Sunday Sermon

In Ephesians 6, Paul gives us two contrasts in the fight that we need to focus on. First, Paul tells us that people are not our fight. Second, comes when we read verses 12 and 13 together. In verse 12, Paul says that “we wrestle not,” and then in verse 13 he says, “Therefore take unto you the armour of God.”

In today's gospel we find a story of a man whose son was dying. I think this is every parent's deepest fear—that somehow, someday, in an accident or by illness or through some other means our children will be taken from us. Nothing seems more unnatural than the death of a child.

What did Jesus mean then, when He said, "Do not judge " (in Matt.7:1)?

For some, the Rosary can become a merely mechanical action, something to be rushed through as a duty. Since the grace of any sacramental is dependent upon the attitude of the person using it, devout and thoughtful use of the Rosary is a prerequisite to enjoying the grace of the devotion.

If Jesus had not come to earth, there would be no forgiveness on earth, and if he had not conferred on the apostles this ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18), we would have no forgiveness today. But we can thank God that Christ did indeed come and that he passed on his authority to the Church to reconcile sinners to God.

Mary is truly our Mother of tender compassion, our "Mother of Mercy." Let us look at four ways in which Mary can be truly called the merciful Mother of Christians, and of every soul searching for God.

What lies beyond that border-line of creation's beginning, when God was all? What was "before the foundation of the world?" What took place when the Deity was Absolute, and unrelated to the non-existent universe?

There are things we go through that need the help of other people. This means that in relationships, we find weight bearers to help us carry what we could not and cannot carry by ourselves. God makes it that way so that we can't do Christianity by ourselves.

If we walk in the Spirit, the world should know us by our walk. The apostle Paul said walking is a weapon. It's how we fight. When we walk by the Spirit, we will not carry out the desires of the flesh.

In our Gospel reading for today we read about an amazing miracle and then an even more amazing response. Someone got more than what they asked for.

In one of his sermons, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I imagine that the first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But by the very nature of his concern, the Good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'”

So at the beginning of Acts, with the creation of the early church, Jesus was equipping them with something for the worst times Christianity would face. He was also equipping them with something for the worst times Christianity would face. He was also equipping us. How does God get his people ready for this type of environment?

C.S. Lewis said, “Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.” That was most likely true for Saint Maria Goretti and her mother Assunta.

What effect does it have on you when you think that God says “a pure religion” is to “visit orphans”?

There are many temporal dangers of unchecked anger, such as depression, drug or alcohol abuse, or physical illness like heart disease. However, I want to focus on the spiritual and eternal danger we face if we don't fight anger.

When Peter writes to the Christians under heavy persecution from Nero, he does not talk about getting rid of Nero and his government but of getting rid of stuff within each of us individually. While people are trying to get rid of politicians, We have forgotten to deal with ourselves.

Our Lord is the Good Shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd because He loves the sheep. He cares for the sheep. He lays down His life for His sheep.…

Jesus is called Shepherd three times in the New Testament and each time, a special adjective is put in front of the word to show His role in our lives

Christ could easily have erased His wounds from His body. He could have removed all those marks of His suffering when He rose from the grave. But He did not. Instead, there were the nail wounds in His hands and feet, and there was the gaping wound in His side. What was the reason for this? Why did He show them his wounds? I will give you three reasons why, “He shewed them his hands his feet and his side” (Luke 24:40, John 20:19)

Can Our Conscience Be Our Guide?

“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise” Galatians 4:28. God gives us the promise and He does this out of love. God is always faithful even when we aren't.

“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8)

There may be joy found in several fields of activity. Some find it in sport, some in music, some in their profession, and some even in Christian work. But the purest joy in the universe is to be found only in fellowship with the Father

Hebrews 11 tells of the prophet Enoch, who so pleased God and walked so intimately with him, he never died. Enoch is an example for us as we learn to walk with God.

We tend to pick and choose when we want our light to shine and when we don't. But imagine for a moment, what would happen in other areas of our lives if we decided that sometimes we wanted the light to shine and other times not.

The old wine had to run out, at Cana, before Jesus did His miracle. He is waiting now for our strength to come to an end. All our failures and defeats are meant by God to bring us to the end, for He can manifest His power perfectly only in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Jesus was the only person ever born who had the opportunity to choose the family into which he was to be born. None of us had that choice. Which family did Jesus choose?

It can be easy to loose that spirit of Christmas. Stores will not be playing Christmas music anymore, the world around us will have taken down all the decorations that remind of this special holiday, and Hallmark will no longer be showing those somewhat cheesy Christmas movies that pull you in in spite of yourself. But for Catholics, we will just be getting started.

