Weekday Homilies: Preaching Christ Crucified

Readings: 1 Mc 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-63; Ps 119; Lk 18:35-43 -- “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Are you and I like Bartimaeus, filled with faith, bursting with the Holy Spirit, and willing to follow Jesus wherever He leads us? Or do we simply go through the Christian motions?

Readings: Rom 11:29-36; Ps 69; Lk 14:12-14 -- "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!" [Rom 11:33] Humility is a demanding virtue. It takes greatness to become little, strength to become weak, and wisdom to embrace all that Jesus demands of us, to embrace the folly of the Cross.

Readings: Num 21:4-9; Ps 78; Phil 2:6-11; Jn 3:13-17 -- "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live" [Num 21:8]. Yes, the Cross is about a God who loves us so much He willingly suffered a painful, ignominious death. It's about suffering, something the world tells us to avoid. It's about redemption, something few people believe they really need.

Readings: Col 1:21-23 • Psalm 54 • Luke 6:1-5 -- "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" [Lk 6:5]. Perhaps, we should begin by considering how we celebrate the Sabbath, the day on which we proclaim Jesus' glorious Resurrection.

Readings: 1 Thes 4:9-11; • Ps 98 • Mt 25:14-30 -- "...aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you" [1 Thes 4:11]. There seems to be a human need to accomplish things using the skills of our hands -- part reward, part accomplishment, part peace.

Readings: Ez 43:1-7ab • Ps 85 • Mt 23:1-12 -- Yes, as disciples, we must become like servants. Interestingly, one of the pope's titles is "Servant of the servants of God." Jesus simply reminds us not to clamor for honor or respect. It is through service that we become great. It is through humility that we are exalted.

Readings: Ex 24:3-8 • Ps 50 • Mt 13:24-30 -- Just as Jesus perfected and completed the sacrifice of Moses, so too did He perfect and complete the Law of Moses. This is why the consecration is real, why the Blood is real. If it remained only wine it would be meaningless, just another symbol, signifying nothing.

Readings: Ex 1:8-14, 22 • Psalm 124 • Mt 10:34-11-1 -- Jesus comes to wage war: spiritual warfare. That's right -- Christ, the Prince of Peace, comes brandishing the sword of God's Word - a sword that slices through our delusions, cuts away our self-deception, and opens in us a wound - a window to God's truth

Readings: Gen 27:1-5, 15-29; Ps 135; Mt 9:14-17 -- Jesus uses fasting as a way to remind us to order our relationships. He tells the disciples of John the Baptist that the time for fasting is both in the past and future.

Reading: Acts 9:31-42; Ps 116; Jn 6:60-69 -- "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered Him: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" [Jn 6:67-68].

Readings: 1 Jn 3:22-4:6; Ps 2; Mt 4:12-17;23-25 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” [Mt 4:17]. Jesus tells all that the saving, victorious Presence of God is at hand, that nothing will ever be the same. This repentance calls us to something new, a radical change of being, really a change of everything

Readings: Nm 24:2-7,15-17; Ps 25; Mt 21:23-27 The Lord is always near, dwelling within us thanks to His gift of the Eucharist. Only God can save us from emptiness and poverty of spirit, from confusion and error, and from hopelessness and the fear of death.