Sermons on Maunday Thursday:

No Middle Way

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 2, 2019

The choice is eternal life or eternal death, there is no middle way: that is the testimony of the martyrs.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday 2019 Ss. Felicity and Perpetua Today, in the glow of our Ash Wednesday devotion, we are presented with the awesome song known as Psalm Number 1: Happy is the human who takes his delight in God’s law, who shuns even the company of the wicked and the cynic. Such a person ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 1:1-6, Luke 9:22-25, Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Denomination: Catholic

No Middle Way

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 2, 2019

The choice is eternal life or eternal death, there is no middle way: that is the testimony of the martyrs.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday 2019 Ss. Felicity and Perpetua Today, in the glow of our Ash Wednesday devotion, we are presented with the awesome song known as Psalm Number 1: Happy is the human who takes his delight in God’s law, who shuns even the company of the wicked and the cynic. Such a person ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 1:1-6, Luke 9:22-25, Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Denomination: Catholic

Building On Solid Rock

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jun 26, 2018

Our spiritual life, our moral life must be built on the sold foundation of Christ’s law of love, and maintained and grown by frequent prayer, confession and communion.

Thursday of the 12th Week in Course 2018 Reformation/Revolution Build on rock or build on sand? Who on earth would build on sand? The idea is you build on something that isn’t going to move around. Get on Sunset Road, just west of here, right past Hwy 281. It’s like driving on gelatin. This whole ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:21-29

Denomination: Catholic

Giving Reasons For Hope, Not As An Enemy Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jul 2, 2017

"we will know the missionary joy of sharing life with God’s faithful people as we strive to light a fire in the heart of the world."

Thursday of Thirteenth Week in Course Joy of the Gospel This incident on the Mount of Moriah, which Jewish tradition holds to later be the Temple Mount, is one of the critical Old Testament passages that looks forward to the New. Remember that St. John and St. Paul later would see the cross of ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 22:1-19

Denomination: Catholic

No Conflict Between Truths Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jul 4, 2015

We must evangelize scientists, schools and other academics. There is no conflict between faith and scientific truth.

Thursday of 14th week in course 2015 Joy of the Gospel “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This is Jesus’s distillation of the Gospel message. It is a typical Hebrew phrase. Remember that the Jews–and we–are enjoined not to abuse the name of the Lord. So observant ...read more

Denomination: Catholic

Gospel Of Joy Is A Gospel Of Peace Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 11, 2017

"Peace in society cannot be understood as pacification or the mere absence of violence"

Thursday of Sixth Week in Course Joy of the Gospel We are now in the season which the Extraordinary Form calendar still calls Septuagesima, or the seventy days before Easter. In other words, we need to remember that we are looking toward the beginning of Lent on March 1, and the sacrifices we need ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 9:1-13

Denomination: Catholic

The Love Song Of Christ And The Church Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Dec 16, 2017

Indeed, the deepest meaning of the Song of Songs is the celebration of the love of God, the Bridegroom, for His faithful people, seen as the dark beauty, the Bride.

Thursday of 3rd week in Advent 2017 Reformation/Revolution The beautiful Song of Solomon, or Song of Songs, is on the surface a long love song, or compilation of love songs. It celebrates the love of husband and wife, the longing of one for the other, and the joy that can come from a loving and ...read more

Scripture: Song of Songs 2:14-18

Denomination: Catholic

The Holy Spirit Of Witness And Division Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Oct 21, 2018

The Spirit empowers, but the Spirit also divides. Because the Holy Spirit causes us to change our lives, and to summon our family and friends to the Christian way of life, conflict often emerges in relationships.

Thursday of the 29th Week in Course 2018 The phrase, “fire that Our Lord came to cast down upon the earth” is reminiscent of an encounter Jesus had in his earthly life with James and John, sons of Zebedee. Some town had refused hospitality to Jesus and the disciples, so those two asked Jesus for ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21, Luke 12:49-53

Denomination: Catholic

Saving Science From Itself Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Nov 10, 2018

We should look to Albert the Great for inspiration for scientists to work within the divine plan for the real good of humans.

Thursday of the 32nd Week in Course 2018 St. Albert the Great When is the kingdom of God coming? I’ve always been impressed by the number of Protestant preachers who speculate that we are literally in the last days, that Jesus is coming within the next year, or two years, or five years. It’s like ...read more

Scripture: Luke 17:20-25

Denomination: Catholic

As In The Time Of Jeremiah

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 3, 2018

"In the latter half of the sixteenth century, we can see that there was real reform. And out of that Catholic Reformation came the greatest burst of missionary activity since the Benedictine and Franciscan explosions"

Thursday of 3rd Week in Lent 2018 Reformation/Revolution When we study or preach on the Scriptures, we always have to keep in mind that there are really two meaning to just about all of it. The first is the meaning that the human writer, inspired by God, had in mind for his time. The second is the ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 7:23-28, Luke 11:14-23

Denomination: Catholic

Their Action Was Just Bull

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 10, 2018

The problem with making an image of God is that WE are supposed to be in the image and likeness of God.

Thursday of the 4th Week in Lent 2018 Reformation/Revolution Humans have, from the very beginning, resisted God’s will, even though that will is for our joy and sanctification. God wants us to be so much like Himself that we can be called His adopted children, even now. And He wants as perfect a ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 32:7-14, John 5:31-47

Denomination: Catholic

We Know Jesus In The Breaking Of The Bread

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 31, 2018

The Church teaches that the Lord’s Day is hallowed by the celebration of Eucharist, and reception of Holy Communion.

Thursday of Easter Week 2018 Was it the way in which Jesus broke the bread and gave the cup? Was it more likely that when He did so, He said, “this is my body; this is my blood”? Whatever it was that made them recognize Jesus in the breaking of bread, the Church has not at any time failed to do ...read more

Scripture: Acts 3:11-26, Luke 24:35-48

Denomination: Catholic

My Will Not Be Done Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 4, 2017

Father, I ask this in the name of Jesus, and I also ask that if my request does not conform with Thy plan, please tell me “no.”

Thursday of first week in Lent 2017 Joy of the Gospel The first Hitler was a fellow named Haman, a member of a tribe that had almost been wiped out by the Hebrews maybe a thousand years before Haman. Haman hatched a plot to kill all the Jews in Persia, and even got the king to order their ...read more

Scripture: Esther 4:1-17

Denomination: Catholic

Poverty, Yes, But Not Under Compulsion

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Aug 11, 2022

Those who try to force others to be good are playing God without acting like God.

Thursday of the 19th Week in Course If you did a survey among Americans to ask them to name their favorite saint, I would guess with some confidence that it is St. Francis of Assisi. And for a female saint, we could choose his close associate, St. Clare of Assisi, whom we celebrate today. As our ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 8:20, John 15:4-10, Hosea 2:16-22

Denomination: Catholic

Twenty-Seventh Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year A- Wicked Tenants

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Aug 27, 2023

In one word, what do you live for?

In 1962, when President John F. Kennedy was visiting the NASA Space center, he noticed a janitor sweeping the hallway and asked him, “What do you do around here?” To his surprise, the janitor replied, “Well, Mr. President, I’m helping to put a man on the moon.” This janitor found meaning in seeing ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 21:33-43, Isaiah 5:1-7

Denomination: Catholic