Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies

By Bishop Robert Barron

What's Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies about?

A weekly homily podcast from Bishop Robert Barron, produced by Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.

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Following Jesus Comes First

06.21.2022

Friends, I’m going to be blunt with you: today’s Gospel is really challenging. It cuts right to the heart of the ethical implications of the Gospel. There's something of a “be all, end all” quality about Jesus, something of an ...

Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies episodes:

06.21.2022 Following Jesus Comes First Friends, I’m going to be blunt with you: today’s Gospel is really challenging. It cuts right to the heart of the ethical implications of the Gospel. There's something of a “be all, end all” quality about Jesus, something of an ...
06.14.2022 Sacrifice, Covenant, Banquet Friends, we come this weekend to the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and the Blood of Christ. The Eucharist, as Vatican II famously said, is the source and summit of the Christian life—that from which Christian life comes and ...
06.08.2022 What Is the Trinity? Friends, Trinity Sunday has been called “the preacher’s nightmare.” But while the Trinity remains a supreme mystery, Thomas Aquinas used a basic principle that helps us to get at it: beings, at all levels, tend to make images of themselves. ...
05.31.2022 Seek the Mark of the Spirit Friends, Happy Pentecost Sunday! On this great celebration of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, meditating upon the number three will tell us a lot of what we need to know about the Spirit, whose distinctive mark ...
05.25.2022 Come, Lord Jesus! Friends, on this Seventh Sunday of Easter, the Church gives us the privilege of hearing the very last words of the Bible. If you're reading poetry, a novel, or even a great work of history, the last words are of ...
05.17.2022 The Heavenly City Friends, in many ways, the second reading for this Sunday is the climax of the entire biblical revelation. We find a detailed description of the heavenly Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven to earth. There is no ...
05.10.2022 Rescued from the Depths Friends, on this Fifth Sunday of Easter, we continue our reading of the book of Revelation, leaping ahead toward the very end of the Bible. Looking at the arc of the whole story—from God’s creation out of watery chaos in ...
05.03.2022 The Great Army of the Martyrs Friends, during this Easter season we're reading from the book of Revelation, that marvelous, final book of the Bible. In today's reading, John sees mystically, across space and time, across the Christian centuries, all those people from all over the ...
04.26.2022 Right Praise, Right Order Friends, the last stanza of a poem, the last chapter of a novel, or the last lines of a play are of extraordinary significance, but only if you’ve read the whole work up to that point. Similarly, to understand the ...
04.19.2022 The Unveiling of a New World Friends, Revelation comes from the Latin “Revalatio,” which in turn translates the Greek “Apokalypsis”—which means, literally, “unveiling.” This final book of the Bible, which has fascinated Christians and non-Christians for two thousand years, is not primarily about the end of ...
04.12.2022 Three Lessons of the Resurrection Friends, a very blessed and happy Easter to you all! The Resurrection of Jesus is the be-all and the end-all of the Christian faith. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then all bishops, priests, and Christian ministers should go ...
04.05.2022 The Master Has Need of It Friends, in the Palm Sunday Gospel reading proclaimed before the procession, the Lord instructs two of his disciples to go into the village and untether a donkey. If there is any protest, they are to say, “The Master has need ...
03.30.2022 Refuse Scapegoating Violence Friends, this Sunday, we hear the story of the woman caught in adultery from the eighth chapter of John. René Girard thought that this story was particularly clear in showing the dynamics of what he called the scapegoating mechanism. And ...
03.23.2022 Everything He Has Is Yours Friends, our Gospel reading for this Fourth Sunday of Lent is one of the greatest stories ever told: the parable of the prodigal son. In a way, this parable about giving and receiving gifts tells us everything we need to ...
03.16.2022 Who is God? Friends, on this Third Sunday of Lent, we have the privilege of reading one of the most important texts in the Bible: God addressing Moses from the burning bush. In this passage, the true God manifests his own identity: he ...
03.09.2022 Awaiting Resurrection Friends, all three of our readings for the Second Sunday of Lent emphasize the transcendent world, the goal of all our religious striving. St. Paul speaks of how the Lord Jesus “will change our lowly body to conform with his ...
03.02.2022 Three Levels of Temptation Friends, we come now to the great and holy season of Lent, a time to get back to spiritual basics. This First Sunday of Lent, we hear Luke’s account of the temptation of Jesus. What Jesus faces in the desert ...
02.22.2022 Beware of Blind Guides There are a lot of people claiming to be spiritual gurus, teachers, and guides today. But is the person to whom you’ve entrusted your life spiritually blind? Whom are you going to follow, and why? Toward the end of Luke’s ...
02.16.2022 Give As God Gives Friends, whenever we give or receive a gift, we're always caught in a difficult rhythm of exchange and mutual obligation. The great exception to this rule is God, who is utterly gratuitous in his giving. But in Luke’s Sermon on ...
02.09.2022 To What Does Your Heart Belong? Friends, when our heart belongs to anything in this world, we live in an empty and lifeless spiritual space. But when our heart belongs to the Lord, the rest of our life falls into right order around that center. Our ...
02.01.2022 The Invasion of Grace Friends, the spiritual life begins with an invasion of grace out of God's sheer, unmerited love. As we direct our lives toward the light, we become more aware of our sin in order to embark on our mission as vehicles ...
01.25.2022 Give Away the Grace You’ve Been Given Friends, Jesus tells us his messiahship is one of service, not self-interest. As sinners, we have a tendency to understand our religious lives in a self-interested way, but the grace God gives us is meant to be given away.
01.19.2022 Should We Build Walls or Bridges? Friends, our first reading this Sunday reminds us that we need walls to maintain our identity. But our ultimate purpose is not to hunker down behind those walls, but to go out and transform the world. We need both the ...
