Sermons on Pope Francis:

Your Mission To Your Family Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jun 7, 2014

We are sent to be a gift, a blessing, to every human being we encounter, especially in our family.

Thursday of the 10th Week in Course 2014 Lumen Fidei One of the beautiful things we lost with the new liturgical calendar is the Octave of Pentecost. Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, the day when evangelization of the nations began in earnest and in the Holy Spirit, so it deserves to be ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:20-26

Denomination: Catholic

Little Children, Love One Another Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Dec 23, 2014

John believed, and spent the rest of his life preaching agape love.

St John’s Day Mass 2014 (December 27) Thirteen Days of Christmas Tradition tells us that of the three first witnesses to the empty tomb, St. John lived the longest. That is not surprising, since Tradition also holds that he was the youngest, perhaps a teenager during Jesus’s ministry. ...read more

Scripture: John 20:1-8

Denomination: Catholic

Can We Refuse To See Our Brothers And Sisters? Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 3, 2015

We cannot love God if we refuse to work for the betterment and evangelization of the poor.

Thursday after Epiphany 2015 Joy of the Gospel St. John’s letter is pretty stark today: “If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” Our love for our brothers ...read more

Denomination: Catholic

Secularism And The Fight For The Family Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 7, 2015

The information-driven society is one that tries to secularize and pervert the human family into something it can never become.

Thursday of 5th week in Course 2015 Joy of the Gospel Jesus has such a sense of humor that some commentators have mistaken it for cruelty. Of course, Jesus never sinned, so thinking this comment about throwing the bread to the dogs is a real insult is wrongheaded thinking. In reality, Jesus was ...read more

Scripture: Mark 7:24-30

Denomination: Catholic

God Does Want Humans To Be One In Mind And Heart Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jun 13, 2014

Faith gives us a heightened respect for nature so that we "discern in it a grammar written by the hand of God." God's Fatherhood makes it possible for us to live together with one heart and one will.

Thursday of the 11th Week in Course 2014 Lumen Fidei Where did we get the idea that God is our Father? Surely the definitive statement of God’s fatherhood is in this prayer we learned from Jesus, the Son. Still, we didn’t fully know what a father is until Jesus came and established ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:7-15

Denomination: Catholic

Lesson 2: How To Know The Line Between Right And Wrong

Contributed by Elmer Towns on Mar 24, 2010

How to know how sin affects our relationship with Christ, and what God expects of us.

A. WHAT GOD EXPECTS OF YOU 1. Separate from sin. “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (I Peter 1:16). 2. Perfection. “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in Heaven” (Matt. 5:48). B. WHAT IS THE LINE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG? Anything that dims my vision of Christ, or ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:16

Denomination: Baptist

Bring Us Together By Thy Word Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Aug 25, 2012

The existence of the Word of God makes it necessary to have a living and authoritative interpretator "of last resort," in the Church.

Monday of 21st Week in Course St. Monica/St. Augustine Verbum Domini St. Monica could easily be called the patron saint of frustrated prayer. A Catholic herself, she found herself married to a pagan, with a son who, unbaptized as a child, turned into a kind of semi-pagan hellion during his youth. ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:13-22

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

Scandal And Anti-Scandal

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 22, 2014

We must stay award of the stories of those around us who are on the journey of faith

Thursday of 7th Week in Course 2014 Lumen Fidei There is a horrible temptation always attracting the Christian, the one who has been invited to the banquet of Word and Eucharist, has accepted the invitation, has led a good life of service to others. The temptation is to believe that we have ...read more

Scripture: Mark 9:41-50

Denomination: Catholic

Faith Seeking Understanding

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 1, 2014

God redeemed the world through suffering, and we can understand, if not fully comprehend, the mystery.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday 2014 Lumen Fidei On this first day after the solemn beginning of Lent, as we begin our forty-day retreat, the Church gives us some stark words. Deuteronomy tells us that the choice is between life and death, between blessing and curse. Honor and obey God alone, and ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:22-25

Denomination: Catholic

An Unbroken Chain Of Witnesses Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 15, 2014

The rich man was isolated, even from his brothers. True faith comes usually from someone sharing it with us.

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent 2014 Lumen Fidei Recently we discovered an infestation of what are called “acrobat” ants, Crematogaster hespera, in our house. We had the pest control folks treat the house with good success. The treatment was a chemical friendly to the good fauna ...read more

Scripture: Luke 16:19-31

Denomination: Catholic

Seeing And Hearing In Order To Live Christ's Life

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 11, 2014

We cannot make Jesus into the Messiah we want; we must see His vision and hear His word so that His kingdom can be built within us, and we then can attract others to Him.

Thursday of 2nd Week in Ordinary Time Lumen Fidei Why are we so unwilling to do what Our Lord commands? The Israelites were directed by God to be His presence in a pagan world, spreading the word about His power and goodness, and ultimately drawing all to worship the One God. But if you look ...read more

Scripture: Mark 1:40-45

Denomination: Catholic

Faith: Touching And Being Touched By Jesus

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 18, 2014

"the light of love is born when our hearts are touched and we open ourselves to the interior presence of the beloved"

Thursday of 2nd Week in Ordinary Time 2014 Lumen Fidei King Saul of Israel exhibited what we might call paranoid schizophrenic tendencies. He had an on-off relationship with his son, Jonathan, and the same kind of relationship, but even more intense, with the man he considered his main rival, ...read more

Scripture: Mark 3:7-12

Denomination: Catholic

Seeing The Plan And Hearing The Word

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 25, 2014

Like Augustine, we must integrate into our lives the need to see God's vision and to hear God's call.

Thursday of 3rd Week in Course 2014 Lumen Fidei The vision of God is always broader and deeper than any plan of a human. King David was in a really good mind when he wrote this prayer of thanksgiving to God. Remember that Saul, his predecessor, had wanted a dynasty, but he turned against ...read more

Scripture: 2 Samuel 7:18-29

Denomination: Catholic