27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Isaiah 5:1-7 Philippians 4:6-9 Matthew 21:33-43 October 5, 2014 Isaiah speaks of his “friend” who worked diligently to create the perfect vineyard. He did everything one would expect, he spaded it, cleared the stones, and planted the best vines he could find. He built a watchtower and …
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26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Ezekiel 18:25-28 Philippians 2:1-11 Matthew 21:28-32 September 28, 2014 What does the word “Church” mean to you? We call the buildings we worship in “churches” but is “church” just a building? Without a doubt, our church buildings are a focal point of our faith. The design, layout, and …
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25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Isaiah 55:6-9 Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a Matthew 20:1-16a September 21, 2014 The landowner goes out and hires workers for the day and agrees to pay them the “usual daily wage”. There is nothing usual here, it’s the standard practice of that day. As the day continues, the landowner keeps …
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Exaltation of the Holy Cross Numbers 21:4b-9 Philippians 2:6-11 John 3:13-17 September 14, 2014 Today we take a step away from what would normally be the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time for this feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feast dates back to the fourth century when St. Helena found the …
Today I did something that I haven’t had to do in seven years of priesthood and I would have preferred if I never needed to do it. In a little over seven years I have probably done over 180 funerals (some Masses, some services outside Mass, and some simple graveside services). The oldest person I ever did …
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Ezekiel 33:7-9 Romans 13:8-10 Matthew 18:15-20 September 7, 2014 Ezekiel serves the Lord as a prophet. Part of his duties as a prophet is to be a “watchman”. A watchman stands on lookout to watch for trouble and, when there is trouble, alert the people. As a …
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22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Jeremiah 20:7-9 Romans 12:`01 Matthew 16:21-27 August 31, 2014 Jeremiah wonders if he has been duped in his role as a prophet. He is proclaiming God’s Word and he suffers derision and reproach for it. Shouldn’t preaching God’s Word be easy? People should want to hear it, right? …
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Yesterday I was privileged to have a conversation with a young woman whose faith is very important to her. It is inspiring to me to see such faith in young people. She is currently doing an internship and we were talking about the work environment in which finds herself. It isn’t easy to find a …
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Isaiah 22:19-23 Romans 11:33-36 Matthew 16:13-20 August 24, 2014 Eliakim is offered the key to the House of David. Jesus gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. What is the significance of the keys? We are not talking about keys to our home. The key that …
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Those of you who are longtime readings of this blog know I used to write articles at least weekly here on various topics and events. It’s been at least several months since I have posted anything on a regular basis besides my Sunday homilies. Honestly, the only reason the homilies got posted regularly is because I …
