Homilies

Scripture Readings: Book of the Prophet Isaiah 60:1-6; Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6; Gospel According to Saint Matthew 2:1-12 The Solemnity of the Epiphany, literally the “manifestation” or “showing” of the Lord Jesus Christ to the nations, is...

Scripture Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21 The shepherds who “went in haste to Bethlehem,” as directed by the angel, can be understood as the whole human race seeking Jesus. The quick response of the shepherds to seek the new-born Lord is the...

Readings: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Colossians 3:12-21; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 In our Catholic Liturgical Calendar, the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas is always dedicated to the mystery of the Holy Family of Nazareth, Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This year “on the fifth...

Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10; Letter to the Hebrews 1:1-6; Gospel of Saint John 1:1-18 The scripture readings assigned for the Mass of Christmas day emphasize an attitude of child-like wonder at all that is taking place. In the text from the prophet Isaiah, the city of...

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7; Letter to Titus 2:11-14; Gospel According to Luke 2:1-14 First, a blessed and Merry Christmas to all! The celebrations have just begun, and continue in earnest for nearly two weeks, for what are traditionally called the “Twelve Days...

Second Book of Samuel 7:1-5, 8-11, 11:16; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38 We could think of this Fourth Sunday of Advent as the “final lap” in the Advent journey of 2023. In fact, we’ve reached the final day of Advent, as this Sunday evening at First Vespers we begin...

Scripture Readings: Prophet Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11; First Letter to the Thessalonians 5:16-24; Gospel According to Saint John 1:6-8, 19-28 The Church’s Old Testament “prophet of choice” for the Advent season is Isaiah, from the eigth century before Christ. And the...

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Second Letter of Peter 3:8-14; Mark 8:1-8 Every year on the second Sunday of Advent, the Church has us ponder the words and deeds of Saint John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the coming of the Lord. Our own monastery church is...

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 63:16-17,19; 64:2-7; First Corinthians 1:3-9; Gospel According to Mark 13:33-37 The season of Advent always calls us to a sense of hope, that God loves us, has sent his Son to redeem us, and that no one is excluded from God’s loving care and...

Scripture Readings: Book of Proverbs 31:10-13,19-20,30-31; First Thessalonians 5:1-6; Gospel According to Saint Matthew 25:14-30 As we draw near to the end of the Liturgical Year 2022-23, the Scripture readings this Sunday revolve around the familiar basic virtues of...

Scripture Readings: Wisdom 6:12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Matthew 25: 1 –13 The wedding customs being described in the Gospel today may strike us as very different from what we are used to, even strange. The familiar enough point of the parable, though, is “be...

Scripture Readings: Book of Exodus 22:20-26; First Thessalonians 1:5-10; Gospel According to Saint Matthew 22:34-40 In today’s Gospel, a Scribe, who would be considered a teacher of God’s Law and a moral guide of the people, wants to hear what Jesus believes to be the...

Scripture Readings: Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 18:25-28; Letter to the Philippians 2:1-11; Gospel According to Saint Matthew 21:28-32 Here at the Monastery Autumn is definitely “in the air.” Such is the case as well in many other parts of the Northern Hemisphere. The...

Scripture readings: Book of the Prophet Isaiah 55:6-9; Letter to the Philippians 1:20-24, 27; Gospel According to Saint Matthew 20:1-16 This Sunday’s Gospel passage is taken from a section in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew where Jesus spells out some of the...

Scripture Readings: Book of Sirach 27:30-28:7; Romans 14:7-8; Gospel According to Matthew 18:2121-35 This Sunday’s Scripture readings are focused on the topic of forgiveness. It is something we probably regularly think about and actually do, when we forgive family or...

Scripture Readings: Ezekiel 33:7-9; Romans 13:8-10; Gospel According to Saint Matthew 18:15-20 This Sunday’s first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel and the Gospel passage both consider the difficult topic of “fraternal correction,” as it is often called; that is,...

Scripture Readings: Prophet Jeremiah 20:7-9; Letter to the Romans 12:1-2; Gospel According to Saint Matthew 16:21-27 Today’s Gospel passage gives us more insight into who Jesus truly is and what he had to undergo for the salvation of all people. Important to keep in...

Scripture Readings: Prophet Isaiah 22:15,19-23; Letter to the Romans 11:33-36; Gospel According to Saint Matthew 16:13-20 In the Gospel passage for this Sunday, Jesus poses a crucial question to his disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” The question implies that...

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Gospel According to Saint Matthew 15:21-28 It should be safe to say and not a heresy to conclude that Jesus was at least mildly bothered by the persistent Canaanite woman in the Gospel passage for this...

Mass Readings: First Book of Kings 19:9,11-13; Romans 9:1-5; Gospel According to Saint Matthew 14:22-33 Both the first reading and the Gospel passage for this Sunday are “weather-related,” a common enough phrase today relating to events outside of one’s control and...