During these unprecedented times when many are unable to gather to celebrate Mass, I am especially pleased to be able to share with you this week’s homily reflections.
Remember you can pray along with me using the audio prayers I’ve recorded here.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Third Sunday of Advent
Our gospel tells us of John the Baptist in his prison. He’s puzzled, maybe a little disappointed. Like many Jews, he’s expected the Messiah to be a fiery social reformer.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Second Sunday of Advent
This is a stern gospel about a stern John the Baptist. If you were making up a list for a Christmas Party, you would leave his name off.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – First Sunday of Advent
Today is the first Sunday of Advent and no one really celebrates it anymore. The season has been swallowed up by commercial Christmas. Yes, we come to church and note the purple vestments and sing the Advent Hymns.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Thirty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Christ the King Solemnity
Charlie Brown is leaning against a tree talking to Lucy. She asks, “What do you think security is, Charlie Brown?”
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
One night in 1983 over 100 million TV viewers saw the movie, “The Day After.” It portrayed what a city would look like after a nuclear attack.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Three men died and went to heaven. St. Peter asked the first if he had been faithful to his wife; he admitted to two affairs during his marriage.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time – Zacchaeus
There is a song by Billy Joel; called Piano Man. It is about Joel’s early life when he used to play the piano in a bar. Every night he would sing songs for the customers and in piano man, he tells their stories.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Many of us look back and feel guilty about something we said or did in the past. If only we could undo the cruel deed, we would un-say the harsh words.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
This true story is from Woman’s Day Magazine. When Karen and her husband Tom found out they were going to have another baby, they wanted to prepare their three-year-old son Michael to be ready for a new sister.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cure of the Ten Lepers
In our gospel, we read of ten lepers who come to Jesus for a cure. We have little concept today of what it meant to be a leper at the time of Jesus. Worse than the disease was the leper's fate; cut off from family, forced to live a wretched life alone, begging for food.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Faith Can Move Mountains
In our gospel today the twelve apostles make an excellent request of Jesus; increase our faith. Jesus does not respond directly to their request, He puts the apostles on the spot. The point of importance, He says, is not how much faith you have, its size, its amount. What is important is the kind of faith you have, it has to be genuine.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Many people used to come to Mother Teresa. They wanted to get involved in her work. Mother Teresa being a wise woman could tell if they had what it took to work with her sisters.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – The Unjust Servant
When we read the Gospel of Luke 16: 1-13, we hear about an employee who cheats on his employer.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus lived in a society where caste lines were sharply drawn. It was clearly understood that people stayed with their own kind. Good people did not mix and mingle with bad people.
Fr. Bob’s Homily – Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
In Luke 14:25-33 we read that large crowds were coming to Jesus. The movement He started with a dozen men was swelling with converts. How pleased the disciples must have been.