos quedáramos sólo en la superficie, tal vez seguiríamos confundidos. Pero cuando profundizamos un poco más y recurrimos al idioma del Nuevo Testamento, que es el griego, encontramos el contexto de lo que el Señor realmente quiere decir.  De hecho, al igual que en español tenemos varias palabras para referirnos al perro — como cachorrito, — lo mismo ocurre en griego.  Así, cuando Jesús dijo que no está bien tomar el alimento —y la palabra griega es "pan"— y dárselo a los perros, no estaba utilizando la palabra que designa a los perros salvajes que corren por la calle.  Más bien, Él utiliza un término que podría traducirse mejor como cachorrito, es decir, una mascota doméstica.

Y esta mujer cananea obviamente comprendió esa referencia.  Jesús se refirió a su pueblo, los gentiles, como perritos, como mascotas domésticas.  Por eso, su respuesta — “Por favor, Señor, pues incluso los perros comen las migajas que caen de la mesa de sus dueños”— podría traducirse así: “¿Dijiste que sería inapropiado quitarles el pan a los hijos para dárselo a los perros?  Dijiste que estos perros eran mascotas.  Y si su dueño está en la mesa cenando, ellos están debajo de la mesa, a sus pies.  Así que, si soy tu querida mascota que te mira desde abajo, simplemente concédeme un trozo de pan.  Eso es todo lo que te pido”.  ¡Wow!  Es evidente que esta mujer lo entendió.  Es evidente que conocía su lugar.  Pero, sobre todo, es evidente que tenía una gran fe.

¿Saben?  A veces tal vez nosotros sentimos que el Señor nos trata con dureza. Quizás nos sentimos como el perro al que echan a la calle, y no como un precioso cachorrito.  Tal vez le pedimos algo al Señor en oración, pero sentimos que no nos responde como esperamos.  Quizás sentimos que lo único que recibimos de Dios son migajas, si es que tenemos suerte.  Pero la verdad es que a Dios le importamos. Si la conversación entre Jesús y “la mascota de la casa” despertó tal preocupación amorosa, ¡cuánto más no hará por nosotros, que somos hijos de nuestro Padre celestial sentados a la mesa!

Hoy Jesús nos muestra que incluso las sobras, incluso las migajas, incluso ese pequeño trozo de pan, tienen un gran valor.  La fe verdadera —por pequeña que parezca o se sienta— confía en que Dios hará más.  Por eso, la fe es preciosa a los ojos del Señor: porque tener fe es confiar a Dios aquello que Él ya sabe que necesitamos, sin saber cómo proveerá, pero creyendo siempre que Él hará que todo redunde en bien para quienes le aman.

Así pues, hoy, como prenda del amor infinito de Dios por nosotros, nos acercamos al altar para recibir el pan convertido en el Cuerpo de Cristo.  Recibimos estas migajas sagradas, pidiendo a Dios que aumente nuestra fe —que nos conceda la fe de aquella mujer cananea, que no temió pedir con fe lo que verdaderamente necesitaba—, pero también una fe más profunda para saber que somos hijos e hijas amados del Padre en Cristo.  Que Dios los bendiga.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 9 Homily

Homily in English

August 9

When I was a child in 2nd grade, I remember learning lots from a dear nun who taught us.  CCD we called it back then.  Here at St. Francis, we call it PREP – Parish Religious Education Program.  Which, if you’re children are not attending Catholic school or receiving religious formation in homeschool, they should enroll and attend PREP.  Well, among the many things I remember Sister Assunta telling us was that God was a Trinity.  She said He was one God, but, at the same time, this one God consisted of three divine persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  And because He loves us so much, God wants to hear from us in prayer.  So after class, I remember going home and talking to God in prayer.  But then, I wasn’t sure who to pray to.  Should I start out talking to the Father, and then move to the Son and then the Holy Spirit?  If I just say, “God” will He know that I mean all three of them?  I was confused.  Did you ever face a similar dilemma?

Now, we all know what prayer is.  As Catholics we have lots of prayers and lots of types of prayers, right?  The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that prayer is “the elevation of the mind and heart to God in praise of his glory; a petition made to God for some desired good, or in thanksgiving for a good received, or in intercession for others before God.”  Wow!  Did you know you could do all that when you pray?  But it’s what comes next in the definition that’s really at the heart of what prayer is: “Through prayer, the Christian experiences a communion with God through Christ in the Church.”  And that’s what prayer is all about – it is about communication and communion with God Himself – with the most holy Trinity.      

Now, in our modern world today, we pride ourselves on our ability to communicate – we’re consumers and producers of all types of communication: newspapers, news channels, the Internet, social media, text messages, AI – communication is at the tips of our fingers – instantly.  And as helpful as all of this can be, I think it’s also one of the reasons why many people – and that probably means a good deal of us – have difficulty with prayer.  Why?  Because communication and communion with God aren’t instantaneous.  

The word communion (‘com-union’) literally means “union with”.  And like any real relationship, union with God requires time, not to mention openness and vulnerability.  When it comes to prayer, it’s not on our time table, though, it’s on God’s.  And it’s not as we would prefer it, but as God does.  That means prayer, in its deepest sense of communion, isn’t so much about us quick offering up a bunch of words to God – launching them up in the air, hoping He catches them – but rather, listening for God’s voice in silence and stillness over and over again.  That’s hard to do!  And that’s exactly what the Prophet Elijah seemed to learn in our first reading today.  He was looking for the almighty and all-powerful God in the “strong and heavy wind”, in the earthquake, and in the fire.  But God was not so much found in all this commotion, as He was in “the tiny whispering sound” – that still small voice.  St. Peter had to learn this too as we see in today’s Gospel.  He had to drown out all the crashing waves and the ferocious storm to hear the voice of Jesus beckon him, “Come.”    

My brothers and sisters, one of the greatest ways to pray is to listen to the magnificence of God’s whispers to our hearts.  But if we don’t make a dedicated time to sit in silence and prayer with God regularly, we’ll end up being distracted by the wind roaring, the earthquake shaking, the fire blazing, and the storm crashing in the din of our busy lives, and likely miss hearing the voice of God.  We need silence and stillness. 

When it comes down to it, what brings us back again and again to God in prayer is a desire to have a personal relationship with Him in prayer.  But have you every said to yourself, “I do pray.  But it still feels like something’s missing.”  Have you ever thought to yourself, “There just has to be more!”  There is indeed more.  And to discover this more, I’d like to invite you personally to join us for Discovering Christ this fall.  Discovering Christ is a seven-week course that creates a welcoming environment where we hear the Good News proclaimed in order to personally encounter Jesus Christ through the Catholic Church.  Each session includes good food, a brief time of prayer and worship, a video teaching, and small group discussion.  The high point of the course is a day retreat where guests have the opportunity to ratify their personal commitment to Jesus Christ and be renewed in the Holy Spirit.  Anyone, including non-Catholics, can participate and attend.  

You see, in baptism we have each been introduced to the person Jesus Christ.  We became members of His Body, the Church, after all!  But every relationship needs to grow in order to flourish.  For this to happen though, faith needs to make the journey from the head to the depths of the heart.  Discovering Christ gives us the welcoming, non-threatening context for just that to happen.  You’ll be able to register for Discovering Christ beginning August 15.  But please visit our parish homepage now for a short video and further information.  Please join us next month for Discovering Christ.  God bless you.

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 2 Homily

August 2, 2026

Homily in English

Food.  It’s one of the most important things in life.  True, we need food just to survive.  But, it’s so is much more than that.  Think of all the ways and occasions food is a part of our lives.  For example, when we gather as family for holidays, there’s food.  Or, when we gathered yesterday evening for our parish picnic – so much delicious food!  When we celebrate sacraments, like Baptism, First Holy Communion, and the like, afterwards there’s the reception, with all types of food.  Several years ago, my family had our old silent home movies from the movie camera converted to DVD.  And what were we doing in just about every single clip?  Eating – birthdays, weddings, graduations.  Food is a means of gathering us together as one.

One example related to food really stands out in my mind – and I’m sorry if I’m making you hungry.  Several years ago, Bishop Rhoades at the time sent me down to Cuernavaca, Mexico to study Spanish with other seminarians.  Now, I like Mexican food – a lot – but after two months, I was really starting to crave a peanut butter sandwich.  So, I asked the family I was living with, where I could find some peanut butter.  They said I’d have no problem finding it at the supermarket.  But as I soon discovered, while we might have shelf after shelf of types of peanut butter, this giant supermarket (the Carréfour) had just a couple of jars.  I was really bummed.

You know, there’s something about food that reminds us of home.  And such is the case in our first reading today.  Here the Prophet Isaiah is speaking to his fellow Israelites, who were enslaved in captivity by the Babylonians – they were exiled them from their homeland.  And so, speaking on behalf of God, Isaiah promises his people that they would return to the land of Israel.  Interesting to note, he speaks of this in terms of food – using words like, “water”, “grain”, “wine”, “milk”.  Do you remember when God promised Abraham that he would inherit a land flowing with milk and honey?  And so, God promises that they will one day return to their native land.

