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August 9, 2015   Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Kgs 19:4-8 Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert,until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death saying:“This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree,but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cakeand a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again,but...

August 2, 2015   Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ex 16:2-4, 12-15 The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them,“Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt,as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desertto make the whole community die of famine!” Then the LORD said to Moses,“I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion;thus will I test...

July 26, 2015   Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Kgs 4:42-44 A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God,twenty barley loaves made from the firstfruits,and fresh grain in the ear. Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.” But his servant objected,“How can I set this before a hundred people?” Elisha insisted, “Give it to the people to eat.” “For thus says the LORD,‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.’” And when they had eaten, there was some left over,as the LORD had said. Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:10-11,...

July 19, 2015   Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Jer 23:1-6 Woe to the shepherdswho mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture,says the LORD. Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,against the shepherds who shepherd my people:You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them,but I will take care to punish your evil deeds. I myself will gather the remnant of my flockfrom all the lands to which I have driven themand bring them back to their meadow;there they shall increase and multiply. I will appoint shepherds for...

Msgr. Charles Pope • September 19, 2015 • In today’s gospel, the Lord Jesus is asking a crucial question. The word crucial here is selected carefully. It comes from the Latin cruces, meaning “cross.” Indeed, looming over this entire gospel is the Cross. Jesus makes the second prediction of His passion, death, and resurrection. It is in the context of this teaching that the Lord asks the “crucial” question of us: What is most central in our life? Let’s look at this gospel in five stages. I. The Processional Picture – The gospel text opens this way: Jesus and his...

The Love of the Law and the Law of Love – A Homily for the 22nd Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • August 29, 2015 • Today’s readings teach a proper understanding of the Law and its relationship to our hearts. The readings go a long way toward addressing the false dichotomy that many set up between love and law, as though the two were opposed; they are not. For if we love God, we want what He wants and love what He loves. And the Law goes a long way toward describing what God wants and loves....

Faith or Famine – A Homily for the 19th Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • August 8, 2015 • The gospel today amounts to a summons to faith by Jesus. In particular, He is summoning us to faith in Him and in the truth He proclaims about His presence in the Holy Eucharist. Last week’s gospel ended with Jesus declaring that He is the bread that has come down from Heaven. Today’s gospel opens with the Jewish listeners grumbling about Jesus’ claim to have come from Heaven. Throughout the gospel, Jesus stands firm in His call to faith....

Four Teachings on Personal Prayer – A Homily for the 16th Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • July 18, 2015 The gospel today speaks to us of the priority of personal prayer. You may recall that in last week’s gospel, Jesus sent them out two by two to proclaim the Kingdom. Now they return, eager to report the progress and the graces they encountered.But as Jesus listens, he urges them (perhaps because they are overjoyed) to come aside and rest awhile, for they have labored long. In so doing, Jesus also teaches us about prayer. Let’s consider four...

A Bad Day in the Pulpit for Jesus? A Homily for 14th Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • July 4, 2015 • . The gospel today portrays the Lord Jesus as preacher and prophet. But as we shall see, even the greatest preacher in the world, Jesus, can find His powerful and precious words falling lifeless on the rock hard surface of many a soul. Yes, even His words can meet with resistance and hostility, indifference and ridicule. Indeed, the gospel today shows forth the ruinous result of rejection. My homily notes begin with the red text below. However,...

Sweet, Beautiful, Soul-Saving Joy – A Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Advent By: Msgr. Charles PopeThis Sunday is traditionally called Gaudete Sunday based on the Introit for the day: Gaudete in Domino semper, iterum dico, Gaudete (from Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, Rejoice). This theme is developed most fully in today’s readings in 1 Thessalonians 5:16ff. It, too, begins with the salutation and imperative, “rejoice always!”Let’s take a closer look at that reading and what is meant by the admonition to “rejoice.”The text begins, Rejoice always. The Greek word properly translated here as “rejoice”...

Archdiocese of Washington I Keep So Busy Workin’ for the Kingdom, I Ain’t Got Time to Die – A Homily for the 3rd Sunday of the Year By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe readings of “Ordinary Time” (Tempus per annum, in Latin) focus a lot on the call to discipleship and the living of the Christian Faith. The readings for today’s Mass are no exception, as they present us with a number of disciplines for disciples. These disciplines free us to serve Christ and His Kingdom joyfully, energetically, and wholeheartedly. We can group these disciplines into three broad areas, such that discipleship is...

