Catholic Preaching

By Father Roger LandryReligion & Spirituality Christianity

Catholic Preaching episodes

July 20, 2024Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), Conversations with Consequences Podcast, July 20, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
Conversations with Consequences Podcast
Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, B, Vigil
July 20, 2024

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.20.24_Landry_ConCon_1.mp3

The following text guided the homily:
This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a joy for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday, when he’s going to say to us, as he said to his first apostles, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
I’m recording this from Indianapolis, where I am participating in the National Eucharistic Congress, the first in 83 years. With a population of 924,000, buttressed by the fifty thousand Catholics from across the United States who have come for the Congress, Indianapolis is far from a deserted place, but the same Jesus who summoned the apostles away from their work, their ordinary lives, their hangouts and at least many of their friends, has summoned us here, to be with him present for us in the Blessed Sacrament. In fact, Jesus regularly summons us to come to be with him, to find our rest in and with him, to refresh and remake us as he yokes ourselves to himself. He seeks to do this each Sunday, indeed each day at Mass. He seeks to do this in the heart-to-heart conversation apart from the daily hustle-and-bustle that we call prayer and especially in the summit of personal prayer that is Eucharistic adoration. And so I’d urge you to enter the Gospel scene this Sunday with these Eucharistic lenses. Jesus continues to actualize what he did in this Sunday’s Gospel, drawing us from the Eucharist to be with him, to be restored by him, so that he can send us out to help others to find in him what we do.
So let’s return to the scene. After the hard work of the apostles’ missionary journeys, Jesus could see they were tired. Moreover, as Saint Mark tells us, “People were coming and going in great numbers that they did not have an opportunity even to eat.” So Jesus brought them off with him in a boat to a deserted place.
We know that the rhythm of human life involves not just work, but rest, just as God in the Genesis account rested on the seventh day. Such rest is essential not just to recharge but to focus with God on the meaning of what we’ve done and are doing, on the gift of our life and how we are going to invest it. Jesus took the apostles away not just to give the apostles a break but to review with them all that they had experienced on their apostolic journeys.
In a similar way, Jesus regularly seeks, in different ways, to draw us away from the daily grind, from the sometimes frenetic pace of life, from television and gadget screens, so that he might similarly refresh us, helping us to review with the grace of his light what we have been experiencing in the various aspects of our life. It’s an opportunity for him to help us press the reset button on our existence, to strengthen us in whatever struggles we face, to move us to thank God the Father for his blessings, to help us to see things more clearly, and to reprioritize according to what’s more important.
Over the course two months as I’ve served as the chaplain to the eastern or Seton Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, in which my young pilgrims and I had the privilege to carry Jesus from New Haven Connecticut here to Indianapolis, we often had many different, powerful events each day: huge Masses, long Eucharistic processions, preaching several times a day or giving witness talks to crowds and schools, holy hours and long periods of adoration in Churches, and even, when we had to drive long distances, in our specially outfit Pilgrimage van, which was a mobile adoration chapel, it was rather exhausting and some days we, too, found it difficult to have time to eat. Over the course of the journey, we needed to slow down a few times for days of recollection, to process things with the Lord Jesus, to appreciate what he had been doing in and through us, and to experience the revival he was seeking to give us and through us to spark in others.
Jesus seeks to give us that renewal, first, each day in daily prayer. He wants us to come away with him to the state of the desert, without distractions, to converse with him. This Sunday is an opportunity for us to speak to Jesus honestly about how faithful we are in responding to that daily invitation. Do we prioritize or resist it?
Jesus also seeks to give us this new start on the Christian Sabbath, on Sundays, in which, out of love, the Church even makes the invitation a command. When the Lord gave the Third Commandment, he told us the reason why, something that at first might seem a non-sequitur: “Remember that you were once slaves in the land of Egypt. … This is why the Lord, your God, has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day” (Deut 5:15). If we’re not keeping the Sabbath, in other words, we are becoming slaves again: slaves to work or what work can help us obtain, slaves to the errands we try to get done on the weekends, slaves to entertainment, to sports, or other activities. Jesus wants us to come away with him on Sundays so that he can renew us and help us properly put God at the center of our week, our time, our life. He wants us, filled with his love, to use the Sabbath to love God back and love those he has made our neighbors, most especially family members and friends. If we desire to remain spiritually fit and serene on the pilgrimage of life, how important it is for us to truly live Sunday as a Day of the Lord!
But the Church has often used these words of Jesus — “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” — to highlight the importance of taking extended time away with the Lord for him to refresh us, particularly with monthly Days of Recollection and annual Retreats made in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord.
A Day of Recollection is at least a period of a few hours — but depending upon our circumstances and availability can extend to a half or full day — of consecutive prayer. It can be done at any time of the week. Some are able to dedicate one night a month. Others will carve out time on a given Saturday or Sunday. Many priests, whose nights and weekends are the fullest parts of their pastoral schedules, make time on a weekday afternoon. There are organized Days of Recollection at retreat centers or by various ecclesiastical movements in parishes and shrines but someone with self-discipline can also fruitfully do one on one’s own. A Day of Recollection a regularly scheduled time, normally once a month, to go more deeply with the Lord Jesus into our relationship with him, to review the larger trends of our life, to get his light for various decisions we need to make, to ask his help for the situations in our life that are weighing on us and to make resolutions to depend on him more. That’s what my fellow pilgrims and I were doing every few weeks along our Eucharistic journey.
An annual Retreat is a more extended time of prayer in which we are able, in God’s presence and ordinarily with the help of a retreat director offering various meditations or one-on-one guidance, to give God our full attention for a lengthier period of time, so that, in addition to all the fruits of a Day of Recollection, we can review with Him the previous year and receive his light and encouragement to make resolutions for the upcoming one. Traditionally most retreats last about a week, which, depending upon the format, can be five to eight days. For those for whom that would be too difficult, it’s possible to do one from Friday night through Sunday. For those with more time, and especially for those making or weighing big transitions, they can make a retreat of 30 days or even, like Jesus, 40. Retreats are normally done in retreat centers away from daily distractions, but they can also be done in parish Churches, as some new movements in the Church are doing effectively.
The key is to respond to the Lord’s summons and make the time each month for a Day of Recollection and each year for a Retreat. Many people are phobic of that much silent time alone with the Lord. We say our lives are too complicated and busy; we nevertheless, however, find time each month for dinner engagements, our favorite television shows, and going to a child’s or a grandchild’s baseball games or plays. Somehow most of us also find time each year to spend various weekends, whole weeks or even longer for various forms of vacation. There’s nothing wrong with any of those activities, of course, but they show that we do have more time that we could respond to Jesus’ invitation than many of us admit. Retreats and days of recollection can therefore be a practical test of how much we are genuinely prioritizing God, the things of God, and the good of our soul. Even the busiest of us have some time, but we often spend it on less important things than God. We may have to arrange a babysitter for our kids, a caregiver for elderly parents, a dogsitter or catsitter for our pets, but if we’re able to do it for other activities, we can do it for God. It’s so worth it!
Several years ago, Pope Francis spoke about the fruits that come from recollections and retreats in the hope that more of the faithful would take advantage. The person who goes away with the Lord in this way, he said, “experiences the attraction, the fascination of God, and returns renewed, transfigured to ordinary life, to service, to daily relations, bearing within him the perfume of Christ.” He added, “The men and women of today need to encounter God.” Retreats offer “space and time for intense listening of His Word in silence and in prayer” and contribute to “renewing one who participates in them in unconditional adherence to Christ, and helps him to understand that prayer is the irreplaceable means of union with Him crucified.” Summer, when most of us have some vacation, is often a very good time to make an annual retreat.
As we prepare for Mass this Sunday, let’s get ready to hear Jesus say to us from Peter’s boat, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while,” and be prepared to respond generously and faithfully, each day in prayer and daily Mass if possible, each week in holy hour of Eucharistic adoration, each Sunday by keeping holy the Sabbath, and, with his help, each month with a Recollection and each year with a retreat. Those who take him up on this invitation, like the apostles, will never regret it. And he renews that invitation this Sunday from the altar.

