Sermons on Sacrament: showing 961-975 of 2,836

Keep Salt In Yourselves

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Jan 10, 2020

5th Sunday, Year A, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The late Pentecostal preacher David du Plessis was once approached by a Christian who complained that people don’t seem thirsty for the Lord these days. Without missing a beat, du Plessis replied, “It’s not that they are not thirsty enough. It’s that we are not salty enough!” Since moisture ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 58:7-10, Matthew 5:13-16

Denomination: Catholic

The Gospel Succeeds Even In An Age Of Fecklessness Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 11, 2020

We need to continue on the path we were set on by Jesus long ago–the path to holiness. That means giving up everything of this world that keeps us from imaging Jesus and Mary.

Tuesday of the First Week in Course 2020 Saint Mark gets right to the point, just like the high priest Eli. But Saint Mark gets the whole picture, and Eli does not. Mark’s Gospel is designed to demonstrate to his Roman audience–and us–that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Messiah. Look how few ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 2:1-8, 1 Samuel 1:9-20, Mark 1:21-28

Denomination: Catholic

Witnessing To The Culture Of Death Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Mar 7, 2020

We must work and pray, as St. Benedict told us to do. Work for the spread of the kingdom in our families and communities, and vote as a Christian must, for godly men and women who will resist the culture of death and legislate for life, peace, and goodness.

Tuesday of the 2nd Week in Lent 2020 For our first reading today, I have chosen to begin earlier in the first chapter of Isaiah than the Lectionary suggests, and to add the verses the Lectionary omits. The Lenten readings take a great deal of the very long prophecies of Isaiah, but they omit ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 1:10-20, Matthew 23:1-12

Denomination: Catholic

Restless Hearts Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 24, 2019

The active atheist's life is not only meaningless,. . . but tragic in the worst sense, because, absent a miracle, he turned his back on a free offer of eternal joy.

Seventh Sunday in Course 2019 For the Catholic Students Group Today our Office readings begin a series from the book of Ecclesiastes, or Qoheleth, which means “the Teacher.” It is one of the best-known of the Wisdom books of the OT, purportedly written by King Solomon, who, at least in his youth, ...read more

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 1:1-18, 1 Corinthians 15:45-49, Psalm 103:1-13

Denomination: Catholic

The Gift Of Mary, Mother Of The Church

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jun 10, 2019

By the grace of Christ won on the cross, we are sinners on our way to becoming saints.

Monday of Pentecost Week 2019 Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church Whatever utopian vision human beings must embrace–whether fascism, Marxism, socialism or any other “ism”–that vision and every other one collapses when faced with the reality of sin. Today, on the feast of Mary, Mother of the ...read more

Scripture: John 19:25-34, Genesis 3:9-20

Denomination: Catholic

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

Water Flows From The True Temple Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Nov 7, 2020

Jerusalem is on a series of hills, and water has to be brought into the city from elsewhere. But the real Temple of God, the Precious Body of Christ, is the source of living water.

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica 2020 Water Flows from the Temple There are few feasts quite as confusing as today’s commemoration of the dedication of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, a church in Rome. But it’s not just “a” church in Rome, it is the church in Rome. If I asked a thousand ...read more

Scripture: John 2:13-22, 1 Corinthians 3:9-17, Psalm 69:9, Ezekiel 47:1-12

Denomination: Catholic

Repentance Is Crucial For A World In Trouble Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Nov 28, 2020

Our Lord forebears because His desire is for all to be saved. And when the trumpet blows, the time for repentance is over.

Second Sunday in Advent 2020 Let me share reflections on the Word of God for the second Sunday in Advent in this plague year 2020. The virus has been a plague, at least made worse by the attitude and behavior of the communist regime in mainland China. The election has been a plague, and I think ...read more

Scripture: Mark 1:1-8, 2 Peter 3:8-14, Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85:9-13

Denomination: Catholic

Solemnity Of Mary, January 1, 2021: New Years

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Dec 29, 2020

All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful.

1.Flannery O’Connor noted that “All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful, “she wrote in 1958. (Adding, “Priests resist it as well as others.”) She means that grace intervenes in the sufferings of the ordinary -- ignorant, complacent people whose ...read more

Scripture: Numbers 6:22-27

Denomination: Catholic

Everyone Who Asks Receives? Really? Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 2, 2021

“We should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” That’s not a suggestion. That’s a demand .

Monday of Epiphany Week 2020 It’s a good idea to read St. John’s words in this first letter perhaps every week of our lives, because in it we find the key to happiness and fulfillment. John says “we receive from [God] whatever we ask.” Hmm, that’s interesting. And we recall that Jesus Himself said ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 4:12-25, 1 John 3:23-24, 1 John 4:1-6

Denomination: Catholic

Jonah And The Call To Convert The Nations Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 20, 2021

Isn’t God’s mercy good news for all of us? He’s forgiven the sins of my youth, and, yes, even my old age.

3rd Sunday in Course 2021 Poor Jonah. We can hardly blame him. God tells him to go convert the people and rulers of Nineveh, heart of the Assyrian empire. You see, the Assyrians were for about six centuries the scourge of the ancient Middle East, kind of a cross between the Huns, the Vandals and ...read more

Scripture: Jonah 3:1-10, Psalm 25:4-9, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20

Denomination: Catholic

Oy Vay--What Shall We Do? Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jul 11, 2020

It’s time for us to imitate the early Christians, not Ahaz. Political solutions are like bandages. They can stop the blood flow but they can’t cure the fundamental disease, which is loss of faith in God, and disobedience to His commandments.

Tuesday of the 15th Week in Course 2020 Plague Year homilies When you consider it, God, whom we call by a kind of nickname “Yah” every time we sing the Gospel acclamation, God was heavily invested in His people. Specifically, He made a promise to King David, the greatest of the kings of Israel, ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 7:1-9, Matthew 11:20-24

Denomination: Catholic

Belief In God Or Murphy? Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Aug 6, 2020

I think it may be true: More people believe in Murphy than believe in a loving God seen in Jesus Christ.

Believe in God, or Murphy? Friday of the 18th Week in Course 2020 If we had been Assyrians in the time during and after 612 years before Christ, roughly the time of the prophecy of Nahum, what would we be thinking and feeling? Nineveh, capital of Assyria at that time, had been besieged for months ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:24-28

Denomination: Catholic

Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit As Applied To Prayer

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Oct 23, 2017

Poverty of soul is a way of entering in prayer, especially at the outset of when we begin to pray.

Poverty of soul is a way of entering in prayer, especially at the outset. Poverty of soul cannot be sought as an item of self-knowledge. It retains always an unknown, elusive quality. It cannot be simply a thought of our unworthiness before God. Much less can it be a mood of despondency about ...read more

Denomination: Catholic

The Road To Emmaus Series

Contributed by Brady Boyd on Mar 18, 2021

There seemed to be a lot more drama surrounding the death of Jesus – earthquakes, curtains being torn at the Temple, darkness covered the earth. The resurrection was done quietly without any witnesses to the actual moment of resurrection.

Easter 2021 The Road to Emmaus There seemed to be a lot more drama surrounding the death of Jesus – earthquakes, curtains being torn at the Temple, darkness covered the earth. The resurrection was done quietly without any witnesses to the actual moment of resurrection. Death can be dramatic, but ...read more

Scripture: Luke 24:13-32, Luke 24:33-35

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational