In Sermons: showing 1,231-1,245 of 1,305

Mary And The Blessed Sacrament

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on May 9, 2009

Mary’s example can inspire us as we strive to believe that Christ is present.

Mary and the Blessed Sacrament May 12, 2009 Today’s Marianist festival sits in a cluster of Marian commemorations from all over the world. Tomorrow we celebrate Our Lady of Fatima. In one diocese, today is the feast of Our Lady of Power. Yesterday was the commemoration of the apparition of Mary ...read more

Scripture: John 6:41-59

Denomination: Catholic

Obedience And Art In Worship Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on May 9, 2009

As the disciple is obedient to the word of Christ, so we can witness our obedience to the Father in the world by respecting the need for beauty in worship.

May 11, 2009 Sacramentum Caritatis When we read the words of the Last Discourse in John, which we will hear each day between now and the Ascension, we can be struck with an apparent disjoin in the conversation. The apostles often ask a question, and Jesus appears to give a good answer to an ...read more

Scripture: John 14:21-26

Denomination: Catholic

What Our Mother Can Do For Us

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on May 3, 2009

We can have confidence in our relationship with God if we imitate the Mother of Jesus.

Mother’s Day May 10, 2009 One of the most successful movies of all time was the 1981 blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark. In it, swashbuckling adventurers contended in the pre-World War II era for the privilege of finding the Ark of the Covenant, the Old Testament repository of the manna, Aaron’s ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 3:18-24

Denomination: Catholic

Keeping Order Among Our Passions Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on May 2, 2009

Christ is our shepherd, because we are prone as sheep to wander about in pursuit of pleasure, and be devoured by our passions.

Tuesday of 4th Week of Easter May 5, 2009 “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” So Jesus talks about sheep. As the Jews of His day–and ours, for that matter–saw it, Jesus never talked plainly. But that wasn’t Jesus’ problem with the Jews, or us, for that matter. Our problem is that Jesus ...read more

Scripture: John 10:22-30

Denomination: Catholic

Receiving The Gift Of Worship Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on May 2, 2009

As changes in worship style come, many will find the changes difficult to accept, but it will be easier if we see Liturgy as primarily a divine gift.

May 4, 2009 Sacramentum Caritatis when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?" When the RSV translation talks about “the circumcision party,” we get an unintended pun in English. Literally, it refers to a ...read more

Scripture: Acts 11:1-18

Denomination: Catholic

Virtue Supports The Law Written In Our Hearts

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 25, 2009

Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance are for building up the individual and the Church

Tuesday of 3rd week in Easter “You call yourselves Catholics, baptized in warmed-over lemon juice, not by the Holy Spirit. You are just like your faithless ancestors. They didn’t listen to their preachers and neither do you. You reject and murder everyone God sends you, and even reject Jesus, ...read more

Denomination: Catholic

Bread Of Life And True Worship Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 25, 2009

There can be no contradiction between the art of celebration and the full and engaged participation of the Church in worship.

April 27, 2009 Sacramentum Caritatis There is an incredible richness and flow in this sixth chapter of John’s Gospel that is so full of meaning that we must meditate on it over and over again. He begins with eating earthly bread, the miracle of the loaves and fishes, and the people misunderstand. ...read more

Scripture: John 6:22-29

Denomination: Catholic

Sell It All?

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 18, 2009

The command to become poor for the Gospel’s sake is really a liberation to preach the Gospel.

Tuesday of Second Week in Easter John 3 Today’s reading from Acts is a little scary. We always worry about the preaching of the Gospel, lest it impact on our lifestyle. It looks today as if Luke is telling us to sell our property and give it to the poor or to the community for the poor. A ...read more

Scripture: Acts 4:32-37

Denomination: Catholic

The Subject Of Worship's Beauty Is Christ Himself Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 18, 2009

The beauty of worship is more than decoration.

April 20, 2009 Sacramentum Caritatis They prayed together, using the psalms, they told the story of the gift of God in Jesus, His rejection by Jew and Gentile, and they asked for divine help and got it. There was a little earthquake and they were filled with the Holy Spirit so as to proclaim the ...read more

Scripture: John 3:1-8

Denomination: Catholic

Fighting Abortionist Terrorism With Prayer

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 18, 2009

The proper answer to Satan’s "I shall not serve" and Planned Parenthood’s "Every child a planned and wanted child" is Mary’s "Behold the maidservant of the Lord" and "Be it done to me according to Thy word"

Sermon for Pro-Life Service 22 April 2009 I don’t think it’s a total coincidence that New York legalized abortion about the same time that Rosary devotions began to wane in the late 1960’s. All laws regulating contraception were struck down in 1965 by the Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 1:26-38

Denomination: Catholic

A Short Catechism

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 11, 2009

We expand the meaning of "believe and be baptized, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Tuesday in Easter Week If you ever wished for a very short Catechism, Peter gives it to you today. What must you do to be saved: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:36-41

Denomination: Catholic

Beauty And Truth In Worship Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 11, 2009

Our worship in the Eucharist must bring together what we believe with the way we pray, and reflect both Ultimate Truth and Beauty.

April 13, 2009 Sacramentum Caritatis As we sit in the warm glow of Resurrection Day, we are invited to reflect on the connection between what we believe and how we pray. We believe that Jesus rose from the dead, that He conquered sin and death, and that we who eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:14-33

Denomination: Catholic

The Divine Mercy And Our Response

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 11, 2009

Divine Mercy Sunday is an opportunity to examine our attitudes and actions in response to Jesus’s Divine Rescue.

Sunday of Divine Mercy 19 April 2009 On April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul established this Sunday as the Feast of Divine Mercy. In the image of Christ shown to St. Faustina in her vision, two rays of divine mercy come from the heart of Christ. In John’s Gospel we proclaim that blood and water ...read more

Scripture: John 20:19-31

Denomination: Catholic

Don't You Have A Galilean Accent?

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 4, 2009

Jesus lived and died to create the true Israel of God.

Tuesday of Holy Week 7 April 2009 Israel was not made a holy nation by God for its own benefit. From the beginning, this nomadic tribe was to be a place of true worship of the one God. This people was called to be a light to the nations, so that all would be attracted to right worship, and so ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 49:1-6

Denomination: Catholic

The Eucharist And The Mother Of God Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 4, 2009

The self-gift of Mary of Bethany echoes the lifelong gift of Mary of Nazareth, who was associated with Jesus, her Son, in all His mysteries, especially His sacrificial death.

April 6, 2009 Sacramentum Caritatis Eucharist and the Mother of God The Blessed Virgin Mary, too, is the servant of the Lord. In fact, her assent to the angelic messenger and her only hymn in Luke proclaim her self-identity: handmaid of the Lord. The contrast between Mary of Bethany, the one ...read more

Scripture: John 12:1-11

Denomination: Catholic