Also in the Gospel, Jesus uses the language of food to teach God’s people.  In the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Jesus reveals to the immense crowd that He can nourish them by working a divine miracle.  Now, He did this, not because He wanted to impress them with His power; rather, He wanted to prepare them for an even greater miracle to come – the Eucharist.

In fact, the night before He suffered, Jesus gathered with His disciples in the Upper Room to celebrate the Last Supper.  There, He took bread and wine, and after giving thanks to His Father, He in turn gave it to His disciples declaring to them that this truly was His Body and Blood.  And He did this the very day before He suffered and died on the cross, when He definitively offered up His Body and shed His Blood for the forgiveness of our sins.  In this, Jesus wanted to establish a sacred meal, in which each time it was celebrated, His sacrifice of Calvary – offered once for all – would be the means of by which we could be intimately united with Him and by which He would unite us together as one as His Body.  And since “we are what we eat”, we become that which we are – the Church, the Body of Christ – by consuming the very Body and Blood of our Savior.  

But, as I said, food has such a powerful way of connecting us with home as well.  And so, in the Eucharist Jesus nourishes us with the spiritual food that doesn’t merely fill our stomachs, but it nourishes the depths of our soul – for our true and lasting homeland is not this world.  Rather, it’s heaven.  

My brothers and sisters, this world is passing away.  And as the Book of Revelation says, Jesus is reserving for us a seat at the table of the heavenly Wedding Banquet of the Lamb.  And so, as we celebrate together this Eucharist, we renew our focus on really living now so as to one day live in the glory of heaven, where we will be nourished by the living God for all eternity.  God bless you.  

Homilía en español

La comida. Es una de las cosas más importantes de la vida. Es cierto que necesitamos alimento simplemente para sobrevivir, pero es mucho más que eso. Pensemos en todas las formas y ocasiones en que la comida forma parte de nuestras vidas. Por ejemplo, cuando nos reunimos en familia para las fiestas, hay comida. O cuando nos reunimos ayer por la tarde para el picnic de nuestra parroquia: ¡había tanta comida deliciosa! Cuando celebramos sacramentos, como el Bautismo, la Primera Comunión y otros similares, después hay una recepción con todo tipo de alimentos. Hace varios años, mi familia y yo estábamos viendo unas viejas películas caseras. ¿Y qué hacíamos en casi todas las escenas? Comer: cumpleaños, bodas, graduaciones. La comida es un medio que nos une a todos. 

Recuerdo especialmente un ejemplo relacionado con la comida (y lamento si les provoco hambre). Hace unos años, el entonces el obispo me envió a Cuernavaca, México, para estudiar español con otros seminaristas. Me gusta mucho la comida mexicana, pero después de dos meses, realmente empezaba a anhelar un sándwich de crema de cacahuate (o mantequilla de maní). Así que pregunté a la familia con la que vivía dónde podía encontrarla. Me dijeron que no tendría problemas para encontrarla en el supermercado. Pero pronto descubrí que, mientras que nosotros tenemos estante tras estante con diversos tipos de crema de cacahuate, aquel enorme supermercado (el Carrefour) apenas tenía un par de frascos. Me llevé una gran decepción. 

¿Saben? Hay algo en la comida que nos recuerda al hogar. Y eso es precisamente lo que sucede en nuestra primera lectura de hoy. Aquí, el profeta Isaías se dirige a sus compatriotas israelitas, esclavizados y cautivos de los babilonios, quienes los habían desterrado de su tierra natal. Así, hablando en nombre de Dios, Isaías promete a su pueblo que regresarán a la tierra de Israel. Es interesante notar que habla de esto en términos de alimentos, utilizando palabras como "agua", "trigo", "vino" y "leche". ¿Recuerdan cuando Dios prometió a Abraham que heredaría una tierra que mana leche y miel? Así pues, Dios promete que algún día regresarán a su tierra natal. 

También en el Evangelio, Jesús utiliza el lenguaje de la comida para enseñar al pueblo de Dios. En la multiplicación de los panes y los peces, Jesús revela a la inmensa multitud que puede alimentarlos realizando un milagro divino. No lo hizo para impresionarlos con su poder, sino para prepararlos para un milagro aún mayor que estaba por llegar: la Eucaristía. 

De hecho, la noche anterior a su pasión, Jesús se reunió con sus discípulos en el Cenáculo para celebrar la Última Cena. Allí tomó pan y vino y, tras dar gracias a su Padre, los entregó a sus discípulos declarando que aquello era verdaderamente su Cuerpo y su Sangre. Lo hizo justo antes de sufrir y morir en la cruz, momento en que ofreció definitivamente su Cuerpo y derramó su Sangre para el perdón de nuestros pecados. 

Con ello, Jesús quiso instituir una comida sagrada en la que, cada vez que se celebrara, su sacrificio del Calvario —ofrecido una vez y para siempre— fuera el medio para unirnos íntimamente a Él y para congregarnos como un solo cuerpo: su Cuerpo. Y puesto que «somos lo que comemos», nos convertimos en lo que somos —la Iglesia, el Cuerpo de Cristo— al consumir el Cuerpo y la Sangre de nuestro Salvador. 

Pero, como he dicho, la comida tiene también una poderosa capacidad para conectarnos con nuestro hogar. Así, en la Eucaristía, Jesús nos alimenta con un alimento espiritual que no se limita a llenar el estómago, sino que nutre lo más profundo de nuestra alma, pues nuestra verdadera y eterna patria no es este mundo, sino el cielo. 

Hermanos y hermanas, este mundo es pasajero. Y, como dice el libro del Apocalipsis, Jesús nos reserva un lugar en la mesa del Banquete de Bodas del Cordero celestial. Por eso, al celebrar juntos esta Eucaristía, renovamos nuestro compromiso de vivir auténticamente ahora para poder vivir algún día en la gloria del cielo, donde seremos alimentados por el Dios vivo durante toda la eternidad. Que Dios los bendiga.

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 26 Homily

July 26, 2026

Homily in English

As I’ve shared with you at least a couple times previously, my favorite verse in all of Scripture is that which we hear in today’s second reading from Romans – “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”  Now just quickly reading this, we might be tempted to hear “All things work out good for those who love God”.  In other words, if I just try to love God more or be a more virtuous person, then everything should work out just fine for me – perhaps even minimize or reduce suffering in my life.  Now, that might be nice if things worked out that way – but they don’t.  None of us is spared suffering, not even in the richest country in the world.  Suffering’s a necessary part of our reality because of sin, stretching back to the origins of humanity with Adam and Eve.

Now, whether it’s explicit or implicit, many people do hold to this type of view – my life should go better because I’m a Christian.  In fact, some preachers out there even proclaim a so-called “gospel of wealth” – which can tend to focus on the blessings of God, sometimes to the exclusion of the reality of trials and difficulties.  And yes, of course our heavenly Father delights in giving us, His children, good gifts.  But our experience tells us that’s not the whole story.  In other words, just because we live out our Catholic faith; just because we pray daily; just because we come to Mass weekly, doesn’t mean that everything will have a fairy tale ending.  And all we have to do is look to Jesus’ life, not to mention His suffering and death, to really understand. 

So, if we hold to a view of Romans 8:28 like that – namely, everything should just go well for me – then, we might slowly get disillusioned, thinking this whole Christian thing’s not all what it’s cracked up to be.  I mean, it’s hard, and we have to take up our cross daily and follow after Him – and lots of non-believers look like their doing just fine without Jesus.  We might even be tempted to give up our faith, or at least drift away little by little.  

So, it’s a good thing, then, that that’s not what St. Paul is talking about in today’s second reading.  Rather, he says that “all things work for good for those who love God.”  What this means is that for those who love God, He takes everything that happens to us in life and wills to bring forth good from it for us – good stuff, bad stuff, in-between stuff.  Everything.  You see, God is truly a good and loving Father.  And as such, because He is good, He can and will bring forth good in the lives of those who love Him.  

Now we might think, well if He’s an almighty and all-loving Father, then why doesn’t He just take away the bad so that all things are good.  But that’s not the way things work.  Parents instinctively know this.  Despite your deepest love and desires for the well-being of your children, you cannot control their lives in such a way to prevent suffering and hardship.  Why?  Because we all have free-will.  And this is necessarily so.  If we didn’t have a free will, then we couldn’t choose to love others.  But this also means that we can choose to not love and hurt them, and cause suffering.  And this reverberates throughout all of creation from the time of Original Sin.

I will tell you that loving God and trusting Him enough to believe that He can and will bring forth good from all things does not come naturally, at least beyond the level of lip-service.  Rather, to really trust that our Father only desires our true and eternal good no matter what the circumstances or occasions requires a true act of faith.  Faith is what pleases Him.  Certitude or knowledge or control, even with the best of intentions does not.  But loving faith in God allows Him to release the power of working good in our lives, because we trust He’s got our back, even when everything else in the natural order might say otherwise.  Now that’s faith that can move mountains.