Archdiocese of Washington From Magi to Wise Men – A Homily for Epiphany By: Msgr. Charles PopeThere are so many wonderful details in the Epiphany story: the call of the Gentiles, the nations, and their enthusiastic response, the significance of the star they see, and the gifts they bring, the dramatic interaction with Herod and their ultimate rejection of him in favor Christ.In this meditation I would like especially to follow these Magi, in their journey of faith to become wise men. As Magi, they followed the faint stars, distant points of light; as Wise Men they follow Jesus who...

A Portrait of Powerful Preaching – A Homily for the 4th Sunday of the Year By: Msgr. Charles Pope There are four aspects of powerful preaching displayed by Jesus in this passage. Jesus is not just a powerful preacher Himself, but also models what it means to be a powerful and effective preacher.In using the word “preacher” here we ought to be careful not to reduce preaching merely to what takes place in a church. For surely the clergy have churches in which to preach. But all Catholic parents ought also to learn from Jesus here, for they have...

The Gospel today is about faith and focus. It teaches that though storms and struggles inevitably arise, we have a choice as to whether we focus on them or on Jesus. The  admonition of this Gospel is clear: keep your eyes on the prize … hold on!Let’s look at this Gospel in four stages: Perceived Distance, Produced Distress, Point of Decision, and Process of Development.I. PERCEIVED DISTANCE – The text tells us that Jesus drew back from the disciples and sent them to make the crossing of the lake on their own, intending to join them again later. During their...

MIDNIGHT MASS SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Vatican Basilica Tuesday, 24 December 2013 Video 1. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:1). This prophecy of Isaiah never ceases to touch us, especially when we hear it proclaimed in the liturgy of Christmas Night. This is not simply an emotional or sentimental matter. It moves us because it states the deep reality of what we are: a people who walk, and all around us – and within us as well – there is darkness and light. In this night,...

Pope Francis called for a more open-minded Church on Thursday, suggesting that when a Christian “becomes a disciple of the ideology, he has lost the faith.” Francis said because ideology is rigid and non-inclusive, it pushes people away and leaves out the grace of God. “And, even worse, the Lord cannot be close to the people,” Francis said. “The faith passes, so to speak, through a distiller and becomes ideology,” he said. “And ideology does not beckon [people]. In ideologies there is not Jesus: in his tenderness, his love, his meekness. And ideologies are rigid, always. Of every sign: rigid.”...

HOMILY 21 On Detachment from Worldly Goods and Concerning the Conflagration Which Occurred in the Environs of the Church THOUGHT, well-beloved, that, Inasmuch as I had so vigorously plied you with the goad of my words on every and all occasions, you regarded me as a troublesome fellow, overbold for a stranger and for a man who is himself guilty on similar charges. Yet, by my rebukes you were moved to kindliness and the blows of my tongue you transformed into incentives to greater zeal. This, of course, is not a matter for surprise, since you are wise in the...

Thirdly, professing. We can walk as much as we want, we can build many things, but if we do not profess Jesus Christ, things go wrong. We may become a charitable NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of the Lord. When we are not walking, we stop moving. When we are not building on the stones, what happens? The same thing that happens to children on the beach when they build sandcastles: everything is swept away, there is no solidity. When we do not profess Jesus Christ, the saying of Léon Bloy comes to mind: "Anyone who does not...

Okay, another question for my awesome freepers... Get this...a friend of mine recently attended a week-long silent retreat given by a congregation of nuns in the Northeast. I won't name the order. During daily Mass, the Priest allowed one of the nuns to proclaim the Gospel and give a homily. Is this allowed? I was under the impression that only a Priest or Deacon can read the Gospel and give a homily.

The Vatican newspaper reported Tuesday that 29 previously unpublished homilies said to be the work of one of the most important and prolific early church fathers have been discovered in a German library. The 3rd Century theologian Origen of Alexandria is considered to have played a critical role in the development of Christian thought. Pope Benedict XVI, himself a theologian, dedicated two of his 2007 weekly church teaching sessions to the importance of Origen's life and work. Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said that despite Origen's importance, few of his original texts remain in part because he was condemned by the...