Sermons on Pope Victor:

Judging Sinful Actions As We Accompany The Fellow Sinner Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Oct 3, 2015

Someone good at accompanying others will not give in to frustration or fear

Thursday of 27th week in course 2015 Joy of the Gospel “The day that God will take action.” These words of the prophet Malachi are not about just any day. They distinguish from every other day the time called “the day of the Lord.” That’s the last day, the day of ...read more

Scripture: Malachi 3:13-20

Denomination: Catholic

Building The Kingdom Community Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Oct 17, 2015

The fire that Jesus longs to cast on the earth is the Holy Spirit building a community of hope.

Thursday of 29th week in course 2015 Joy of the Gospel Those who are or were enslaved to sin, as Paul teaches, were liberated from righteousness, but it did them no good. When we have a habit of sin–whether it is pride or sloth or envy or lust or anything else–we really can’t do ...read more

Scripture: Luke 12:49-53

Denomination: Catholic

Stewardship, Solidarity And Wages Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Nov 7, 2015

A just social system must come from the conversion of many minds and hearts.

Thursday of 32nd week in course 2015 Joy of the Gospel What is the kingdom of God? Is it imposed from outside ourselves? Jesus is very clear on this point. The various sects and political parties in Palestine during the first century thought that the reign of God would be imposed, especially ...read more

Scripture: Luke 17:20-25

Denomination: Catholic

Free To Serve, Or Not Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Nov 14, 2015

We will be judged on our service to the poor--but do our social systems make it easy or difficult to do so?

Thursday of 33rd week in course 2015 Joy of the Gospel Two things tie our Scriptures together today. The obvious one is that they are texts written in or about a time of injustice and disaster. In the first reading, the Syrian king Antiochus IV has decreed that all his subjects would act like ...read more

Scripture: Luke 19:41-44

Denomination: Catholic

The Joy Of The Gospel And The Option For The Poor Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Nov 24, 2015

When we act in favor of the poor–either by providing housing and food and medical care or by helping them to build systems that provide those things–we are acting as the Father and Son have done for us.

Thursday of 1st week in Advent 2015 Joy of the Gospel During the time of Advent, we look forward to the return of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet Isaiah speaks of this “day of the Lord” as one based on the security provided the faithful by the Rock, the Lord God. The haughty and ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 26:1-6

Denomination: Catholic

Saint Joseph And The Joy Of The Gospel Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 14, 2015

We can learn much from Saint Joseph about the ways to fight acedia and to recover the joy of evangelization.

Feast of St. Joseph 2015 Joy of the Gospel It is humbling to lead this prayer service on a solemnity, especially that of St. Joseph. He is the patron of fathers, of workers, of carpenters, of social justice, and of the universal Church. He has titles such as St. Joseph the Worker and St. Joseph ...read more

Scripture: Romans 4:13-22

Denomination: Catholic

The Lure Of "Spiritual Worldliness" Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 11, 2015

Although the Christian life brings conflict, we cannot flee from a personal and committed relationship with God which still commits us to serving others.

Thursday of 2nd Week of Easter 2015 Joy of the Gospel If you have ever wondered why the Season of Easter is the longest one in the liturgical year, consider this: after the Resurrection of our Lord, we are living in an Easter season that will last until the Lord comes again! All our lives are a ...read more

Scripture: Acts 5:27-33

Denomination: Catholic

Seeing Things As Jesus Sees Them Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Oct 19, 2013

Jesus came to free us from the slavery to sin through faith, through faith in what He taught, and through faith in Him as a person.

Thursday of 29th Week in Course Lumen Fidei Jesus was a very serious Savior. If you were a government official and happened upon a prison where several thousands of persons were enslaved under abysmal conditions, you’d want to free them. Now before Christ, we were slaves of sin. I know ...read more

Scripture: Luke 12:49-53

Denomination: Catholic

Christian Faith Is Faith In The Incarnation And Resurrection. Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Oct 26, 2013

Christian faith is faith in the incarnation of the Word and his bodily resurrection.

Thursday of 30th Week in Course Lumen Fidei As we consider the gift of faith, this gift of seeing far through new eyes, we are challenged to see beyond the sufferings of the present. St. Paul, in this astonishing chapter 8 of the Letter to the Romans, pictures us in a courtroom, before God, the ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:31-39

Denomination: Catholic

A New Temple

Contributed by Kevin Ruffcorn on Oct 28, 2013

Solomon’s temple – a place of sacrifice and divine presence

1 Kings 5:1—5, 8:1-13 “A New Temple” INTRODUCTION Today we are focusing our attention on King Solomon, the son of David and one of the kings of Israel’s golden age. Solomon is remembered for several things. He was one of the wealthiest men, if not the wealthiest man, ...read more

Denomination: Lutheran

Apostolic Succession, Persecution, And Joy Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on May 24, 2014

Thanks to the Church's magisterium, we know what Jesus taught, and we can rejoice, even amid persecution.

Thursday of the 6th Week of Easter EF: Ascension Day; OF: Easter Weekday Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles gives us one of those rare and precious bits of information that helps us to date the journeys of Paul and his letters. And it does so in one of the most important of his ...read more

Scripture: John 16:16-20

Denomination: Catholic

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

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

How Good It Feels To Come Back To Him Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Aug 23, 2014

In St. Augustine we see the paradigm of the sinner become saint.

Feast of St. Augustine 2014 Evangelii Gaudium As we begin our reflections on Pope Francis’s exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, we happily find the cosmic convergence of these greetings from St. Paul to the Corinthians and the words of St. Matthew’s Gospel with the annual commemoration of ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

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