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Who's listening?

14 Aug 2011 - Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Religion spends a lot of time defining boundaries: who belongs and who doesn't, who conforms and who doesn't, who is like us and who isn't. But another major piece of the business of religion is journeying across limits and encountering the outsider. As the Acts of the Apostles show, Christianity came to be as it reached out to wider and wider circles beyond its original Jerusalem core. It's a good message for the people in church today: Yes, you have to know and understand what you believe, and celebrate and witness to what is unique about your beliefs, but you also have to realize that faith grows and expands as it meets the new and different. Are there outsiders in the assembly today? Who's not here who could be? What can those who are here do to make their faith welcoming and hospitable, rather than clannish and exclusive?

boundaries christianity church message

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Who's listening?

12 Jun 2011 - Solemnity of Pentecost, Cycle A

None of us speaks the exact same language. The slightest change in tone or inflection can send out a message that will be received differently by 10 different hearers. In all our relationships at home, on the job, within the community, we try to make ourselves understood, but somebody always takes something we've said the wrong way. At those times it's best to listen. The art of communication requires both giving and receiving. Giving of ourselves and receiving others is also the key to establishing peace. Let us offer one another a sign of peace today by listening as well as talking to those around us.

Peace language message

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Who's listening?

29 May 2011 - Sixth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A

Today you can be sure that all people within earshot of your preaching have felt alone and lonely, abandoned by friends or loved ones at some point, and fearful of how they will make their way through financial difficulties, problems with their children, or personal illness. When the gospel is read, they will hear the good news that they are not orphans. Reinforce that message with your own reasons for hope, as Saint Paul suggests. Let them know that help is always available to us, no matter how desperate our situations may seem. All we need do is ask--God and one another.

Gospel Saint Paul message

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The inner word

17 May 2015 - Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Cycle B

At the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles Jesus did not ascend immediately; he spent a highly symbolic 40 days—reminiscent of his 40 days in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry—speaking to the apostles “about the kingdom of God.” We can assume he wasn’t telling them anything about the kingdom he hadn’t during his earthly life, but it’s intriguing to wonder what he said. Perhaps the difference was not in the message but in the way the disciples heard it. Now there was no more wondering. All the promises had been fulfilled, the doubts erased. That must have affected their perspective, as it should ours as well.

message

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Homily themes

08 Apr 2012 - Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord (Easter Sunday), Cycle B

"You know what has happened all over Judea.” Repeatedly in the early church Christians were called upon to defend their beliefs—and thereby themselves—and some of these explanations, like Saint Peter’s speech in Acts in this weekend’s readings, sound a lot like a creed. God, Peter reminds his audience, gave Jesus the Spirit and was with him. While this power allowed Christ to heal and do good, he was still put to death. Yet God raised him to life and he appeared to those who believed in him, a presence especially visible when the disciples “ate and drank with him.” Before his final glorification to judge of the world, he commanded the apostles to go out and preach his gospel. Faith in Jesus and his message still offers healing. He remains the just judge, and believers can still eat and drink with him. Just as important, he continues to call his followers to spread the Good News about him.

Authors Joel Schorn

belief preach Gospel message good news

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Who's listening?

26 Feb 2012 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

The Gospel of Mark's terse account of Jesus' temptation in the desert--a story Matthew and Luke tell at greater length and with more detail--ends with the essence of the message Jesus preached and literally embodied in the flesh: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." The rest of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension would be the unfolding of this Good News, and it is a revelation that should get everyone's the attention. Jesus has opened and made available the very life of God. All people have to do, then, is open themselves to Jesus and follow his way of love and service.

Temptation message revelation good news follow Love Service

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Homily stories

05 Jun 2011 - Seventh Sunday of Easter, Cycle A

Listening to an opposing team's coach giving the pep talk against our school's team, I was appalled by how completely negative all the comments were. Our team, he sneered, looking at us with disgust, had no heart. We were quitters. We would easily back down. We were, in short, "a bunch of losers." When he finished, they all grasped hands for a prayer: "Queen of Victory, pray for us." Nobody seemed to see the irony in what they had just done. After the game, I suggested that he try to be more positive in his approach the next time he tries to encourage his team. It was no wonder they lost. The gospel today is a pep talk given by Jesus to the disciples before he leaves them. They need to know that he is going to continue to walk with them and that they will not be alone. When the Spirit comes to them on Pentecost, they will know this and be able to confidently leave the upper room in which they hid themselves. We need to hear that same positive message and get out of where we hide with our fears and selfishness. We need, as Peter tells us, not to be ashamed to give glory to God with our lives of faith in action.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

positive message encouragement

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Homily themes

07 Feb 2010 - Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the gospel I preached to you. What—or who—is it that saves? Saint Paul gets down to basics in today’s epistle reading. First, he lays out the “mechanics” of the gospel: Preachers preach it, people believe it, and all are saved. Then he borrows from an existing creed to offer what this gospel says. Jesus really died and was really buried; God raised Christ and so he really lives; and Christ appeared to many, including Paul. Preachers and catechists take note: This gospel is more than stating the doctrinal facts. It is a thing that saves, a living relationship with God through the Savior. This message is the one people are invited to believe. Homily points God’s servants in scripture are not necessarily eager, only faithful. The call story has several standard components: Among them is always the protest of unworthiness. Isaiah, Peter, and Paul all overcame their doubts to become eminent servants of God. We’re asked to trust in the grace more than the fear that is within us as we answer our call.

Authors Joel Schorn

preach Grace message unworthiness

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Homily stories

24 Jan 2010 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Not long ago I gave a rousing speech at a tax relief rally about rising property taxes forcing people of moderate income to move out of their houses. After the speech I was congratulated by many people, including one shabbily dressed gentleman. He told me how powerful my words were. That obviously made me feel good. Then, looking around expectantly, he asked if we were going to serve any refreshments. When I told him “no,” he just walked away from me and the rally looking disappointed. I realized how ironic it was. He was homeless, attracted to the rally by the music, the crowd, and the hope for something to eat and drink. My message could not have had much meaning for him. In scripture today, crowds gathered to hear Ezra proclaim the law with Nehemiah, exhorting people to celebrate it with food and drink. What did those with nothing to eat or drink hear? Jesus lifts up a scroll and reads from Isaiah that he has come for the poor, the captives, the oppressed. But the words are heard by the rich, the lawmakers, the oppressors. They reject his message outright. Until we realize, as Saint Paul tells us, that we are all one body, none of us can truly hear the message of God. No matter our stations in life, we need to realize we have to share each other’s concerns and be inclusive in our thoughts, works, and actions. We need each other to find our way to God no matter how blessed our lives might be or how poor and struggling.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

taxes ezra message

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The inner word

05 Jul 2009 - Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Prophets don’t have an easy job of it no matter where they’re trying to speak truth to power, but there’s no question that the homefront is their toughest audience, as Jesus found out when he returned to Nazareth. Do you see yourself as a prophet? What other living people do you consider prophets? Is there anyone in your own backyard who has the ear of others outside your community? What message of Christ do you find the hardest to sell and the hardest for you personally to accept? Who or what serves as a thorn in your flesh, making your ministry and vocation difficult? Like Paul, can you see a benefit to your weakness?

prophets message of Christ

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