Sermons on Lent:

Re-Creating The Effective Pastoral Minister Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 6, 2015

It is important that those involved in pastoral ministry be focused on their goal, not on their comfort.

Thursday of the third Week in Lent Joy of the Gospel Jesus shares with us today an unforgettable phrase: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.” The image this summons up is of a shepherd and His flock. Jesus came to gather together the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 11:14-23

Denomination: Catholic

Stewards Of Children And Creation Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 16, 2016

The Church cannot be expected to change position on the evil of murder.

Thursday of Second Week in Course 2016 Joy of the Gospel The readings today remind me of the cynical epigram: No good deed goes unpunished. David was the champion of Israel, defeating the Philistines time after time. Still, king Saul, who was probably suffering from a long-lasting clinical ...read more

Denomination: Catholic

The Path Of Dialogue Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 27, 2016

To evangelize society, we must encourage leaders to promote the common good.

Thursday of Third Week in Lent 2016 Joy of the Gospel We weak humans need continual reminders that things are not all rosy, that we are living in the midst of a struggle against the forces of evil. Yes, Christ has triumphed in the universal, but He still battles for individual souls with the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 11:14-23

Denomination: Catholic

Our Calling To Make Holy Families Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 6, 2019

Our task in our families is to become saints ourselves and to nurture our loved ones to sainthood.

Tuesday of 5th Week in Lent 2019 St. Waltrude A number of years ago I was privileged to teach a speech course to some deacons in training, and I asked them to speak for a few minutes on their thoughts on the realization that they were mortal–that the life they now lead would end. I think I said ...read more

Scripture: John 8:21-30, Numbers 21:4-9, John 3:14-15

Denomination: Catholic

Decision Day--Don't Wait

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 10, 2025

We don’t know when our termination date will be. It could be later today or tomorrow. We don’t get to decide.

Friday of the First Week in Lent 2025 Ask anybody of mature age what are the two most important dates of anyone’s life and you will get a potpourri of answers. The statisticians will say the dates of birth and death, because those dates control so many decisions and outcomes. The real answers, for ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 130:1-8, Matthew 5:20-26, Ezekiel 18:21-28

Denomination: Catholic

Hosea--Is He A Loser And Chump? Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 24, 2025

He fell in love with a woman who found herself lovers, lots of them. She was frequently unfaithful. Despite her infidelity, Hosea took her back time after time.

Friday of the Third Week in Lent 2025 The prophet Hosea, if he lived in our modern culture, would be called a total loser, an inveterate chump. He was prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel and ministered during the reign of King Jeroboam II in the middle of the eighth century before Our Lord. ...read more

Scripture: Mark 12:28-34, Psalm 81:6-11, Psalm 81:14, Hosea 14:2-9

Denomination: Catholic

The Great Trades

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 1, 2025

God, the Most High, has given us everything we own, so generosity in His service is only just.

Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Course 2025 The wisdom book we have in Greek called Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus (since the early churches used it so often) reads like the book of Proverbs. Today’s proverbs regard offerings to God. Our sacrifices to God, in the spirit of the second-Temple Jews, should ...read more

Scripture: Leviticus 2:1-16, Deuteronomy 12:6, 2 Corinthians 9:7, Mark 10:28-31, Exodus 23:15  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Catholic

Big Cross Or Little Crosses, But No Other Path To Joy

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 22, 2024

Abraham did not have to show his faith by slaying his only Son, Isaac. God the Father, however, did not hold onto His only Son, Christ Jesus, but accepted His sacrifice.

Second Sunday in Lent 2024 St. Mark’s Gospel tells us today that “after six days” Jesus and His three lead apostles went up a high mountain. Why is “six days” important to remember? We need to go back to the previous chapter to see. The story line follows St. Matthew’s Gospel very closely, which ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:31-34, Genesis 22:1-18, Mark 9:2-10

Denomination: Catholic

Who Were The People Liberated From Egypt? Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 24, 2024

It’s not important to our eternal happiness just who our ancestors are, or what racial or ethnic group we belong to.

Who Were the People Liberated From Egypt? Lent 2024 In today’s Scripture reading from Matins, we read how Moses and the other Israelite leaders led their people out of Egypt. The numbers look staggering: “six hundred thousand on foot, not counting the children.” Now there was no roll call, but we ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 12:37-49, Exodus 13:11-16, Psalm 95:8-9, Numbers 14:30, Matthew 7:13-14, Exodus 10:12-15, Exodus 12:3  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Catholic

Water, Life And Divine Forgiveness Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 9, 2023

Jesus was on earth to forgive our sins and raise us to divine status.

Third Sunday of Lent 2023 Take a moment as we settle down from a very long Gospel, close your eyes but stay awake. Think of the best person you know who is not a relative. This person, man or woman, is honest, self-controlled, just to a fault, and cheering to everyone. The best person you know. ...read more

Scripture: John 4:5-42, Romans 5:1-8, Exodus 17:3-7

Denomination: Catholic

The Way Out Of The Hole We're In Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 29, 2020

Here we are healed of sin, nourished with the Eucharist, anointed for service and mission, and ultimately commended into the hands of the Father when we finish our earthly journey.

Tuesday of the First Week in Lent 2020 The Way Out of the Hole We’re In As we continue in this first week our Lenten journey, our informal pre-Easter retreat, it’s good to consider just where we are, or would be, without Jesus Christ and His Church. We start out our life in a kind of hole, or ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 34:4-19, Isaiah 55:10-11, Matthew 6:7-15

Denomination: Catholic

You Still Don't Get It

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 28, 2020

Do we listen to the voice of God in our hearts telling us what we must do in order to free up His grace?

Tuesday of the 5th Week of Lent 2020 You Still Don’t Get It When I was growing up and first encountering the Bible stories, the years after the departure from Egypt were characterized as “forty years they wandered in the desert.” So I pictured the Hebrew people churning around the Sinai peninsula ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 102:1-20, John 8:21-30, Numbers 21:4-9

Denomination: Catholic

Truckloads Of Mercy And Forgiveness Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 27, 2021

Our forgiveness invites God and other people to forgive us.

Monday of the 2nd Week in Lent 2021 The prophet Daniel was exiled to Babylon with many leading Israelites by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. At the time of this writing the Persians, who had conquered Babylon, are led by King Darius. Daniel has just realized that the time of Israel’s exile ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:36-38, Deuteronomy 11:26-32, Daniel 9:4-10

Denomination: Catholic

Only A Wimpy Philosopher--Come On, Man! Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 6, 2021

That would, of course, be a lot like having a beautiful vehicle with no engine and, therefore, no value. Jesus as a kind of philosophizing wimp, so to speak.

Monday of the 3rd Week in Lent 2021 One of the great heresies of Christendom that comes back again and again says that Jesus Christ was a great moral philosopher in the line of the Buddha, Confucius, and Marcus Aurelius. Perhaps the most notorious of the authors holding this position was the U.S. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 4:24-30

Denomination: Catholic

Judgement? Or Fraternal Correction

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Sep 4, 2022

You know what happens whenever you point out some evil in the culture. The next words somebody will say are, “Jesus taught you not to judge.”

Friday of the 22nd Week in Course Today’s Gospel is so straightforward and goes to the heart of Christ’s teaching that we can be forgiven for ignoring all the other Scriptures we have heard. It’s kind of a slap at the Pharisees, who try to keep all the six-hundred plus rules of Torah involving ...read more

Scripture: Luke 5:33-39, Matthew 18:15-18, Matthew 7:1-3, 1 Corinthians 4:1-5

Denomination: Catholic