01.12.2022 Your Water into God’s Wine Friends, this week we resume Ordinary Time, and the Church gives us this extraordinary story of the first sign of Christ’s divinity—the miracle at Cana. Why is the first of Jesus’ miracles turning water into wine at a wedding? Because ...
01.05.2022 Priests, Prophets, and Kings Friends, when we are baptized, we are grafted onto Christ, who has anointed us all as priests, prophets, and kings. Let's live out that identity.
12.29.2021 Is Science Opposed to Faith? Friends, the supposed warfare between religion and science is assumed by a lot of young people who disaffiliate from the Church today. But the Magi followed both science and religion, and on the basis of their calculations, journeyed to present ...
12.22.2021 Love the Ones You’re Given Friends, families teach us that we don't always get to choose the people we love, but we're given people that we're then called upon to love. On this Feast of the Holy Family, let's meditate upon the importance of this ...
12.15.2021 Give Up the Ego-Drama! Friends, most of us are stuck in the boring and narrow confines of the ego-drama. Mary is not playing an ego-dramatic game; she is playing a theo-dramatic game. We hear of how she sets out "with haste"—the sign of the ...
12.08.2021 Have You Found Joy? Friends, on this Gaudete Sunday, we are called to rejoice! Detach yourself from the anxieties of the world and live in the peace and joy of Christ.
12.01.2021 The Historical Reality of Jesus Friends, a couple years ago, there was a poll conducted in Great Britain that revealed that the majority of people there feel that Jesus was not a real, historical figure, but rather more of a mythic character. There are all ...
11.29.2021 Look Back, Look Around, Look Forward Friends, many years ago, in the context of a high school religion class, a very wise Benedictine nun gave me a template for understanding Advent that I’ve never forgotten. It is simply that Advent calls to mind three “comings” of ...
11.17.2021 Is Jesus the King of Your Life? Friends, this Feast of Christ the King encapsulates what the Christian life is all about. All the other celebrations of the year are leading us to this conclusion, and on this last Sunday of the liturgical year, we are asked ...
11.10.2021 What Is the Apocalypse? Friends, there is something dark, threatening, and a little bit dire about the Gospel reading today, but through it, we see that death is not the final word. We’ve listened to the noise of the world for long enough, and ...
11.03.2021 Trust in the Lord Friends, a connection with God leads to life and flourishing. When we sever that connection, we experience a drought similar to the one in our first reading today. The Lord responds to our needs, so trust in his providence, and ...
10.27.2021 No God but the Lord Alone Friends, God is not satisfied to be in the background of your life. The Lord your God is the Lord alone, so love him with everything you've got—your whole heart, your whole soul, and all your strength.
10.20.2021 Are You Blinded by Cities of Sin? Friends, in today’s Gospel, we hear the marvelous story of the healing of blind Bartimaeus—an icon of tremendous power and a sacred picture of the spiritual life and the process of salvation. We all find ourselves, in our need of ...
10.13.2021 Do You Really Want What God Wants? Friends, power and honor, in and of themselves, are not a bad thing, but we wreak havoc when we ask for them in the wrong spirit. When we beseech the Lord with our desires, let us ask for what God ...
10.06.2021 It’s Time for a Radical Choice Friends, in our first reading today, Solomon finds that all the power and wealth of the world are nothing compared to the gift of wisdom—seeing life from the perspective of God. Although this gift seems to help one further amass ...
09.29.2021 How to Fall in Love Friends, our readings this weekend have to do with biblical anthropology—or who we are in the presence of God—and the Christian understanding of marriage. A basic intuition of the Bible is that we begin not with the individual, but with ...
09.22.2021 We Just Don’t Get It Friends, let us rejoice whenever the grace of God is on display. The point of the sacraments is so that God’s grace may flood the world, but the Lord can operate outside of our formal structures. He desires these gifts ...
09.15.2021 Envy Will Destroy Us Friends, when envy takes over our spiritual lives, we sow disorder and disintegration. The life of Jesus is about self-emptying love; it is in this gift of self that we are called to live.
09.08.2021 God Suffers for Us Friends, with our readings from this weekend, we are on very holy ground because we're dealing with the imagery, symbolism, and theology of the suffering servant. Yes, he is the one who will bring God's salvation to all the world, ...
09.01.2021 Have You Stopped Listening to Jesus? Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus travels outside of Israel and heals a man of his deafness. Today, we live in a realm of spiritual deafness. We are bombarded with voices from outside, echoing around us until we are as incapable ...
08.25.2021 The Beauty of the Law Friends, the more we revere something, the more we surround it with laws. The most important thing in our lives is to be in harmony with God, and so we follow his divine law. We must, with prudence and wisdom, ...
08.18.2021 Time to Test Your Faith Friends, today’s Gospel concludes John’s reflection on the Eucharist. At the end of this remarkable chapter, we are faced with a question that defines the Christian faith: Will you follow Christ? May we always answer as Peter does.
08.11.2021 God’s Warrior Queen Friends, today on this marvelous Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin, we celebrate Mary’s assumption, body and soul, into heaven. But this does not mean that she has gone away; she is a warrior, involved in the struggle against ...
08.04.2021 Where to Go When You Cannot Go On Friends, we've all hit points in which we felt we could not go on spiritually, physically, or mentally. In the Gospel today, Christ declares himself the bread that has come down from heaven. If you want to live in the ...
07.28.2021 Finding Lasting Happiness Friends, the ensemble of this world that God has made is good, and we're meant to enjoy it; however, we hunger for something that transcends this world. Christ is the only good that can satisfy us.
07.21.2021 What You Need to Know about the Catholic Mass Friends, the sixth chapter of John is one of the most profound reflections we have on the meaning of the Eucharist. Let us pay close attention to our Gospel today, which is John’s account of the miraculous multiplication of the ...
07.14.2021 How to Be a Good Leader Friends, our readings today center around the familiar biblical theme of sheep and shepherding. Both human and divine, it is Jesus who has come to lead us, walking in front of his people, alongside us, and behind us as both ...

