Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
In Monday’s post, I discussed some of the more common problems with funerals; it provides background for the homily I summarize in today’s post. In it, I tried to teach on what I think are the central themes that should be emphasized in Christian funerals. I do not necessarily preach every word you see here …
Continue reading “A Funeral Sermon Designed to Teach on the Last Things and Inspire Prayer”
It is critical for us who would preach the Gospel to ponder what sorts of presuppositions our listeners bring to the conversation. Today, sadly, there are many trends that have poisoned the culture and thus make our task much more difficult. But difficult does not mean impossible. It helps to describe modern mindsets, not to despair …
Continue reading “Six Cultural Trends that Challenge the Modern Evangelizer”
The epistle in the Extraordinary Form this past Sunday (21st Sunday after Pentecost) was particularly appropriate for our times. The Holy Spirit, writing through St. Paul, gives us important reminders of how to live and fight as true soldiers of Christ in a world increasingly gripped by satanic darkness. Let’s examine the whole passage and …
In today’s Gospel, the Lord Jesus gives a penetrating analysis of the state of the sinner and some very sobering advice to us would-be saints. Let’s look at the Gospel in two stages: I ANALYSIS OF THE SINNER – In the opening lines of the Gospel, Jesus describes a sinful steward: DELUSION (of the sinner) …
The three parables in today’s lengthy Gospel challenge conventional thinking. They describe people doing things that we most likely would not do. All three of them— especially the first two—seem crazy. Who would ever do what the shepherd of the lost sheep does or what the woman with the lost coin does? Probably no one. …
Continue reading “Crazy! A Homily for the 24th Sunday of the Year”
In the readings today the Lord describes a danger: our tendency to make light of judgment and not be sober that one day we must account for our actions. In the first reading the Lord sets forth His desire to save us, but we must understand that our will, our yes, is essential to our …
Continue reading “Sober and Serious about Salvation – A Homily for the 21st Sunday of the Year”
There is an old African-American spiritual that says, “Rock a my soul in the bosom of Abraham. Oh, rock a my soul!” At first glance its meaning may seem obscure, but it speaks to a deep tradition and a kind of spiritual strategy that has great wisdom. Biblically, the “bosom of Abraham” referred to the …
Continue reading “Rock a My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham – Learning the Wisdom of an old Spiritual”
One of the great night prayer hymns, “All Praise to Thee My God This Night,” appears in numerous hymnals of the English tradition. Sadly, it is not in our current breviary, but I hope that the new one might feature it. It was written by Thomas Ken in 1709 and is most often sung to …