One of my favorite Catholic psychologists, Dr. Peter Malinoski once shared the following from his decades of clinical practice: “Over and over and over, again, without fail, I have seen that when someone comes to believe, by faith, that all is gift; when a person holds with great confidence that God is pure love, and that all His active and passive acts are good; that He is intimately aware of our suffering and pain; and when that person responds by loving back – then that person experiences a sense of peace and joy that surpasses human understanding.”  God truly desires to work all things for good for those who love Him.

And so, Lord, through this holy Eucharist that we celebrate today – the very sign of your Resurrection from the dead, by which you triumphed over evil, suffering, and death – may we receive a deeper faith to believe in the depths of our hearts that you bring for good for us who love you who are called according to your purpose.  God bless you.

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 19 Homily

July 19, 2026

Homily in English

Have you ever done something good only to have someone come along later to sabotage it?  Let’s say you just cleaned up all the dishes in the sink.  But then coming back later, you find a new pile of dirty dishes even bigger than the one you just cleaned up!  

Well, the farmer in today’s Gospel parable was in a similar dilemma.  He just planted his seed crop in the field.  But unbeknownst to him, along came his enemy, who sprinkled weed seeds in amongst the wheat.  Now, for the first several weeks until those seeds sprouted and grew, the farmer would have had no reason whatsoever to expect anything other than wheat to grow.  However, a rude awakening came his way a short time later when he got the report from his laborers that the field was filled with weeds!

Now, right away, the laborers propose taking action – ripping up those weeds right away.  Can you imagine having to look at those weeds for a whole planting season, being reminded day in and day out of the malicious wrong someone purposely did to you?  Another idea might have been to go after the perpetrator, and either beat him up or do the same thing to his field, to get revenge.  But neither of those options would fix the issue at hand for that innocent farmer.

Instead, this prudent farmer takes a very wise approach, and allows the weeds and the wheat to grow together until the harvest.  Otherwise, trying to rip up the weeds early could have destroyed the wheat crop too.  Even more, maybe any disturbance of those weeds would have caused any airborne seeds to spread, and then the problem would just have gotten worse.  

Now, the farmer was able to take this sensible action because he was able to see the big picture.  If he got frustrated and upset right away, it would have cost him in the long run.  But, by realizing at harvest time that both the weeds and the wheat could be harvested and then be separated, he was able to make lemonade out of lemons!  And all this farmer needed to do was be patient, and time would vindicate him.  Now, that’s so easy to say – “just be patient”.  And, how many of us, ourselves, have heard that advice, tried it, only to flat out fail?!  

So, what was his secret?  Well, as I just said – he was able to see the big picture.  Before he sought revenge or took some other unhelpful action, he hit the pause button, and saw the situation through to the end.  He knew he could still have his crops AND he could keep his peace, which would have infuriated the enemy even more!

There’s a similar lesson here for us too.  Patience is a virtue that can only be cultivated by being tested.  Like a muscle that needs resistance in order to grow, so too do virtues, like patience, need to be tested.  

Some of us might classify ourselves as impatient people.  But that doesn’t give you or I the right to keep acting that way.  We must strive for patience.  And the reason is because God is tremendously patient with us.  As we heard in the first reading today from the Book of Wisdom: “But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency and with much lenience you govern us…”  God has every right to be “impatient” with us – He’s perfect!  Imagine if we didn’t learn a life lesson the first time around and God just said, “I give up.  There’s no hope for you!”  But, that’s not God.  And that’s not who we’re called to be either.  With the help of God’s grace, we are to seek to be gentler, kinder, less selfish, and more patient people – with God’s grace.  Good thing for us – with all the weeds that we have in our lives – God still gives us a lifetime before the harvest!  God bless you.     

Homilía en español

¿Alguna vez has hecho algo bueno, solo para que luego alguien venga y lo descompone?  Supongamos que acabas de lavar todos los platos en el fregadero.  Pero, al regresar más tarde, ¡encuentras una nueva pila de platos sucios aún más grande que la que acababa de limpiar! 

Pues bien, el agricultor de la parábola del Evangelio de hoy se enfrentó a un dilema similar.  Acababa de sembrar su cultivo en el campo.  Pero, sin que él lo supiera, apareció su enemigo y sembró semillas de mala hierba entre el trigo. Durante las primeras semanas, hasta que esas semillas germinaron y crecieron, el agricultor no tenía motivo alguno para esperar que creciera otra cosa que no fuera trigo.  Sin embargo, poco tiempo después se llevó una desagradable sorpresa cuando sus trabajadores le informaron de que el campo estaba lleno de cizaña. 

De inmediato, los trabajadores propusieron tomar medidas: arrancar esa cizaña cuanto antes.  ¿Se imagina tener que contemplar esa mala hierba durante toda la temporada de cultivo, recordando día tras día la maldad que alguien le había hecho a propósito?  Otra idea podría haber sido ir tras el culpable y golpearlo, o hacerle lo mismo a su campo para vengarse.  Pero ninguna de esas opciones habría resuelto el problema de aquel agricultor inocente. 

En cambio, este agricultor prudente adoptó un enfoque muy sabio y permitió que la cizaña y el trigo crecieran juntos hasta la cosecha.  De lo contrario, intentar arrancar la mala hierba prematuramente podría haber destruido también la cosecha de trigo.  Además, tal vez cualquier manipulación de esa mala hierba habría provocado la dispersión de semillas transportadas por el aire, empeorando así el problema.

El agricultor pudo tomar esta decisión sensata porque fue capaz de ver el panorama completo.  Si se hubiera dejado llevar por la frustración y el enfado de inmediato, le habría salido caro a largo plazo.  Pero, al comprender que en el momento de la cosecha tanto la mala hierba como el trigo podían recogerse y luego separarse, ¡logró sacar provecho de una situación adversa!  Lo único que este agricultor necesitaba era paciencia; el tiempo le daría la razón.  Claro que es muy fácil decirlo: “simplemente ten paciencia”.  ¿Y cuántos de nosotros hemos escuchado ese consejo y lo hemos puesto en práctica, solo para fracasar?

Entonces, ¿cuál era su secreto?  Bueno, como acabo de decir: él era capaz de ver el panorama completo.  Antes de buscar venganza o tomar alguna otra medida contraproducente, hacía una pausa y visualizaba la situación hasta el final.  Sabía que podía conservar sus cultivos y mantener su paz interior, ¡lo cual habría enfurecido aún más al enemigo!

Aquí hay una lección similar para nosotros.  La paciencia es una virtud que solo se cultiva cuando se pone a prueba.  Al igual que un músculo necesita resistencia para crecer, las virtudes —como la paciencia— también necesitan ser probadas.

Algunos de nosotros podríamos considerarnos personas impacientes.  Pero eso no nos da derecho a seguir actuando así.  Debemos esforzarnos por cultivar la paciencia.  Y la razón es que Dios es tremendamente paciente con nosotros.  Como escuchamos hoy en la primera lectura, tomada del Libro de la Sabiduría: “Siendo tú el dueño de la fuerza, juzgas con misericordia y nos gobiernas con delicadeza...” Dios tendría todo el derecho de ser ‘impaciente’ con nosotros: ¡Él es perfecto! Imaginen si no aprendiéramos una lección de vida a la primera y Dios simplemente dijera: “Me rindo.  ¡No hay esperanza para ustedes!”.  Pero Dios no es así.  Y nosotros tampoco estamos llamados a serlo.  Con la ayuda de la gracia de Dios, debemos procurar ser personas más amables, bondadosas, menos egoístas y más pacientes; todo ello gracias a la gracia divina.  ¡Qué bueno para nosotros que, a pesar de toda la cizaña y la maleza que hay en nuestras vidas, Dios nos conceda toda una vida antes de la cosecha!  Que Dios los bendiga.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 5 Homily

July 5, 2026

Homily in English

Have you ever seen a commercial or one of those cartoons before, where someone is in the midst of a really difficult moral decision, and all the sudden, out of thin air, appear on their shoulders an angel and a devil? Now, usually what we’re led to believe from this type of set-up is that good and evil are two relatively equal forces within us – one no stronger than the other – that the angel and the devil have equal sway over us. But is it really that way? As powerful and as rampant as evil might seem to be in the world today – is it really co-equal with the infinite goodness of God? Again, sometimes it might feel that way, and we might easily relate to that cartoon – but feelings are not facts, and the truth is otherwise.

In our second reading today, we hear St. Paul telling the Romans, “Brothers and sisters: You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit...” At first hearing, we might think, “What are you talking about, St. Paul? What do you mean we’re not in the flesh? Of course we are! We’re human beings!”

Now, it’s true that St. Paul is using the Greek word ‘sarx’ here, which translates into English as “flesh”. (We get the word ‘sarcasm’ from ‘sarx’ – which literally means “to rip or to tear the flesh” – which sometimes a sarcastic comment can do!) But ‘sarx’ also has the meaning of “the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God.”

