Stations of the Cross

Good Friday 2004

First, just what is a Sunday “homily”?  Isn’t it the same thing as a “sermon”  To find out, click here: 

Second, how to access my homilies.

In response to parishioners who have asked on occasion for a copy of my homily, the homily webpage provides access to my Sunday and Holyday homilies dating from September, 2001. Typically, I will post a homily to this webpage during the afternoon of the day I deliver the homily. To access a homily, scroll down this webpage to the date/topic you want to read and double-click on the button.  Feel free to print out a homily or to email it to someone you believe might benefit from it.

Note also that the homilies available on this webpage are much longer than the homilies I deliver in church on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.  I normally will take a section from the larger homily that I believe best captures the overall idea as well as practical applications for members of the congregations’ lives.  The longer versions are intended for those who want to study and think about these ideas and applications during the ensuring week with the goal of becoming more fully engaged in what truly matters, in particular, how they might better live their lives as people of deeper faith.    Over the years, For example:

·       Some parishioners have told me that they post relevant sections of a particular homily on the refrigerator door for other members of the family to see and be reminded of some idea or application that is relevant to spiritual problems emerging in their family’s lives.

·       Other parishioners have reported to me how they have members of the family read a relevant section of a particular homily each day just after the family gathers for dinner and immediately prior to the blessing of the food.  During the course of the week, they cover the entire homily!  One couple reads a particular idea from the homily and asks family members to relate it back to that day’s particular challenges.

·       Yet other parishioners have told me that they will read and reread a homily during the week, just as they would an interesting or challenging article in a magazine, rather than watch a television show.  These individuals use the Sunday Eucharist as a spiritual and moral “touchstone” to ground themselves at various points during the week.

·       Members of some groups—I’m thinking in particular of a group of Catholic businessmen who have a weekly Wednesday morning prayer breakfast and one Disciples in Mission group at a parish—print out and read the homily individually and, then, discuss it collectively at some point during the week.
 

The overall  idea is that parishioners who are interested use the Sunday homily to spur reflection and greater spiritual growth during the ensuing week.  No matter how parishioners will use the homily—it just takes a little creativity—my goal is that the Sunday liturgy not be forgotten as soon as members of the congregation leave Mass on Sunday and relegate the reflections contained in the Sunday homily to the past.

To access a homily, click here:

Please feel free to email me with your feedback.  I appreciate receiving even the “bad news,” so that I might better accomplish the objectives I set out to accomplish each weekend and holyday.