There are times in our life when we go through certain crises'. When we are trying to serve the Lord and we find that although we are doing everything that we know to do, we are spiritually tired, we lack the grace and Holy Ghost power to keep going! We need a renewed awareness of the life that was given to us in the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. We need an intensified awareness of the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. We need to be endued with power from on high again. The "rivers of living water" seems to have dried up in our lives. There seems to be a dam from within that is keeping it flowing out of our lives. Yet Jesus had promised that everyone who believed in Him would have rivers of living water flowing out of their life - they'd never be dry.

You NEVER just “happen” to have something happen in your life. There are no coincidences for Christians. GOD is orchestrating every situation, every circumstance, even (and especially!) the difficult ones, for His purposes, to “clean” you; to “refine” you; and to prepare you for Emanuel's coming.

We typically associate "New Year's Day" with January 1st. But for the Church, "New Year's Day" is actually the First Sunday of Advent. On this day we begin a brand new Church year.

Before God pronounces a curse on man and woman, before He expels them from the garden, He gives them salvation hope, hope of regeneration- that there will come a Savior, that there will come One who will conquer Satan and therefore conquer sin.

“Whence shall we buy bread?” (St. John 6:5) Focus on God. Be Thankful for all His blessings. Look for Him to come again in all His glory and majesty.

Man's greatest honor and privilege is to do the will of God. This was what the Lord Jesus taught His disciples. But how can you know what His will is?

How can we beg God to forgive us and then turn around and refuse to forgive those who have wronged us? How can we expect God to be compassionate with us, but not show compassion to those around us?

The true citizen of Heaven not only has his home in Heaven, but his heart is there as well. Not only does he look forward to dwelling there hereafter, but even now he seeks to be holy and heavenly in life and character.

Has God begun a good work in your life? Do you feel incomplete and unfinished? Fear not. God will complete his work in you if you will only submit to the construction that He is doing with in you.

We are told in Revelation 14, that there were 144,000 people who sang a new song before the throne. Revelation 14:3 tells us "no one else could learn that song except these people, and they learned it while they were on Earth". What is this new song that these 144,000 people were singing?

Only God knows how much time each of us has on this earth to make decisions that will impact eternity. When God says we should be “redeeming the time,” He wants us to live in constant awareness of that ticking clock and make the most of the time we have.

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord”. (Psalm 92:1) Some of us only go to God in prayer when we need something. Do we at least thank God for our blessings? Never fail to thank God every single day for all the blessings He bestows on us.

If Satan is a liar, he seeks to transmit that nature to his children. And it is very easy for a believer to be infected with that as well. Whenever you tell a lie, you are offering yourself to Satan to father one more child.

People today tend to only believe in a distant God. One who is remote from them and not involved in their lives at all. But Luke shows God has come close to humanity. God stands among them directly involved.

The only two things Jesus ever told us to learn from Him were humility and gentleness. Why? Because as the children of Adam, we are all proud and hard. If you want to demonstrate a heavenly life on earth, it is not going to be demonstrated first by evangelism, preaching, catechizing, or social work. It is going to be demonstrated by an attitude of humility and gentleness first of all.

Paul writes to the Ephesians from prison. He writes to them about boldness and courage and confidence and glory. And as he writes about all these things, he wants them to see his hardships in a whole new light. What he writes will help us to do the same: to lift our eyes, and to see our own circumstances in the light of the gospel of Christ.

Do we only go to God when we need Him and then go our merry way when we get what we want? Do we thank Him?

Today I want to consider a woman we meet in our Gospel readings for today. She doesn't have a name but we know she was a widow from Nain (A village located 14 kilometers south of Nazareth) whose only son had died. Death had taken away her only source of hope, strength as well as protection. There was nothing she could do about it but weep bitterly. But then something unexpected happened. A stranger she met, told her not to weep. The rest is history.

“And who is my neighbour? (St. Luke 10:29). Our Blessed Lord tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan”

If you have turned away from sin and are following Jesus as Lord in complete obedience, his will for you is that you not be anxious about anything, but that you enjoy deep serenity and peace and security. Jesus spoke these words in Matthew 6:24–34 precisely for you — to help you overcome whatever is making you anxious.

Our Epistle readings today deal with the question of the place of the Law of Moses in our spiritual walk as Christians.

The Christian is justified in the words, "By the grace of God I am what I am." From first to last it is throughout the work of Gods grace that makes you what you are. See that you "receive not the grace of God in vain."

“Faith and works should travel side-by-side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, and then works; and then faith again, and then works again -- until they can scarcely distinguish which is the one and which is the other.”