And herein lies the issue. As a consequence of original sin, we have this fallen nature that wants to do its own thing apart from the will of God. In short, the flesh tends toward sin, and, as Scripture teaches: “the wages of sin is death”. Therefore, St. Paul can write as he did in our second reading today: “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die...” But as he also writes the line I just read: but “you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.” It is the Holy Spirit, then, who gives life. It is the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus up from the dead, that gives us the power to not choose sin, but to choose God. However, even though we have truly become a new creation in Christ, there’s still that old nature – that old part of us that’s prone to sin and closed off to God that fights back. That’s the flesh! The 50-cent word for it is “concupiscence” – that inclination or proclivity to sin. And it’s this inclination that Satan readily uses to still have a foothold in our lives that can affect the choices that we make.

But, Jesus shows us another way. And St. Paul today shares it for all to here. He writes, “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” By the Spirit. Not by our own efforts. Not by mere will-power. But by turing to the Holy Spirit to plead His help in our lives – for the Holy Spirit is the great Helper promised by Jesus. In other words, we get dependent on God. On this Independence Day weekend, we must never forget that we must never live independent from God. So, for example, when you’re talking to somebody, and you have a juicy piece of gossip to share, but feel that nudge not to – obey the Spirit and not the flesh. Or, when someone is driving like a Sunday driver, and you just want to tailgate them, but have a flash of insight that getting there 1 minute sooner is not worth losing your peace – obey the Spirit and not the flesh. Or, when you find yourself judging someone for something you don’t like, but realize that you could just as easily draw your attention to something you do like – obey the Spirit and not the flesh.

Again, it’s the power of the Holy Spirit living in us and through us that empowersus t o live in such a way. So, if we just try to do it on our own, without relying on God in the midst of these situations, the flesh will come back to bite us – it’s just a matter of time! But with God, all things are possible.

And so, as we continue our celebration of this Mass, and welcome the risen Jesus into our midst under the symbols of bread and wine, let us surrender our flesh-focused way of doing things, and instead, eat His Body and drink His Blood, so that we may truly have His peace and life within us. God bless you.

Español

No sé si alguna vez has visto un anuncio o una de esas caricaturas donde alguien se enfrenta a una difícil decisión moral y, de repente, aparecen un ángel y un demonio sobre sus hombros? Normalmente, este tipo de situación nos hace creer que el bien y el mal son dos fuerzas relativamente iguales dentro de nosotros, ninguna más fuerte que la otra, que el ángel y el demonio tienen la misma influencia sobre nosotros. Pero, ¿es realmente así? Por muy poderoso que parezca el mal en el mundo actual, ¿es realmente comparable a la infinita bondad de Dios? A veces puede parecerlo, y podemos identificarnos fácilmente con la caricatura, pero los sentimientos no son hechos, y la verdad es otra.

En la segunda lectura de hoy, San Pablo escribe lo siguiente a los Romanos: “Ustedes no viven conforme al desorden egoísta del hombre, sino conforme al Espíritu, puesto que el Espíritu de Dios habita verdaderamente en ustedes.” Al escribir esto, San Pablo habla, en efecto, de esa tensión inherente en nosotros entre el bien y el mal: entre lo que pertenece al Espíritu de Dios y lo que pertenece al orden caído del pecado – el desorden egoísta del hombre.

Y aquí se encuentra el problema. Como consecuencia del pecado original, tenemos esta naturaleza caída que quiere hacer lo que le plazca, al contrario de la voluntad de Dios. Se llama “la carne” – esa parte caída de nosotros alejada y encerrada de Dios. En resumen, la carne tiende al pecado y, como enseña la Escritura: “la paga del pecado es la muerte”.

Por lo tanto, san Pablo puede escribir, como lo hizo en la segunda lectura de hoy: “No estamos sujetos al desorden egoísta del hombre... Pues si ustedes viven de ese modo, ciertamente serán destruidos.” Pero también escribe la frase que acabo de leer: “Ustedes no viven conforme al desorden egoísta del hombre, sino conforme al Espíritu, puesto que el Espíritu de Dios habita verdaderamente en ustedes.” Es el Espíritu Santo, entonces, quien da vida. Es el Espíritu de Dios, quien resucitó a Jesús de entre los muertos, quien nos da el poder de no elegir el pecado, sino a Dios. Sin embargo, aunque nos hemos convertido verdaderamente en una nueva criatura en Cristo, aún existe esa vieja naturaleza, esa parte de nosotros que es propensa al pecado y está cerrada a Dios, y que se resiste. ¡Esa es la carne!

Pero Jesús nos muestra otro camino. Y San Pablo lo comparte hoy para que todos lo escuchemos. Escribe: “Si con la ayuda del Espíritu destruyen sus malas acciones, entonces vivirán.” Por el Espíritu. No por nuestros propios esfuerzos. No por mera fuerza de voluntad. Sino recurriendo al Espíritu Santo para implorar su ayuda en nuestras vidas, pues el Espíritu Santo es el gran Consolador que Jesús nos prometía. En otras palabras, dependemos de Dios. En este fin de semana del Día de la Independencia, nunca debemos olvidar que jamás debemos vivir independientemente de Dios.

Así que, por ejemplo, cuando estés hablando con alguien y tengas un chisme gigante que compartir, pero sientas la convicción de no hacerlo, obedece al Espíritu y no a la carne. O cuando alguien conduce tan lentamente, y solo quieres pegarte a su coche, pero de repente te das cuenta de que llegar un minuto antes no vale la pena si pierdes tu paz: obedece al Espíritu y no a la carne. O cuando te encuentras juzgando a alguien por algo que no te gusta, pero te das cuenta de que podrías con la misma facilidad centrar tu atención en algo que sí te gusta: obedece al Espíritu y no a la carne.

Una vez más, es el poder del Espíritu Santo que vive en nosotros y a través de nosotros lo que nos capacita para vivir de esta manera. Así que, si intentamos hacerlo solos, sin confiar en Dios en medio de estas situaciones, la carne volverá a mordernos; ¡es solo cuestión de tiempo! Pero con Dios, todo es posible.

Por lo tanto, mientras continuamos nuestra celebración de esta Misa y damos la bienvenida a Jesús resucitado entre nosotros bajo los símbolos del pan y el vino, abandonemos nuestra manera de actuar centrada en la carne y, en cambio, recibimos su Cuerpo y su Sangre para que podamos más crecer en su imágen y semejanza, y así experimentar más su paz y vida dentro de nosotros. Dios lo bendiga.

Homily for Independence Day, July 4

July 4, 2026

Homily in English

Two hundred and fifty years ago today, a group of men — imperfect, courageous, and God-fearing — put quill to parchment and signed their names to a document that changed the world.  They boldly declared that all men are created equal – that they are endowed by their Creator — not by government, not by circumstance, not by conquest — but by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.

They understood then something that a secular age, such as our own, desperately tries to forget: freedom is not the absence of God.  Rather, freedom is only possible because of God.

Today, as we gather in this holy church, in this city that bore witness to one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on American soil — a battle that determined whether this nation would remain united in brotherhood or fall fractured in divisiveness – we are invited to ask a question that goes deeper than fireworks and flags: What kind of freedom are we really celebrating today?

There’s a name that every American Catholic should know — and yet, so few do.  And that’s John Carroll.

John Carroll was the first Bishop of the United States.  He was born in 1735 in Upper Marlborough, Maryland, the third of seven children.  In our fledgling nation, Carroll was a vigorous defender of Catholic rights.  He advised the Vatican that the United States needed a diocesan bishop chosen by its own clergy.  The Vatican agreed.  And guess who was unanimously elected?  And in 1786, when Baltimore was named the first diocese of the United States, John Carroll became our first bishop.

On his mother's side of the family, John Carroll could actually trace his lineage back to the brother-in-law of Lord Baltimore, making him, in the truest sense, a Catholic "blueblood" of the new American experiment.  His cousin, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, on the other hand, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence — in fact, the only Catholic signer, and the last of those signers to die.  

But here’s what I find most remarkable about Bishop Carroll: he didn’t separate his Catholic faith from his American patriotism.  For him, they were inseparable.  He understood that a nation that places God at the center is not less free — it’s more free, because its freedom rests on a foundation that cannot be swept away by politics, power, or popular opinion.

And, here’s the paradox we recall today on this 250th anniversary of our nation: our Founding Fathers boldly declared independence from a human king, but they never dreamed of declaring independence from God.  In fact, because of our true dependence on God – not merely as Creator, but truly as Savior – we can experience real independence– that is freedom – from all that would drag us away from Him, and all that is good, beautiful, and true..  

For some, dependence on God could be viewed as a sort of weakness.  However, acknowledging the truth of where our rights come from – that is, beyond ourselves – empowers us to be not only grateful for them, but accountable for how we use them.  This, in fact, makes us truly free.  

