Sermons on Maundy Thursday:

A Revolution Of Tenderness Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 21, 2015

An opportunity exists in the world to turn away from solipsism and bring all humanity into communion.

Thursday of 5th Week in Lent 2015 Joy of the Gospel Abraham is, as the Roman Canon says, our “father in faith.” He believed that, old as he and Sarah were, they would have a child, and by the power of the Lord, Sarah conceived and brought forth Isaac. But Isaac was not the real child ...read more

Scripture: John 8:51-59

Denomination: Catholic

Christmas Is For Helping The Poor Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Dec 17, 2016

After all, what is important about Christmas?

Thursday of Fourth Week in Advent 2016 Joy of the Gospel The prayer we just heard in the Gospel is one of the most beloved in Catholic history. It is likely that it was part of the public and private prayer of Christians from the very beginning of the Church. We still pray it every day at Vespers. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:46-49

Denomination: Catholic

Converting The Economy To The Gospel Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 7, 2017

"We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market."

Thursday of Second Week in Course 2017 Joy of the Gospel Mark’s Gospel, which tradition holds is the second one written after Matthew, seems to be a short life of Christ appended to an account of His passion and resurrection. Miracles such as the ones we hear about today occupy a large part of ...read more

Scripture: Mark 3:7-12

Denomination: Catholic

Grant Us Godly Politicians Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 21, 2017

"I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor! "

Thursday of Third Week in Course 2017 Joy of the Gospel Ss Timothy and Titus Today’s feast is a challenge to those whose denomination teaches that the Church is not hierarchical. Most of these denominations consider themselves Bible fundamentalists, but today’s readings clearly show that, from the ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-8

Denomination: Catholic

Fullness And Limitation, Time And Space Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 18, 2017

we must focus on the efforts we need to make to improve our imaging of Jesus and Mary.

Thursday of Seventh Week in Course Joy of the Gospel We continue in the season which the Extraordinary Form calendar still calls Septuagesima, or the seventy days before Easter. The penitential season of Lent begins on March 1, and we must focus on the efforts we need to make to improve our ...read more

Scripture: Mark 9:41-50

Denomination: Catholic

Global And Local: Sharing The Gospel Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 11, 2017

We should constantly ask God to reveal to us those ways in which we may be overlooking the opportunities to be like Christ and Mary in our daily lives.

Thursday of second week in Lent 2017 Joy of the Gospel Many people think that Jesus made up the parables, that He was a kind of novelist. I belong to a school of thought that sees Jesus as one acutely aware of what is going on around him, and who understands as nobody else does what is behind ...read more

Scripture: Luke 16:19-31

Denomination: Catholic

Spirit-Filled Evangelizers Are Evangelizers Who Pray And Work. Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on May 27, 2017

All that we do must culminate in the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ.

Thursday of 7th Week of Easter 2017 Joy of the Gospel The Gospel passage we just proclaimed is one of those moments we are tempted to take comfort in and not think about. It seems all warm and fuzzy and a little like a group hug: “You in me and I in you and everybody else in us all sweet and ...read more

Denomination: Catholic

"I Am A Mission On This Earth" Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jul 7, 2017

"My mission of being in the heart of the people is not just a part of my life or a badge I can take off"

Thursday of 14th Week in Course 2017 Joy of the Gospel When you are in love with someone, when you really care more about that person than anyone else in the world, what is the worst thing that could happen? Rejection. The beloved turns away and tells you to go away, and all of a sudden the world ...read more

Denomination: Catholic

Build On Rock, Not Sand Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Dec 2, 2017

" pray for our young religious and seminarians, for all of us will be judged on the basis of where we build–on the firm rock of obedience to God, or on shifting sand."

Thursday of the First Week in Lent Reformation & Revolution It is the happy decision of the Church that brings us so much of the prophet Isaiah as we celebrate the time of expectation, the time of Advent. Isaiah was a prophet of hope in a time of social and religious and political upheaval. ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:21-27

Denomination: Catholic

The Struggle Never Ends Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 16, 2019

We humans think that we can be happiest when there is no struggle, when we can just coast. . .But that is not the state of society when there are still many who have not accepted and begun to live the call of Christ.

Thursday of the 6th Week in Course 2019 St. Peter Damian Life after original sin came into the human family is a continual struggle. The story of a great flood is found in more than one culture. Here in our first reading we see God establishing a covenant after the flood between Himself, Noah and ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 9:1-13, Mark 8:27-33

Denomination: Catholic

Generous And Grateful Spirits

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 9, 2019

When the Holy Spirit prompts us to give, we should discern that spirit and when we are at peace with the decision, give responsibly.

Thursday of the First Week in Lent 2019 Saint Matilda There are two ways to look at God, and they represent the contrasting approaches of religious men and women to the virtue we call “fear of the Lord.” The first way, which we associate with, interestingly enough, both pagans and Muslims, could ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:7-12, Matthew 10:19, Psalm 138:1-8

Denomination: Catholic

Wrath And Persecution

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 7, 2018

Belief in Jesus Christ must be accompanied by obedience to His word.

Thursday of Second Week in Easter 2018 Reformation/Revolution When will humans learn that murdering one’s enemies is not only morally sinful, it’s a really, really bad idea just on a secular level. For the first three hundred years of the Church’s existence, the enemies of the Church, from the ...read more

Scripture: John 3:31-36, Acts 5:27-33

Denomination: Catholic

Let Us Be Overshadowed By The Spirit Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jul 30, 2017

"This generous trust has to be nourished, and so we need to invoke the Spirit constantly."

Thursday of 17th Week in Course 2017 Joy of the Gospel Today’s Gospel is a reprise of part of the Gospel from last Sunday. There will be a division at the end of time, at the general judgement. Each of us will die and face what we call the “particular” judgement, based on whether we die with the ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 40:16-38

Denomination: Catholic

The Lordship Of Christ In Every Century Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Aug 26, 2017

“the absence of the Holy Spirit in the Church creates all the divisions.”

Thursday of the 21st Week in Course 2017 Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonika is likely the earliest letter we have from him. He and his band of missionaries are on his second missionary journey, one that took him to western Anatolia and Greece. The church in Thessalonika was his ...read more

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 3:7-13

Denomination: Catholic

How Much More Will God Give His Holy Spirit Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Oct 7, 2017

If there is evil in our lives, God has to permit it to happen, or it wouldn’t. But God never wills evil. He only wants our good.

Thursday of 27th Week in Course 2017 Reformation/Revolution Who among us has not looked on some captain of industry or some venal politician and wondered why “evildoers not only prosper but when they put God to the test they escape.’” as the people did in Malachi’s day? Sometimes it does seem vain ...read more

Scripture: Luke 11:5-13

Denomination: Catholic