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Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies

What's Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies about?

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Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies episodes:

Following Jesus Comes First

Sacrifice, Covenant, Banquet

What Is the Trinity?

Seek the Mark of the Spirit

Come, Lord Jesus!

The Heavenly City

Rescued from the Depths

The Great Army of the Martyrs

Right Praise, Right Order

The Unveiling of a New World

Three Lessons of the Resurrection

The Master Has Need of It

Refuse Scapegoating Violence

Everything He Has Is Yours

Who is God?

Awaiting Resurrection

Three Levels of Temptation

Beware of Blind Guides

Give As God Gives

To What Does Your Heart Belong?

The Invasion of Grace

Give Away the Grace You’ve Been Given

Should We Build Walls or Bridges?

Your Water into God’s Wine

Priests, Prophets, and Kings

Is Science Opposed to Faith?

Love the Ones You’re Given

Give Up the Ego-Drama!

Have You Found Joy?

The Historical Reality of Jesus

Look Back, Look Around, Look Forward

Is Jesus the King of Your Life?

What Is the Apocalypse?

Trust in the Lord

No God but the Lord Alone

Are You Blinded by Cities of Sin?

Do You Really Want What God Wants?

It’s Time for a Radical Choice

How to Fall in Love

We Just Don’t Get It

Envy Will Destroy Us

God Suffers for Us

Have You Stopped Listening to Jesus?

The Beauty of the Law

Time to Test Your Faith

God’s Warrior Queen

Where to Go When You Cannot Go On

Finding Lasting Happiness

What You Need to Know about the Catholic Mass

How to Be a Good Leader