In 1791, Bishop Carroll composed a prayer for the inauguration of the first President of the United States, George Washington.  It speaks to this very dependence on God.  I’d like to offer this very prayer now.  

We pray, O almighty and eternal God, who through Jesus Christ has revealed thy glory to all nations, to preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church, being spread through the whole world, may continue with unchanging faith in the confession of your name.

We pray Thee, who alone are good and holy, to endow with heavenly knowledge, sincere zeal and sanctity of life, our chief bishop, the pope, the vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the government of his Church; our own bishop, all other bishops, prelates and pastors of the Church; and especially those who are appointed to exercise among us the functions of the holy ministry, and conduct your people into the ways of salvation.

We pray O God of might, wisdom and justice, through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with your Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the president of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness and be eminently useful to your people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality.

Let the light of your divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty.

We pray for… the governor of this state, for the members of the assembly, for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare, that they may be enabled, by your powerful protection, to discharge the duties of their respective stations with honesty and ability.

We recommend likewise, to your unbounded mercy, all our brethren and fellow citizens throughout the United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of your most holy law; that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world cannot give; and after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal.

Finally, we pray to you, O Lord of mercy, to remember the souls of your servants departed, who are gone before us with the sign of faith and repose in the sleep of peace; the souls of our parents, relatives and friends; of those who, when living, were members of this congregation, and particularly of such as are lately deceased; of all benefactors who, by their donations or legacies to this Church, witnessed their zeal for the decency of divine worship and proved their claim to our grateful and charitable remembrance. To these, O Lord, and to all that rest in Christ, grant, we beseech you, a place of refreshment, light and everlasting peace, through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

So today, let’s celebrate.  We’ll enjoy the fireworks.  We’ll eat the BBQ.  And we’ll give thanks for this improbable, beautiful, still-unfinished experiment in ordered liberty.  But let’s also not forget where freedom comes from… and who gives it… and the price paid for it – the blood of our faith-filled ancestors and the precious Blood of Jesus Christ.  May God bless America.

13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, June 28 Homily

June 28, 2026

Homily in English

I’ve come to realize that many people think about themselves a lot – about what happened to me, or who did or didn’t do what to me, or what I prefer or don’t prefer. And, as a result, a self-centered, sometimes self-entitled, mindset has become quite common today. Of course we do this because we think putting self first will make us happy. And we all naturally want to be happy. This type of selfish thinking plays out in all sorts of ways in life. Take the following insight into marriage, for example, that I recently came across: “Many people get married because the other person makes them happy. But lots of people don’t stay married because that’s not what being in relationship is about – my happiness first. Rather, real love is about serving others – asking the question: What can I do for the other person, to make them happy?” So simple, and yet so profound!

And then as I was reading today’s Scripture passages for Mass, I saw this very practical wisdom put into action. Take our first reading from 2 Kings. This very nice woman invites Elisha the prophet to have dinner with her and her husband whenever he’s in town. But, her care for him doesn’t just end there. She suggests to her husband that they build a little guest room for the prophet when he’s visiting. And then, in return, Elisha asks one day what can be done for her because of the generosity shown. Turns out that she and her husband had no son. And so, Elisha intercedes with God, to the extent that he prophesies that she will be carrying her own son by this time next year.

And then I read in the Gospel today about how anyone who gives a mere cup of cold water to someone, because that person is a disciple of Jesus, will be blessed by God with sure reward. What real acts of charity in these two instances! What decisions to make another’s life better. It makes it sound so nice and easy, doesn’t it?

But, let’s bring this down to the level where we live – our daily lives. What if your spouse – or children, what if your parents – asked for a nice cup of cold water. “Go get one yourself!” “Nobody ever gets me a drink!” “What do you think I am? Your servant?!” Now maybe if it were Fr. Marcoe who came over to your house for dinner, you’d only be too glad to get me something to drink. See what’s going on here? Or maybe you’d think about that prophet, Elisha, coming to town – “Well, isn’t that what hotels are for?” “Can’t he stay with someone else?” “I just got home from work and I really don’t feel like entertaining or fixing dinner!”

You see, when the focus is on me, myself, and I, we think it’s going to make us happy. We just don’t feel like doing something for someone else by going a little bit out of our way. And we reap our reward – a little bit of momentary comfort. But, when we give up the opportunities that God gives us to be a servant to others, we miss out on the grace – the reward, the blessing – He wants to give us. He knows it costs us. Look at what it cost Jesus on the cross. I mean, exerting His human will, could He have said, “So many of those people aren’t even going to care that I died for them on the cross to save them. Do I have to go there?” But instead, out of His generous love for us, His voluntary sacrifice has given us the promise of eternal life!

Living in this way does cost us. It does cost us. But Jesus says in the Gospel today, “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me cannot be my disciple.” However, He then goes on to say, “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” And this is the great paradox of Christian living. When we die to self – that is, putting self, self, self first – we discover the joy of being in service to others. When you see the pile of dishes in the sink, and you willingly wash them or put them in the dishwasher – without complaining. When you feel the Holy Spirit nudge to pray, but you’d just binge Nexflix. When you could get more involved in the parish, but you’d rather just not commit. When we go out of our comfort zone, and do these things for others, God blesses us, even as we are serving as a blessing for others.

As I said, we call this “dying to self”. St. Paul puts it this way in our second reading today: “You too must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.” In other words, it’s about dying to those selfish, me-centered, self-absorbed tendencies that we all have in different ways, and instead living a God-centered life. Doing what He did. Remember, Jesus came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. To live in such a way is to live as a mature disciple of Jesus. An immature person seeks to take – gimme’. A mature person seeks to give of him- or herself and be of service to others.

And so, as we continue living in the midst of a rather self-focused world, let your focus turn to being a blessing to others. It’ll get their attention! And by so doing, the love of the Father, which flows through these actions, will fill you with His great peace and joy, and be a witness to them of what being a Christian really means. God bless you. ‍ ‍

11th Sunday of Ordinary Time, June 14 Homily

June 14, 2026

Homily in English

I thought that since school has already been out for at least a week, many of the students are probably going through test withdrawal.  So, everyone, if you would please take out a sheet of paper, fold it in half, and number it from 1-25, we’ll begin.  OK.  I’ll cut you a break, we’ll narrow it down to just 1 question, and it’ll be multiple choice.  So all you have to do is choose which one of the following statements is true.  Ready?  A) God wants most people to be saved.  B) God wants no one to be saved.  C) God only wants Catholics to be saved.  D) God wants all people to be saved.  So, which is the correct response?  Option D – God wants all people to be saved.  Since He loves each one of us as His children, He doesn’t anyone to be separated from Him – either in this life or in the life to come.  

And the Scriptures today prove that to us.  We hear in the first reading, that all the people of the earth belong to God, and in the second reading: “God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”  So, it’s true.  In as much as we are all sinners, the Father desires that no one be lost to a life of sin and eternal separation from Him.

So how does He save us?  Well ultimately through Jesus, who by dying on the cross, has redeemed us by His blood, and pleads for us before His Father.  But, while salvation has been brought to its completion in Jesus, it didn’t begin with Him.  Really it began with the people God called His own – the Jews – Jesus Himself being one of them.  But did you ever wonder why God started with the Jewish people, beginning with Abraham?  I mean, did Jesus have to be born as a Jewish man?  Why didn’t He send Jesus earlier so that more people could have known Him?  Well, the short answer is that it’s all part of God’s plan.

As we hear again in our first reading today, God made Israel “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation”.  And this is the key.  God picked the Jewish people to form of them the ministry of the priesthood in the world.  The Hebrew concept of priest is one who offers sacrifice to God, interceding on behalf of others with Him.  So, for example, there were certain Jews, people called the Levites, who were called to offer important ritual sacrifices up to God of behalf of the people, to beg God’s forgiveness for sins.

But in a very real way, the whole collective people of Israel was also priestly.  They were priestly in the sense that they offered sacrifice to God and interceded for others with Him.  They were God’s specially chosen witnesses to the nations of the one true God of love and mercy.  They offered the sacrifice of their lives as they wandered for 40 years in the desert.  They interceded on behalf of the Gentiles, because by their example of obedience to God, they showed others what God wanted.

And then Jesus was born.  As God made man, He was born a Jew, and born as the one great high priest, who would offer the sacrifice of Himself on the cross, interceding on behalf of all people before His heavenly Father.

My friends, God does want all people to be saved.  And not only did He begin the process by choosing one people to form them as a people peculiarly His own.  Not only will He bring it to completion in His Son on the Day of Judgment.  But, He is carrying it out right now in our own day and age – because in a very real way, each one of us shares in the priesthood of Jesus.  

Way back when we were baptized, we each became members of the Church, the very Body of Christ.  And as His disciples, we share in His priestly ministry of offering sacrifice in order to intercede for others.  Ordained priests, such as Fr. Pray and myself, share directly in Jesus’ ministry of offering the one sacrifice of the cross of Calvary during the holy sacrifice of the Mass. 

