Sermons on Maunday Thursday:

Useless Or Useful? Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Nov 8, 2014

Mercy is the greatest of the virtues in the external manifestation.

Thursday of the 32nd Week in Course Joy of the Gospel St. Paul had a dilemma. One of his converts in Asia, Philemon, lived in Colossae. Philemon’s slave, Onesimus, had escaped and probably stolen property in the process. Escaped slaves were dealt with according to their owner’s whim ...read more

Scripture: Philemon 1:7-20

Denomination: Catholic

Open The Doors Of The Church Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Nov 29, 2014

Jesus enjoins us to do the will of the Father, but learning how to do God's will is a lifelong journey.

Thursday of the 1st Week in Advent Joy of the Gospel When I read this passage from the great prophet of Advent, the Hebrew priest Isaiah, my memory goes back almost ten years to our pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Both the Old and New Testaments contain a recurring theme, one we see most perfectly ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:21-27

Denomination: Catholic

The Dialogue Of Ecumenism Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 12, 2016

Our prayer is that all Christians be One.

Thursday of Fifth Week in Lent 2016 Joy of the Gospel The providential juxtaposition of St. Patrick’s Day with the readings of this Lenten feria should lead us to make a comparison between the call of St. Patrick and the call of the Hebrew patriarchs. Patrick was called by God to return ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 17:3-9

Denomination: Catholic

How Can We Fail To Share That Love Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Sep 6, 2014

Being a Christian is the result of an encounter with Jesus Christ, giving life a new horizon and decisive direction.

Thursday of 23rd Week in Course and Commemoration of 9/11 Today we remember the events of September 11, 2001. That day, called nine-eleven, the whole world changed. In the Muslim world, it was an anniversary of the battle that raised the siege of Vienna, a huge defeat for the Muslim Turks, and ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:27-28

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

Work And Pray Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 23, 2016

To be effective at evangelization, we must be firmly rooted in prayer and adoration.

Thursday in Fifth Week of Easter 2016 Joy of the Gospel Early in St. Paul’s ministry in Anatolia, his success in planting new congregations of Christians inspired others to do missionary work outside the more traditional areas of Judea and the adjoining provinces. But something else was ...read more

Scripture: Acts 15:7-21

Denomination: Catholic

The Need For Contemplation Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 30, 2016

Our mission to others must be underlaid with a foundation of personal devotion to Jesus Christ.

Thursday in 6th Week of Easter 2016 Joy of the Gospel St. Paul’s relationship with the church at Corinth was long, fruitful, and fraught with problems. But it is Corinth that gives us testimony of the historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles. “Before AD 50, an area 62 feet ...read more

Scripture: Acts 18:1-8

Denomination: Catholic

Fulfilling Our Commitments As Evangelization Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on May 14, 2016

Doing what we should do can bring us joy, but we must still do it even if it leaves us dry.

Thursday in Pentecost Week 2016 Joy of the Gospel There are still some pundits and preachers out in the hinterland who insist that Jesus was just a great man, a great philosopher of love, that fire and brimstone have no place in religion, and that everyone goes to heaven. I suppose they ripped ...read more

Scripture: Mark 9:41-50

Denomination: Catholic

Faith Needs A Setting Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 29, 2014

what is communicated in the Church, what is handed down in her living Tradition, is the new light born of an encounter with the true God, a light which touches us at the core of our being and engages our minds, wills and emotions.

Thursday of 4th week of Lent 2014 Lumen Fidei The name “Israel” was given to Jacob, son of Isaac and Rebecca, after an incident in which this patriarch wrestled all night with a divine being. That name means “God-fighter,” and it applied well to his descendants. Our OT ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 32:7-14

Denomination: Catholic

Baptism Is A Gift We Receive Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 4, 2014

God loved us so much that He gave up His only begotten Son, as the blood-price of our justification. You and I first enter that covenant when we, or our parents and godparents, make covenant promises to God at our baptism.

Thursday of 5th Week in Lent 2014 Lumen Fidei The Gospel of John, more than the Synoptics, clearly states what the Church has always and everywhere taught–Jesus is the fleshly manifestation of the same God who made a covenant of love and fidelity with Abraham. Although Israel turned its ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 17:3-9

Denomination: Catholic

Instruments Of Liberation Of The Poor Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Nov 11, 2016

it means working to eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the integral development of the poor, as well as small daily acts of solidarity in meeting the real needs which we encounter.

Thursday of the 32nd Week in Course 2016 Joy of the Gospel As we move into the last Sunday and last week of the liturgical year, we continue to be challenged by Jesus to follow Him all the way to death. We know not what that end shall be, except that He has promised to be with us. We live for the ...read more

Scripture: Mark 6:36-37

Denomination: Catholic

In The Spirit Of St. Francis Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Nov 24, 2016

Perhaps what we need to pray for and accept is the spirit of St. Francis. That way we can say “Lord, Lord” and do the will of the Father.

Thursday of First Week in Advent 2016 Joy of the Gospel We are at the beginning of a new year of grace, and we are hit in the face with some pretty strong Gospel language, even in the first reading. “Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps faith may enter in.” Righteous ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:21-27

Denomination: Catholic

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

Faith And The Two Meanings Of Works Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Oct 14, 2017

Faith, above all, is a gift of God. Now it’s a gift that he pours out liberally on all humans, but it will not save our souls unless we cooperate with it.

Thursday of 28th Week in Course 2017 Reformation Revolution Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues Our readings today say the same thing in different ways. St. Paul’s letter to the Romans was really the first work of systematic theology. It positions the saving work of Our Lord in the context of ...read more

Scripture: Romans 3:21-30

Denomination: Catholic

Ministry To The Young And Our Evangelical Mission Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on May 16, 2015

In our quest to be One Church, we must show forth Goodness, Beauty, and Truth, especially to the young.

Thursday of the 7th Week of Easter 2015 Joy of the Gospel It would not be disrespectful of St. Paul to point out that, even among his great works, he made some monumental personal blunders in his ministry. Last week we heard him trying to preach to the Athenians on a philosophical level. It fell ...read more

Denomination: Catholic