Sermons on Sacramental:

Lent4b—rejoice Sunday

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Feb 2, 2018

The theology of enjoyment in the Book of Ecclesiastes is repeated over and over: find enjoyment and satisfaction in your work.

It’s optional— when the Church’s sacred ministers wear “pink” on Laetare Sunday —the Fourth Sunday of Lent. The word is from the Latin word for the command “rejoice!” To illustrate this theme: A famous preacher was trying to teach his students to make their facial expressions harmonize with ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 137:1-6, Ephesians 2:4-10

Denomination: Catholic

The Presence Of Christ And The Bridal Dialogue Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jun 29, 2013

Liturgy is a celebration of the presence of God in our midst, and we respond by participating in the dialogue between the Bride and the Bridegroom

Monday of the 13th Week in Course Sacrosanctum Concilium The presence of the Lord changes everything. We see this today when we recall the presence of God to Abraham on the eve of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, a catastrophe caused by their widespread acceptance of sexual abuse. But for ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 8:23-27

Denomination: Catholic

The Ten Bridesmaids Represent Christian Believers

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Sep 29, 2017

The message is that apathy and carelessness are a much greater threat than any external force.

32A Fr. Murphy was visiting one of his elderly parishioners whom he hadn’t seen at church for a few months. “You know,” he said, “you are not getter any younger and you should start thinking more of the hereafter.” She replied, “Thank you, Father, but I am always thinking about the hereafter; ...read more

Denomination: Catholic

End Times, Apocalypse, Last Judgement, Second Coming

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Oct 1, 2018

Begin with “end of the world” in mind.

33B In a best-selling book that first came out in the late 80’s, Stephen Covey identified what he called the ‘seven habits of highly effective people.’ The second habit the author lists is: Begin with the End in Mind. 1). Today, on the Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Readings are ...read more

Scripture: Daniel 12:1-3, Mark 13:24-32

Denomination: Catholic

The Vain Aspiration For Utopia

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jul 4, 2022

You may be the only one on earth who can walk with them and for them on their journey toward the Father.

Homily Let’s take a moment to do a thought experiment. We do that a lot in the physical sciences to make our hypotheses and plan our real experiments. So let’s do that with society. (After all, politicians experiment with society all the time, don’t they, even if the thought behind it is totally ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:1-20, Galatians 6:14-18, Isaiah 66:10-14

Denomination: Catholic

Do You Understand What You Are Reading?

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 30, 2022

We read Scripture because we want to know more about God and His plan for us. But do we really understand?

Thursday of the 3rd week in Easter It is no surprise that whenever someone is reading from the OT during NT times, he is probably reading from an Isaiah scroll. The only time that Jesus gave His disciples an extensive Bible lesson, He began with Moses and then the prophets and asked “was it not ...read more

Scripture: John 6:44-51, Acts 8:26-40

Denomination: Catholic

Food That Endures Through Our Faith Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 17, 2021

They didn’t see the sign that the multiplying loaves represented. Jesus’s temporary filling their tummies was supposed to be a sign that faith in Him.

Monday of the Third Week of Easter Fake news is not new. Enemies of the Faith have been inventing tales about Christians even before anyone used the word “Christian.” At His trial, false witnesses invented accusations against Jesus, and in fact said the same thing of Jesus that they later accused ...read more

Scripture: John 6:22-29, Acts 6:8-15, John 4:24

Denomination: Catholic

Christian Responsibility Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Aug 7, 2021

Jesus came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it. But in so doing Jesus made us not merely servants of God, but sons and daughters of God.

Homily for Monday of the 19th week in course Did the early followers of Jesus consider themselves to be Christians or Jews? The answer is that their discipleship to Jesus was, in their minds, the completion of Judaism. Jesus came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it. But in so doing Jesus ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 17:22-27, Deuteronomy 10:12-22

Denomination: Catholic

Third Sunday Of Lent Year B- Cleansing The Temple

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Mar 5, 2021

Jesus is doing disruptive even violent actions here, shocking me out of my consumerist mentality. No wonder my Savior hangs on a Cross.

Whipping us into shape? “He made a whip out of cords.” John 2:15 Jesus made a whip. Making something with your hands can be therapeutic. Making a whip shows his anger did not impair his judgement. Writing an angry letter is a good way of bringing our feelings out so that we can see them. ...read more

Scripture: John 2:13-25

Denomination: Catholic

God Comes To His People--In Wisdom Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Nov 25, 2021

The Lord is a jealous God. He’s not jealous for His own sake, but for ours. He knows that we are made for Him, and cannot, as Augustine says, find rest until we rest in Him

God comes to His people Monday of Fifth week in year Solomon thought that he was a chip off the old block, the rock of Israel’s faith, King David. But there was something wrong with Solomon, something that even his reputation as a great solver of problems couldn’t fix. Jewish tradition tells us ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 8:1-13, Mark 6:53-56

Denomination: Catholic

The Mission Transcends Mere Geography

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 9, 2025

The fame of Jesus spread far from Capernaum and His words and healing were affecting many thousands, preparing both Jew and Gentile for the expansion of the Church after Pentecost .

Friday of the Fifth Week in Course 2025 Most modern Christians in North America, I believe, are unfamiliar with first-century geography, even of the Holy Land. I think if I use a midwestern U.S. parable, it might be easier to envision than what St. Mark records in his Gospel here. Let’s try ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 32:1-2, Psalm 32:5-7, Mark 7:31-37, Genesis 3:1-8

Denomination: Catholic

Transformed By The Renewal Of Our Minds

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Aug 30, 2023

It certainly appears, as many commentators have noted, that God is at heart a hedonist. He seems to delight in humans taking pleasure in creation.

Twenty-Second Sunday in Course 2023 The Hebrew prophet Jeremiah knew the joys and dangers of obeying the admonition to offer one’s body as a living sacrifice to God, and of refusing to conform himself to a corrupt age, such as he had, and Jesus, and, for that matter, us in twenty-first century ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:21-27, Romans 12:1-2, Jeremiah 20:7-9

Denomination: Catholic

Life In God's Farm

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Sep 19, 2023

Hopefully none of us are in those categories, but allow ourselves to be discipled by Christ in His Church, instructed in His ways.

Saturday of 24th Week in Course One of the great frustrations in many lives is the departure of children or grandchildren or siblings from the practice of their faith. You’ve heard the stories even if you haven’t experience that yourself. A son or daughter goes off to college and then comes back ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:13-16, Psalm 100:1-5, Luke 8:4-15

Denomination: Catholic

Anything We Are Commanded To Do By God Must Be For Our Own Good

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Oct 15, 2024

You are worth the price of God’s own Son on the cross. Don’t forget it.

Friday of the 23rd Week in Course 2024 Why do we exist? That’s a question that could be at the end of the endless list of questions our children aim at us when they are about three years old. I can’t claim that any of my girls asked it, but we should all do so, at least before we are in our ...read more

Scripture: Luke 12:1-7, Ephesians 1:11-14

Denomination: Catholic

Second Sunday Of Advent- The Wolf And Lamb; Leopards And Goats...

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Oct 26, 2022

Where the wild things are.

Isaiah and the Baptizer from our Readings this Second Sunday of Advent conspire to give us animal dreams. [source: Holy fishes: Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12 by Frederick A. Niedner, November 30, 2004]. Where the wild things are. Broods of vipers from Matthew 12:34, and ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-10, Matthew 3:1-12

Denomination: Catholic