But as Christians we all share, in a general way, in that call to offer sacrifice and intercede for others.  It’s not just the ordained priests who are called to serve Christ – we all are called to do so.  In fact, when the priest proclaims the words of the preface – “Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours, may be acceptable to God the almighty Father” – you are invited to offer your intentions of the paten with the bread and your petitions in the chalice of wine.  You are interceding on behalf of others with our Father in heaven, as you offer with the priestly sacrifice of bread and wife, that which becomes the very Body and Blood of our Savior – Jesus, who is the Mediator between God and man.  In Him as Christians, you seek to sanctify the world by this priestly act of sacrifice and intercession for the world out there.  And this is the key, with which I’ll close.  It is in this way, and through your witness to the world, that others come to know the one true God of love and mercy.  As God’s specially chosen people, we are all called to labor in His vineyard for the salvation of the world.  God bless you.

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, June 7 Homily

June 7, 2026

English

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, also known by its Latin title, Corpus Christi. And we celebrate in a very intentional and focused way what we celebrate at each and every Mass – that ordinary bread and regular wine become the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Not just a metaphorical presence or a symbolic presence, but His very Real presence. His actual flesh that was crucified and His very blood that was poured out from the cross of Calvary. The very same Jesus, who rose from the grave in His Resurrection from the dead.

While more than a few struggle with this truth, the question I would like to focus on today is why does Jesus do this. Why does Jesus command, as we heard in today’s Gospel, that “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you”? Why would Jesus do this? Didn’t He know that future Christians would disagree over this teaching so much so that they would separate themselves into different denominations? Of course He did. Then, why did He do so? Because it was necessary.

As our Catholic faith teaches, the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. And the Church is the Body of Christ. A body needs the soul for it to be animated and living; otherwise, it’s a corpse. And so, we need the Holy Spirit for the Church to be the living Body of Christ. But a body also needs nourishment. Without food and drink, of course, we cannot live.

But again, you and I are members of Christ’s living Body, the Church. And so, to truly grow into that which we are, the Body of Christ, we truly need to be nourished by the Body of Christ. That’s why we come to Mass each and every week – to worship God, yes – but also to be nourished to live as His people.

And although we are nourished is various ways at the Mass, it’s in a preeminent and substantive way that we are nourished by the Lord Jesus Himself in the Holy Eucharist. And Jesus Himself declares how essential this in our Gospel today, for He says, “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”

Great, so what does that mean – “to have life because of Jesus”? Well certainly, it means that the Eucharist is our food for the journey, on our pilgrimage to the very goal and reason for this life – heaven. And Jesus teaches as much in our Gospel today, as He declares: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”

But it’s not solely about getting to the finish line. It’s also about how we get there. And as the People of God, we are meant to give living, loving witness of God to others to draw them into the Church as well. And the Eucharist, as the Sacrament of Charity, is meant to sustain us in living out our daily walk of love. Somedays it’s just hard enough to walk – to get through the day, to do what we have to do, and get it all done. But to walk in love really requires God’s grace. To really be loving – to really be patient and kind, not jealous, pompous, rude, selfish, quick-tempered, and inflated – the very God, who is Love, must indwell me. And I must regularly be renewed in His love so as to walk out that love in my daily life. I think it’s so appropriate, then, that we hold our Eucharistic procession today. It’s meant to remind us of the absolute centrality of walking in love with others, as we follow Love Incarnate Himself!

You know, it’s been said that some people live to eat. We might call them foodies. But the reality is, we eat to live. Through today’s celebration of the Solemnity of Body and Blood of Christ, this truth is meant to become crystal-clear to us. We don’t just receive the Eucharist so we can become holy in some selfish kind of way. Rather, we receive the very Body and Blood of Jesus so as to become more like Him. And as we grow more and more in holiness – that is in His image and likeness – the more we can give witness to the perfect love that God the Father has for each and every one of us, which all people are invited to receive and live out in the life of the Church, the Body of Christ. God bless you.

Español

Homilía para la Solemnidad del Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo Hoy celebramos la Solemnidad del Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo, conocida también por su nombre en latín: Corpus Christi. Y celebramos, de manera muy consciente y centrada, aquello que conmemoramos en todas y cada una de las Misas: que el pan y el vino verdaderamente se convierten en el Cuerpo y la Sangre de Jesucristo. No se trata solo de una presencia metafórica o simbólica, sino de su presencia real y verdadera. Es su propia carne, la que fue crucificada, y su propia sangre, la que fue derramada en la cruz del Calvario. Es el mismo Jesús que salió del sepulcro en su Resurrección de entre los muertos.

Aunque a muchos les cuesta aceptar esta verdad, la pregunta en la que quisiera centrarme hoy es: ¿por qué hace esto Jesús? ¿Por qué ordena Jesús —como escuchamos en el Evangelio de hoy— que «si no comen la carne del Hijo del Hombre y no beben su sangre, no tienen vida en ustedes»? ¿Por qué haría esto Jesús? ¿Acaso no sabía que los cristianos del futuro malinterpretaran sus enseñanzas y llegar a dividirse entre diversas denominaciones? Por supuesto que lo sabía. Entonces, ¿por qué nos dio Jesús el sacramento de Su Cuerpo y de Su Sangre? Porque era necesario.

Como nos enseña nuestra fe católica, el Espíritu Santo es el alma de la Iglesia. Y la Iglesia es el Cuerpo de Cristo. Un cuerpo necesita el alma para estar animado y vivo; de lo contrario, es un cadáver. Por tanto, necesitamos al Espíritu Santo para que la Iglesia sea el Cuerpo vivo de Cristo. Pero un cuerpo también necesita alimento. Sin comida ni bebida, como es lógico, no podemos vivir.

Ahora bien, tú y yo somos miembros del Cuerpo vivo de Cristo: la Iglesia. Por eso, para llegar a ser lo que somos —el Cuerpo de Cristo— necesitamos alimentarnos realmente del Cuerpo de Cristo. Es por esta razón que asistimos a Misa cada semana: para adorar a Dios, sí, pero también para recibir el alimento necesario para vivir como su pueblo.

Y aunque en la Misa recibimos alimento de diversas maneras, es de un modo preeminente y sustancial como nos nutre el mismo Señor Jesús en la Sagrada Eucaristía. Y el propio Jesús declara cuán esencial es esto en el Evangelio de hoy, pues dice: «Lo mismo que el Padre, que vive, me ha enviado y yo vivo por el Padre, así también el que me coma vivirá por mí».

Muy bien, ¿pero qué significa eso de «vivir por Jesús»? Ciertamente, significa que la Eucaristía es nuestro alimento para el camino, para nuestra peregrinación hacia la meta y razón misma de esta vida: el cielo. Y Jesús así lo enseña en el Evangelio de hoy al declarar: «El que come mi carne y bebe mi sangre tiene vida eterna y yo lo resucitaré en el último día».

Pero no se trata solo de llegar a la meta. También importa cómo llegamos allí. Como Pueblo de Dios, estamos llamados a dar un testimonio vivo y amoroso de Dios ante los demás, para atraerlos también a la Iglesia. Y la Eucaristía, como Sacramento de la Caridad, es decir el amor, está destinada a sostenernos en nuestro caminar diario en el amor.

Hay días en que caminar es suficiente difícil para nosotros: sacar adelante la jornada, cumplir con nuestras obligaciones y terminar todo lo pendiente. Pero caminar en el amor requiere verdaderamente la gracia de Dios. Para amar de verdad —para ser realmente pacientes y amables, y no envidiosos, arrogantes, groseros, egoístas, irascibles ni soberbios—, es necesario que Dios mismo, quien es Amor, habite en mí. Y debo renovarme constantemente en su amor para poder vivir ese amor en mi vida cotidiana. Me parece muy oportuno, entonces, que hoy celebremos nuestra procesión eucarística. ¡Esta procesión nos recuerda que lo esencial es caminar en el amor con los demás, mientras seguimos al mismo Amor Encarnado!

Se suele decir que hay personas que viven para comer. Pero la realidad es que comemos para vivir. A través de la celebración de hoy, la Solemnidad del Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo, esta verdad debe quedarnos clarísima. No recibimos la Eucaristía simplemente para alcanzar la santidad de una manera egoísta; más bien, recibimos el Cuerpo y la Sangre de Jesús para asemejarnos más a Él. Y a medida que crecemos cada vez más en santidad —es decir, a su imagen y semejanza—, más podemos dar testimonio del amor perfecto que Dios Padre tiene por todos y cada uno de nosotros; un amor que todas las personas están invitadas a recibir y vivir en la vida de la Iglesia, que es el Cuerpo de Cristo. Que Dios los bendiga.

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, May 31 Homily

May 31, 2026

Last week, we marked the conclusion of the great Easter season with the Solemnity of Pentecost. We celebrated the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Paraclete. As Christians, we don’t just worship God as if He were a monolithic reality. Rather, the one true God we love and adore has revealed Himself as a Trinity of three Divine Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No other religion professes this foundational belief of Christianity – that the one God is a community of persons. But this isn’t a mere Christian novelty either. It actually must be the case for God to be God. Let me explain.

