Homilies

Homily for the 14th Sunday in Ordinal Time, July 3rd, 2022

We are given a lot of orders at this Holy Mass: we are ordered to rejoice with Jerusalem (a figure of the Church); to be glad because of her; to pray the Master of the harvest to send laborers for his harvest; to be on our way; to carry nothing extra like money bag, sack, sandals; we are to remain focused on our task; we are also ordered to say to each visited household: “Peace to this household”; we are told to stay in that household; not to move around unless necessary and so on. Why? Why is the Lord giving us so many and so precise, detailed orders? And why all

Homilies

Homily for the 13th Sunday in Ordinal Time, June 26th, 2022

“For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” (Gal. 5:1) St. Paul writes to us of a type of freedom loftier than the one guaranteed us by the Constitution. It is the freedom for which Christ died and rose from the dead to give us so that we, believers, may not use this to freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. (Gal. 5: 13) Alas, individualism, the haughty child of relativism, has been pushing the irrational impossibility that everyone is entitled to do as he/she pleases, as it is convenient to hi

Homilies

Homily for The Solemnity of Corpus Christi, June 19th, 2022

Last Sunday, St. Paul pointed out (cf. Romans 5: 1-5) that within the Body of Christ we are living in a “truer reality” beyond the reality perceived by our senses. Conventionally, what passes as reality can keep us away from living truly as embodied spirits made for a share in the eternal glory proper of the Holy Trinity. Today, Solemnity of Corpus Christi, we explore deeply the “truer reality” of a God who is totally “engaged” in our lives. This exploration begins by contemplating the mysterious figure of Melchizedek. Melchizedek, king of [Jeru]Salem, app

Homilies

Homily for The Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, June 12th, 2022

The solemnity of the Holy Trinity tackles the principal and hardest mystery of our faith by showing us that God is a Community of love and life. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in this timeless, everlasting relationship of eternal sharing of love as well as the Source of all life. As mind-blowing as this reality already sounds, through Baptism and full Communion in the Second Person, the Son Jesus, from all eternity, the Holy Trinity has decreed to include all of us in this endless Life-giving and sharing of Love. Today, we are also invited to reflect on

Homilies

Homily for Pentecost, June 5th, 2022

If we, westerners, had been in the Upper Room on the morning of Pentecost Day we would have had a hard time trying to sort things out and decipher God’s message. Not so for the disciples gathered in it with the Blessed Mother. They were all Jews; they must have quickly realized that they were experiencing a powerful theophany with fire and thunderous, driving wind, like the fire of the burning bush (cf. Exodus 3:2) when God revealed to Moses his intention to do something about the sufferings of his people in Egypt and similar to what the Israelites experienced

Homilies

Homily for the Solemnity of The Ascension, May 26th, 2022

The Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord into heaven forces us to reflect on a reality with which we are totally unfamiliar. We had a beginning, (having been born at a recorded time and in a very specific place); we are living in time and space, but with a solemn pledge of immortality made to us through the divine rebirth of Baptism. This pledge of immortality is reaffirmed every time we feed on Jesus as the Bread of life in Holy Communion. As soon as we pause to reflect on this divine call which opens for us a boundless future of bliss and glory with n

Homilies

Homily for the 6th Week of Easter, May 22nd, 2022

What is a source of serious concern to me, as Pastor, is to have to remind you, my people, more often than in the past that Jesus’ Resurrection, his victory over all evils, death included, is irreversible and unstoppable. At increasing frequency, what we see on television and/or read in newspapers or we might experience directly, is deeply disturbing and unsettling. In our anguish, we look up to heaven; we sigh and place ourselves in God’s hands. But, if not even God comes quickly to our aid hope itself might die in our hearts. Yet, in these unnerving and sc

Homilies

Homily for the 5th Week of Easter, May 15th, 2022

Let us put side by side a sentence from today’s gospel passage: I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. John 13:34 And one from the 1st reading: It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God. Acts 14:22 The first sentence shows the only effective way to salvation both for individuals and for humanity as a whole. The second indicates what we can expect as “temporary retribution” if we adopt Jesus’ new commandment. It is salvation from what? Here are, arguably, t

Homilies

Homily for the 4th Week of Easter, May 8th, 2022

Today’s Gospel passage is rather short and, thus, it needs some supporting information to make it adequately relevant to our spiritual life. Jesus introduces himself as our Shepherd. Perhaps the Psalm most familiar and dearest to us is Psalm 23: “the Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” However, even in our familiarity with that Psalm we are in no way hardwired to appreciate the role of Christ as our Shepherd and, even less, to accept our role as his sheep. It is hard for us to benefit from the message that the 2nd reading and the gospel passa

Homilies

Homily for the 3rd Week of Easter, May 1st, 2022

All pages of the Gospel are designed to bring us comfort and to enlighten our path to the Kingdom of God, because our life unfolds in the wake of the total transformation offered to all those who believe in the Resurrection. Yet, the page I just finished reading to you is one particularly rich in light, comfort and encouragement as it resonates with what we might live through ourselves. A first resonance: whenever we feel isolated, confused and defeated, we ought to look for a special presence, the presence of the Risen Lord. In the midst of very trying times, if