Sunday Sermon - April 30

Friends, for this fourth Sunday of Easter, we have a magnificent first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. It’s one of Peter’s great kerygmatic speeches—the kerygma means the basic proclamation of the faith—and a master class in evangelization. Christianity has become so commonplace for so many of us; we think being a Christian just means being a nice person. But listen now as this chief of the Apostles, this friend of Jesus, begins to preach with fire. This is the energy that should belong across the ages to Christian evangelical preaching!

Mass Readings

Reading 1 – Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Psalm – Ps 23: 1-3a, 3b4, 5, 6
Reading 2 – 1 Pt 2:20b-25  
Gospel – Jn 10:1-10

Exult! Oh my Soul

 

Exult, exult! oh my soul ! said St. Bonaventure, who was so assiduous in proclaiming the praises of Mary, and rejoice in her, because many good things are prepared for those who praise her; and since all the Holy Scriptures, he added, speak in praise of Mary, let us endeavor always with heart and tongue to celebrate this our divine mother, that we may be conducted by her to the kingdom of the blessed. Continue. 

THE GLORIES OF MARY by St. Alphonsus Liguori -  1888  

What did Jesus Love on Earth?

 But scornful men have coldly said, Thy love was leading me from God; And yet in this I did but tread The very path my savior trod.

They know but little of thy worth, Who speak these heartless words to me; For what did Jesus love on earth One half so tenderly as thee?

F. W. Faber (1814 - 1863)

Sunday Sermon - April 23

Friends, we come to this Third Sunday of Easter, and our Gospel is Luke’s account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. This masterpiece is a summation of the spiritual life, and it starts with two disciples of Jesus walking the wrong way.

Mass Readings

Reading 1 – Acts 2:14, 22-33
Psalm – Ps 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
Reading 2 – 1 Pt 1:17-21  
Gospel – Lk 24:13-35

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Our Lady of Littlemore

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that Thy faithful, who rejoice beneath the name and protection of the ever Blessed Virgin Mary, may, by her holy intercession, be delivered from all earthly evil, and reach the eternal joys of heaven.

Sunday, April 14, 2023

Friends, we continue our celebration of the Easter season on this Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday. Mercy, St. Thomas Aquinas says, is compassion in regard to someone else’s suffering; thus, God’s mercy is his compassion reaching out to us precisely in our suffering. Keep that in mind as we walk through the Gospel passage for this week from John: the extraordinary account of the risen Jesus appearing to his disciples. Christ has been sent into the world as an agent of God’s mercy, answering our sin and woundedness with forgiving love. And the same Christ breathes on us, giving us the Holy Spirit, and sends us into the world with the same mission.

Mass Readings

Reading 1 – Acts 2:42-47
Psalm – Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
Reading 2 – 1 Pt 1:3-9
Gospel – Jn 20:19-31

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Easter Sunday

Friends, Happy Easter! Christ is risen—Alleluia, Alleluia! Recently, I had a public conversation with the popular historian Tom Holland. Someone from the crowd asked him, “What’s the call of our time?” and he said, “Let Christianity be weird.” When I was coming of age, there was a tendency to reduce Christianity to just another vague mysticism or moral system. If that’s all Christianity is, who cares? I’m with Tom Holland: let Christianity be weird, because Christianity is weird. And a lot of the weirdness focuses on the thing we celebrate today: the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Reading 1 – Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Psalm – Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23
Reading 2 – Col 3:1-4
Gospel – Jn 20:1-9

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Sunday Sermon 04/02

Palm Sunday

Friends, on Palm Sunday, the culminating point of Lent, the Church reads from one of the great Passion narratives from the synoptic Gospels. But I want to look at the second reading today—a passage from the second chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, the heart of which is a hymn or poem. These words go back to the very beginning of Christianity, and they serve as a beautiful summary statement of the faith. Paul is reflecting on the downward trajectory of the Son of God—all the way down into death itself, even death on a cross.

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