By His very nature, God is love. But love doesn’t just happen in the abstract or as a solitary reality. None of us can just love, period. There must be a subject of our love. We have to love another person. And so it is with God, who is not just the origin of love, but is Love itself. The Father, as the source of the Godhead is the eternal Lover, who loves His Beloved Son eternally, who is eternally begotten by Him. And this Love exchanged and flowing between them is so life-giving that God the Holy Spirit Himself proceeds forth. You see, there is necessarily a unity of divine love as the essential nature of the Blessed Trinity. It’s God’s very nature to be three in one.

However, as Christians, you and I are created in God’s image and likeness, and through baptism have been made children of God the Father in Christ. That literally means that Jesus has made us sons and daughters of His Father, so that the Father loves us in the Holy Spirit as if we were His Beloved Son. That’s why it’s the Holy Spirit who brings to life our relationship with God. Without the Holy Spirit, we would be like a body without a soul – which is a corpse, lifeless. The Christian life is all about living out this dynamic, loving relationship, as we are caught up into the very lov-ing of the Holy Trinity, which will reach it’s perfect fulfillment in the Kingdom of Heaven.

There are two foundational truths here that I want to focus on today. If God as a Trinity is One, and He is Love itself, then to say that we are created in God’s image and likeness means that unity and charity, must be essential to our very nature as Christians, just as they are essential to God’s nature, in which love (or charity) is the bond of unity in the Blessed Trinity.

Unity is very important for us as people. It’s what provides a bond and allows there to be relationship between people. As Church, this is necessarily true as well. Think about our collective experience of Mass. From the common responses and gestures, to the unison of singing, to a shared belief in the one Christian faith, we celebrate this unity, even as we gather as a diverse body of irrepeatably unique persons, from different places, cultures, and backgrounds. Without the unity of faith to transcend those differences, communal worship would just be a collection of individuals.

Now, in case you haven’t noticed, our culture at large right now does diversity better than ever. But we’re really struggling with the whole unity thing – as Americans, as families, even within the Church. And in fact, an epidemic of loneliness has previously been declared. Our history of individualism in this country is very strong. And while it has served us to form a prosperous nation, it is taking a toll. We are so divided. And without a common source of unity, there will be greater disintegration. It used to be that for the vast majority, Christian belief and praxis were the source of that unity in the one true God. However, as I’ve been sharing, those identifying as belonging to a house of worship and actively practicing their faith in this great nation is at an all time low.

But we are all created in God’s image and likeness. And so therefore, there is this inherent desire in the heart of every person for unity, love, and peace. But as society moves away from God, so it seeks to create its own definitions and way of life. As a prime example, as begin this month of June, there will be on display such a diversity of views out there on what love really is, and people are so confused. I know this because I talk to so many different people across the spectrum of life.

Love of course has many degrees and expressions. It has emotional qualities of tenderness, connection, and caring for another. But for love to be mature, it must seek, above all, the essential good of another person. Certainly, God Himself, as Love shows us this, as Jesus Christ, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, in the sacrifice of the cross, took the punishment of our sins, and triumphing over the grave, enabled the restoration of our relationship with His Father in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, God seeks our eternal good above all. And so He gives us His Church to teach us what love really is. He’s not some authoritarian figure in heaven giving us arbitrary rules and laws through His Church. He’s a loving Father, who knows what is truly best for His children. And through the Church He wants to teach us how to live our lives in conformity with Him. As the very words of God put it in 1 John, “For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments (5:3).” So because God is love, He commands us to obedience to His Church’s teachings out of love.

And God teaches through His Church that although there are many degrees and expressions of love, sexual love is to be lived only in the context of a sacramental marriage between one man and one woman. And although a popular slogan today declares that love is love, unless it is rooted in God who is love – and the teachings of the Body of Christ, the Church – it not only falls short, but even deceives as to what the true nature of love is all about.

Love, like any human desire, has to be ordered as God designed it for it to be fruitful. For example, the natural desire of hunger. God designed it, so that when we eat, food nourishes our bodies for life. However, if we eat and then throw that food up, it’s not having its natural end – and we’re not ordering eating in such a way that it leads to growth. So, it is with love. When love between a couple is mostly based on the emotional connection of whatever they feel, and is separated from the unitive aspect of the complementarity of the sexes and the procreation of children, it is inherently not in order. And whether that’s between members of the same or opposite sex, it will lead to a frustration in various ways and separation from God because of not being obedient to His ordering of human sexuality. It is pride to think that we know better than God.

My friends, God is the author of all that is, including us as humans. God, who is love, created us. Love is such a powerful force. At the same time, it is such a fragile force, one that the evil one wants to exploit because of our innate desire for love. Our role as children of the Father is to bring all of our natural desires, which are good but wounded, into union with God’s will. This unity of our wills with His is the only way for our ultimate flourishing and growth as individuals, as families, and as a society. God bless you. ‍ ‍

Pentecost, May 24 Homily

May 24, 2026

English

Today, as we’ve already mentioned, we are celebrating the Solemnity of Pentecost, the official closing of the Easter Season. Now we’re all probably familiar with the Pentecost story as St. Luke told it today in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles – Mary and the 11 Disciples were gathered together in prayer, the Holy Spirit descended upon them in the form of little flames that looked like teardrops, and then they began speaking in lots of different languages.

But even though we’re familiar with this story, did you ever wonder why we say it marks the end of the Easter season? Or why do we even call it Pentecost in the first place? Well, for the Jewish people, Pentecost was already a special holiday on their religious calendar. They called it Shavuot, which became the celebration of God giving to Moses the 10 Commandments and the rest of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. It was this event that really unified the Hebrew people and made them God’s chosen people – so it was celebrated on Shavuot.

Now when many Jews became Christians, however, they looked for the ways in which Jesus fulfilled their existing celebrations – remember Jesus came to fulfill the Jewish Law not get rid of it. So for example, since Shavuot celebrated God giving Moses the Commandments, the Christians saw Jesus giving the Holy Spirit to His followers on Pentecost. And since it came 50 days after Passover, the early Church, which spoke Greek, called it Pentecost, which literally means “50th day.”

So when we look again at Pentecost, this story we’re already familiar with, we see what it’s really about: giving – God gave His people the gift of the Holy Spirit through His Son. And we hear in our readings today about the importance of these gifts. St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, tells them there is only one Spirit, but He distributes unique gifts to each person. In Acts we hear what one of these special manifestations of the one Spirit was – the gift of tongues. And why did God give the disciples this gift? For the building up of the Church – in this case, so that all those people gathered from different parts of the world in Jerusalem could understand the Gospel message the disciples were preaching to them. And this is so important – the gifts the Spirit gave to each person, were given to help build up the Church, not just for that person’s own personal gain.

And each one of us has been given gifts by the Holy Spirit too – because each one of us first received the Holy Spirit into our lives when we were baptized. Now many times when we think of these gifts, we might think of personal abilities or talents and skills – and these are certainly unique gifts given by God and perfect by us – things like speaking other languages, being really intelligent, being able to really listen to those in need, etc., etc. Our parish needs your gifts. Our Catholic Church needs your gifts. Your community needs your gifts.

So my friends, this day, we give thanks to the Holy Spirit on Pentecost for the multitude of His gifts. And we ask Him for the strength to be who God calls us to be and to live that out with joy, to build up the Church in our world of today. God bless you.

Español

Hoy, como ya mencioné, se celebra la Solemnidad de Pentecostés, el cierre oficial del Tiempo Pascual. Probablemente, muchos de nosotros hemos oído este relato de los acontecimientos de Pentecostés – la Virgen María y los 11 Discípulos están congregados en oración mientras el Espíritu Santo baja sobre ellos en la forma de llamas de fuego, y luego empiezan a hablar en varios idiomas.

Pero aunque estemos familiarizados con este relato, ¿Por qué se dice que Pentecostés marca el fin del Tiempo Pascual? ¿O por qué se da este día el título Pentecostés? Bueno, para los Judíos, Pentecostés ya era una fiesta especial de su calendario religioso. Lo llamaban Shavuot, que era la celebración de Dios dando a Moisés los 10 Mandamientos en el Monte Sinaí. De hecho, fue este evento que unió al pueblo Israel, y los formó en el Pueblo Elegido de Dios.

Ahora, al convertirse en Cristianos muchos Judíos, buscaban las maneras en que Jesús realizó sus celebraciones – acuérdense de que Jesús era Judío y vino para cumplir la Ley, no para tirarla. Así por ejemplo, ya que Shavuot celebraba Dios dando a Moisés los Mandamientos, los Cristianos lo interpretaban como Jesús dando a Sus Discípulos el Espíritu Santo. Y ya que se celebraba 50 días después de la Pascua Judía, la Iglesia Primitiva, que hablaba griega, lo llamaban ‘Pentecostés’, que quiere decir “el quincuagésimo día.”

