Sermons on Contemplate:

How Much Must We Do? Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Dec 30, 2016

It’s ironic that when dealing with these positive commandments, we don’t ever come to a point when we can say, “I have fulfilled them.”

Thursday before Epiphany 2017 Joy of the Gospel St. John teaches us today in both Epistle and Gospel: “By this we know love, that [Jesus] laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if any one has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 3:11-21

Denomination: Catholic

Infinite Love For Infinite Sadness Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jun 10, 2017

To enjoy infinite love curing our infinite sadness, we need to live by the moral code Jesus taught, the code of loving even our enemies.

Thursday of 2nd Week in Course 2017 Joy of the Gospel “Our infinite sadness can only be cured by an infinite love.” Those words of Pope Francis ended our reflection last Thursday on the encyclical Joy of the Gospel. Now God’s love is unconditional. He loves even jerks, even sinners like me and ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:20-26

Denomination: Catholic

We Are A People Of God Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jun 16, 2017

"To be evangelizers of souls, we need to develop a spiritual taste for being close to people’s lives."

Thursday of 4th Week in Course 2017 Joy of the Gospel This is a solemnity, one of the three or four greatest saints festivals of the year, and it comes on the heels every year of the solemnities of Corpus Christi and the Sacred Heart, and the birth of St. John the Baptist. Today we hear from St. ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:13-19

Denomination: Catholic

Glory In The Midst Of Suffering

Contributed by Christopher Holdsworth on Jan 1, 2014

Even our friends might let us down, but God never will.

GLORY IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING. 1 Peter 4:12-14; 1 Peter 5:6-11. I. Suffering, and the Christian’s response to suffering, has been a recurring theme throughout Peter’s first letter. This is in keeping with the whole tenor of Scripture: ranging from the trials of patriarch, prophet and Psalmist ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:6-11, 1 Peter 4:12-14

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Just Like Jesus And Mary Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Dec 28, 2014

We need to understand what it means for the Word to become flesh, and dwell among us.

Seventh Day in the Christmas Octave (December 31) Thirteen Days of Christmas Every so often you’ll find a columnist or author complaining or inferring that God has no sense of humor, or that the Church is too serious. Today’s readings, on this last day of the year, prove that to be ...read more

Scripture: John 1:1-18

Denomination: Catholic

Job's Complaining

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Jan 10, 2018

How would a nurse today console Job as a patient?

5B WELCOME TO THIS SPECIAL LITURGICAL HOLY DAY KNOWN AS SUPER BOWL SUNDAY. No use fighting it. I heard about one young guy who is really in a difficult situation. He bought two tickets for today’s Super Bowl far in advance. He forgot that he and his fiancé had scheduled their wedding for ...read more

Scripture: Mark 1:29-39, Job 7:1-7

Denomination: Catholic

Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit As Applied To Prayer

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Oct 23, 2017

Poverty of soul is a way of entering in prayer, especially at the outset of when we begin to pray.

Poverty of soul is a way of entering in prayer, especially at the outset. Poverty of soul cannot be sought as an item of self-knowledge. It retains always an unknown, elusive quality. It cannot be simply a thought of our unworthiness before God. Much less can it be a mood of despondency about ...read more

Denomination: Catholic

Emotions In Prayer

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Oct 23, 2017

There may be souls of spiritual depth who presume in themselves a meager capacity for prayer because they find interior silence unachievable.

“Clearly, then, the idea we have of God can make prayer difficult, if not impossible. We block our way to God by every wrong notion of God. That can happen if we dwell too much on God’s transcendent mystery, if we look upon him as distant and remote, as a God without eyes. A God unavailable to our ...read more

Denomination: Catholic

Mission And Suffering Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jun 29, 2014

We must not marvel that we suffer pain and persecution when we carry the message of Christ to our culture.

Thursday of the 14th Week in Course Lumen Fidei Pop singers and bands engage in a ritual–they all do. There’s a warmup act, usually a second or third rate band. It’s their Introit and Gloria, except the praise is of the human act to follow. There’s audience ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 10:8-14

Denomination: Catholic

Perfect Interplay Between The Word And Faith Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on May 26, 2012

The love that is the Holy Spirit is the power that saves us, and empowers us to be like Christ in the world.

Monday after Pentecost Memorial Day Verbum Domini Before the reform of the Roman liturgy back in the 70's, Pentecost had its own octave, culminating in Trinity Sunday. Whatever we may think of the change, we are now taken from the mountaintop experience of the commemoration of the coming of the ...read more

Scripture: Mark 10:17-27

Denomination: Catholic

The Love Of The Trinity Shown In The Compassion Of Christ Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 4, 2020

In our lives, love takes form as self-giving. In this, we imitate Our Lord, who humbled Himself and gave Himself for our salvation.

Tuesday after the Epiphany 2020 In these four short verses penned two thousand years ago by St. John, there are nine repetitions of some form of the noun or verb “to love.” What is love? St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that Love is the proper name of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Logos, the Son who is ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 4:7-10, Mark 6:34-44, Matthew 9:36-38

Denomination: Catholic

The Lure Of "Spiritual Worldliness" Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 11, 2015

Although the Christian life brings conflict, we cannot flee from a personal and committed relationship with God which still commits us to serving others.

Thursday of 2nd Week of Easter 2015 Joy of the Gospel If you have ever wondered why the Season of Easter is the longest one in the liturgical year, consider this: after the Resurrection of our Lord, we are living in an Easter season that will last until the Lord comes again! All our lives are a ...read more

Scripture: Acts 5:27-33

Denomination: Catholic

Sermon On The Plain

Contributed by I. Grant Spong on Feb 12, 2019

Have you noticed that Jesus often says the exact opposite of popular ideas? Christianity is for thinking people. Jesus did not establish a Church where people just check their brains at the entry door and blindly follow men. We worship God also with our minds. Jesus challenges us to think.

Have you noticed that Jesus often says the exact opposite of popular ideas? Christianity is for thinking people. Jesus did not establish a Church where people just check their brains at the entry door and blindly follow men. We worship God also with our minds. Jesus challenges us to think. Perhaps ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:17-26

Denomination: Baptist

And It Was Night

Contributed by Christopher Holdsworth on Mar 30, 2019

Metaphorically speaking, the clock is ticking away in the background. The countdown has begun. Gethsemane lies ahead: as does our Lord’s betrayal, trial and death.

AND IT WAS NIGHT. John 13:21-32. As the Lord’s ‘hour’ drew near that He should depart out of this world, He turned His attention more and more to ‘His own’ (John 13:1). After the foot-washing and the teaching which immediately followed it, Jesus “was troubled in spirit” (John 13:21). ...read more

Scripture: John 13:21-32

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Where Are The Visionaries?

Contributed by Raymond Williams on Feb 20, 2021

The vision carried out in modern preaching of today, is not so much a stimulation but to act as a restraining force to stem the tide of wickedness and destruction.

The majority of the sermons of Rev. Raymond Williams comes from the sermon notes he preached from and are not always fluid. Where is the Visionaries Today? Proverbs 29:7-18; Text verse 18: Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. Another ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 29:7-18, Exodus 32:1-35

Denomination: Nazarene