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The Jesus who came, who spoke of God, who spoke of God as a loving Father--it was not that He was drawing some inferences, or that he was talking in metaphysical terms. He was talking in real terms, because He came from the Father. He had experienced that love of the Father. He knew what was the nature of the Father. So it was His experience that caused Him to call God, "Abba, Father."Learn more about the Gundestrup CauldronLearn more about the Ardagh Chalice

Every breath we take, our ability to breathe itself, is divinely inspired. God breathes the breath of life into us. It's with that breath that we use our voice, that we speak. There is perhaps no faculty of the human person that has the power to do as much good or as much harm as human speech.

To love people who hurt you, and to give to people who not only are not able to repay but who may not seem to deserve it anyway, and to forgive without getting nasty about it, is to show that we really believe what Jesus says. When we choose to respond in love and forgiveness, and to give even when it hurts us, we are saying that nothing in this life is more important than showing Jesus’ kind of love.Download Transcript

Chiasmus is a style where a writer of the Bible starts with one part of the story and ends with a second part that contrasts the first part. For example, in our first reading, we see Jeremiah doing a beautiful chiasmus. The central question that Jeremiah is asking is, 'Who is the person who puts his trust in human beings? And who is the person who puts his trust in the Lord?' Why have Jeremiah and Luke employed this beautiful chiasmus for us this morning? It is to make vivid in our minds a very important spiritual reality. 

Let's see: "Blessed are you when they hate you and insult you and exclude you because of the name of Jesus. But woe to you when all speak well of you."

Peter tells us something this morning: Trust and obey. Even when your common sense and your logic tells you, 'This is hopeless' . . . Nothing is hopeless. Even when the science tells you, 'Just give up. Go home and get ready,' you don't give up, because the power of God sometimes goes against the science.

 What is the appropriate and proper—kosher—use of the lips? When we speak: First to praise God, to give God the honor that is due to God. For prayer. To bless and not curse. To build up and not break down. To exhort and to encourage, and not to curse and discourage. We're given this tremendous power of communication, and our proper, appropriate use of it is to build us, to inspire, and to encourage. 

We need to recognize that it is easy for us to be like the townspeople in Nazareth––expecting God to fulfill all our hopes while at the same time trying to keep our own boundaries and prejudices. This cuts us off from people God loves––people God wants to love through us.We come to church each week, I hope, because we want to identify with God's good news. Jesus' words to the people of Nazareth tell us it is not good news if we can't get beyond our own expectations.Download Transcript

Whether or not you accept the correction of God when things are going well in your life, remember when you find yourself in a place of darkness and hopeless, that there is a God. It is real. All of the things that are said of God, it is real. In a moment of challenge and darkness, remember the truth: It is real. And come back to the Lord. 

The fundamental difference between the mission statement of Jesus the Messiah and the mission statement of the rest of us is that for most organizations, our mission statement is pointing to what we want to become. But the Messianic statement is not what is to come, but what has come to be.

A brief meditation on some of the most important words of Our Lady. To do whatever He tells us means that we spend more time in prayer listening than telling, and it means that we have to put it into action.Download Transcript

It is sad that not all baptized people live up to their Baptism: “the grace of Baptism delivers no one from all the weakness of nature” (CCC #978). Here is the issue for us on this day that we honor the baptism of our Lord: Am I living out of my Baptism?  Being baptized into Jesus Christ is our highest calling. Nothing is greater than being identified with Jesus Christ. The implications are eternal.Download Transcript

Among all the people of God––among all the saints––no one has greater fullness of grace than Mary. She is first in the Church. She is first among the saints. She alone gave flesh to the eternal Word, and in so doing became the very Mother of God. In that grace, and from the very words of Jesus on the cross––Behold your mother, she is our mother, too. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.Download Transcript

We see the reality of the grace of God whenever a bit of light shines on our path. Christmas is the celebration that Jesus is that Light. God himself came to dwell among us and open the way to the fullness of Life. John opens his Gospel saying In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…. Download Transcript

On this final Sunday of Advent, the readings invite us to think through how we can become intentional in bringing the peace of Christ to our homes and our families, how we can ask for the grace to be able to heal broken relationships in our homes and our families, how you and I can become instruments that make functional all of the dysfunctional relationships in our homes and in our families. That's the heart of our readings today.

The daily news is not our guidebook. A lot of people depend on that, and the result is confusion, wonder, and rage. Jesus was right in telling us that the world would be in dismay and people would be consumed by fright if all they look at is the troubled world. There is a solution, however — a guide for the journey through troubled times — and Saint Paul tells us what it is, or better, who it is: YOU!Download Transcript

In Advent we are called to wait for the Lord. We believe that Jesus came to fulfill Jeremiah's promise of the righteous branch. He fed the hungry, he healed the sick, and gave himself a ransom for our sins. Jesus wants us to know that this world still belongs to God. Nothing must shake our faith nor weaken our resolve that God is in charge and that Jesus is coming again.Download Transcript

As recipients of the Lord’s mercy, we are to be a kingdom and priests to God––we are called to model the life of Jesus in us. What happens when we do that? Other people find out who God is. What happens when other people find out who God really is? The whole world is transformed into the glory of God! That's what Daniel saw in his vision. It’s the goal towards which all of human history is progressing.Download Transcript

Jesus talks mostly about how his disciples should respond to the events going on around them. This is a wisdom that focuses on what we can do something about, not on the things beyond our control. We cannot do too much about the big catastrophes or way the world will end; the one thing you and I can do something about is our own response to the things that happen in and around our lives. How shall we respond to our world––even when it seems that it is falling apart? It is normal to fear for our comfort, our happiness, our security, and to wonder what might happen to us and our children.Download Transcript

Why do people sometimes do bad things to one another? There is no single answer to that. And I do not pretend that I have the answers. But tonight I would just like to explore one single explanation, what I sometimes call the triangle of sights. What is this triangle of sights? How you see the neighbor. How you see yourself. How you see God.