Así, al entender estos ideas, se hace posible entender exactamente lo que se trata el Pentecostés: la acción de regalar – Dios regaló a Su pueblo el Espíritu Santo por medio de Su Hijo. Y nosotros escuchamos de la importancia de regalar en las lecturas de hoy. San Pablo, en su primera carta a los Corintios, dice que es un solo Espíritu, pero distribuye a cada persona dones únicos. En el Libro de los Hechos de los Apóstoles, oímos de una de estos dones – el don de lenguas.

¿Y por qué regaló a Sus discípulos tal don? Para fortalecer a la Iglesia – en este caso, para que toda la gente congregada de varias partes del mundo pudiera entender el Evangelio los discípulos predicaban. Y esto es muy importante – los dones que el Espíritu Santo regala a cada persona, no son solamente para el beneficio de esa persona, sino para fortalecer a la Iglesia.

Y también, cada uno de nosotros hemos recibido los dones del Espíritu Santo – ya que hemos recibido al Espíritu Santo por la primera vez durante nuestro bautismo. Ahora, muchas veces pensamos en estos dones como habilidades personales o talentos que otros no pueden hacer, y así son – cosas como hablar otro idioma, ser muy inteligente, poder comprender a los demás, etc., etc. Nuestra parroquia necesita de tus dones. Nuestra iglesia católica necesita de tus dones. Nuestro país y nuestro mundo necesitan de tus dones.

Así mis compañeros, este día, nosotros damos gracias al Espíritu Santo en Pentecostés por la multitud de sus dones. Y le pedimos la fortaleza de ser quienes Dios quiere que seamos, para que fortalezcamos a la Iglesia y el mundo de hoy. Dios los bendiga a ustedes. ‍ ‍

Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 17 Homily

May 17, 2026

English

Some of you might remember the 90s advertising slogan from Burger King: “Your way, right away” – or at least maybe a recent rendering: “Have it your way.”  Burger King’s pretty good – although I don’t eat there too often.  Well, the other day, I was reading about something called a Burger King theology.  Essentially, this way of looking at religion transforms it into a menu of options – your way of doing religion.  So, is that what religion is?  You prefer this, I prefer that?  But religion can never be about us making God into a god the way we want him.       

Today in the Gospel, we find Jesus offering up a lengthy prayer to His Father, known as the high priestly prayer of Jesus.  And during this prayer, Jesus says, “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”  The Lord states that eternal life – the whole goal of religion – is knowing the Father and knowing the Son.  

Now, in our modern world, the verb “to know” carries with it the idea of comprehension or intellectual understanding.  But in the Old Testament and for the Jews of Jesus’ day, the word “to know” meant much more than book smarts.  Rather, it expressed having a personal relationship with another based on intimacy.  Taken to a deeper level, we see that ‘knowing the other’ is of the essence between Adam and Eve – remember when Adam “knew” Eve, and then came their sons, Cain and Abel?

So, when Jesus says that eternal life is knowing Him and knowing His Father, He doesn’t just mean that we ought to academically know that God is a Trinity or that He has a list of these things called the 10 Commandments that we should keep.  Rather, Jesus is calling us to an intimate relationship with the Father through Himself – for in Christ, we too are sons and daughters of His Father.  

At the same time, this doesn’t mean that we can just throw the Trinity or the 10 Commandments out the window either – quite the contrary.  If you really love someone – say your spouse, your children, a close friend – then you're going to want to get to know that person – what the person likes, their hobbies, etc.  Well, the same is true with God.  We cannot have an intimate relationship with Him without knowing God in the intimate sense, but neither can we have it without knowing about God and His Church.

The danger here is that we get unbalanced and don’t keep these two aspects in a healthy tension.  We often gravitate toward one or the other.  Some may think that just knowing and practicing the content of our Catholic faith is it.  Others may think that just talking to God as a friend and being spiritual, without knowing what God commands us, is it.  

That’s why we need the Church.  The Church, as the Body of Christ, is the living body of believers, guided by Jesus, working in and through His shepherds, the pope and the bishops, inspired by the Holy Spirit.  So, it’s the Church that teaches us what it means to be in right and full relationship with Jesus, because it’s the Church that is His Body.  That means a profound relationship with God is not just about Jesus and me – it’s about Jesus and us, the Church.  And yet the “us” – as essential as it is – can never replace the I.  No one can have a living relationship with God for me.  Even in the Nicene Creed we profess, we, as the body, declare, “I believe.”

So, wherever you find yourself in knowing God, know that there is always more.  For the more you know Him, the more you can love Him.  And the more you love Him, the more you want to know Him.  God bless you.

Español

Un restauran que a mi me gusta – aunque yo no como allá mucho – es Burger King.  Y este restauran tiene el eslogan publicitario «Hazlo a tu manera».  Pues bien, el otro día leía acerca de algo llamado «teología de Burger King».  En esencia, esta forma de ver la religión la transforma en un menú de opciones: tu propia manera de vivir la religión.  Entonces, ¿es en esto lo que consiste la religión?  ¿Que tú prefieres esto y yo prefiero eso?  Pero la religión nunca puede consistir en que nosotros modelemos a Dios a nuestra propia imagen y semejanza, tal como nosotros queremos que sea.

Hoy, en el Evangelio, encontramos a Jesús ofreciendo una larga oración a su Padre, conocida como la «oración sacerdotal» de Jesús.  Y, durante esta oración, Jesús dice: «Esta es la vida eterna: que te conozcan a ti, el único Dios verdadero, y a aquel que tú enviaste, Jesucristo».  El Señor afirma que la vida eterna – el objetivo supremo de la religión – consiste en conocer al Padre y su Hijo.

Ahora, en español hay dos palabras, “saber” y “conocer” – nosotros sabemos unos datos, pero conocemos a alguien.   En inglés, sólo hay una palabra para decir las dos en español, “to know”.  Pues, para los judíos en el tiempo de Jesús, la palabra “conocer” llevaba consigo un significado muy profundo – expresaba la realidad de tener una relación o una amistad personal con alguien basada en la intimidad.  En un nivel más profundo, en el libro de Génesis, se dice que Adán conoció a Eva, y como resultado, dio a luz a Caín y Abel.  

Por tanto, cuando Jesús dice que la vida eterna consiste en conocerlo a Él y a su Padre, no se refiere únicamente a que debamos saber, de manera académica, que Dios es una Trinidad, o que hemos memorizado la lista de los «Diez Mandamientos».  Más bien, Jesús nos invita a profundizar una relación íntima con el Padre a través de Él mismo; pues, en Cristo, nosotros también nos convertimos en hijos e hijas de Su Padre celestial.  Y hoy celebramos a Jesús bajo su advocación Señor del Huerto.

Al mismo tiempo, esto no significa que podamos simplemente desechar la doctrina de la Trinidad o los Diez Mandamientos; ¡todo lo contrario!  Si realmente amas a alguien – digamos a tu cónyuge, a tus hijos, o a un amigo cercano – entonces querrás llegar a conocer a esa persona: qué le gusta, cuáles son sus aficiones, etcétera. Pues bien, lo mismo ocurre con Dios.  No podemos tener una relación íntima con Él sin conocer a Dios en un sentido íntimo; pero tampoco podemos tenerla sin saber acerca de Dios y de su Iglesia.

El peligro aquí se centra en que perdamos el equilibrio y no mantengamos estos dos aspectos en una tensión saludable.  A menudo tendemos a inclinarnos hacia uno u otro extremo.  Algunos podrían pensar que basta con conocer y practicar el contenido de nuestra fe católica.  Otros, en cambio, podrían creer que es suficiente con hablar con Dios como si fuera un amigo y ser espirituales, sin saber lo que Dios nos manda.

Por eso necesitamos a la Iglesia.  La Iglesia, que es el Cuerpo de Cristo, es el cuerpo vivo de los creyentes, guiado por Jesús y que actúa en y a través de sus pastores – el Papa y los obispos – bajo la inspiración del Espíritu Santo.  Por consiguiente, es la Iglesia la que nos enseña qué significa mantener una relación recta y plena con Jesús, puesto que es la Iglesia la que constituye su Cuerpo.  Esto implica que una relación profunda con Dios no se reduce únicamente a «Jesús y yo», sino que abarca a «Jesús y nosotros»: la Iglesia.  Y, sin embargo, ese «nosotros» – por muy esencial que sea – nunca podrá sustituir al «yo».  Nadie puede mantener una relación viva con Dios en mi lugar.  Incluso en el credo niceno que profesamos, nosotros – como cuerpo – declaramos: «Yo creo».

Así pues, sea cual sea el punto en el que te encuentres en tu conocimiento de Dios, ten presente que siempre hay más por descubrir.  Pues cuanto más lo conoces, más puedes amarlo; y cuanto más lo amas, más deseas conocerlo.  Que Dios los bendiga.