The Gospel reading on which the passage was based was:
Gospel
Mk 6:30-34
The apostles gathered together with Jesus
and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them,
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
People were coming and going in great numbers,
and they had no opportunity even to eat.
So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.
People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.
They hastened there on foot from all the towns
and arrived at the place before them.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.
The post Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), Conversations with Consequences Podcast, July 20, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
10 min
July 19, 2024 Fulfilling the Law and God’s Desire for Mercy, 15th Friday (II), July 19, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
Napa Institute Chapel, Omni Hotel, Indianapolis
Friday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Votive Mass of the Holy Eucharist
July 19, 2024
Is 38:1-6.21-22.7-8, Is 38:10-12.16, Mt 12:1-8

To listen to an audio recording of the homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.19.24_Homily_1.mp3
Reading 1
Is 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8
When Hezekiah was mortally ill,
the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him:
“Thus says the LORD: Put your house in order,
for you are about to die; you shall not recover.”
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:
“O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly
I conducted myself in your presence,
doing what was pleasing to you!”
And Hezekiah wept bitterly.Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: “Go, tell Hezekiah:
Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David:
I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.
I will heal you: in three days you shall go up to the LORD’s temple;
I will add fifteen years to your life.
I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria;
I will be a shield to this city.”
Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken
and applied to the boil, that he might recover.
Then Hezekiah asked,
“What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD?”
Isaiah answered:
“This will be the sign for you from the LORD
that he will do what he has promised:
See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun
on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz
go back the ten steps it has advanced.”
So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.
Responsorial Psalm
Isaiah 38:10, 11, 12abcd, 16
R. (see 17b) You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
Once I said,
“In the noontime of life I must depart!
To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned
for the rest of my years.”
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
I said, “I shall see the LORD no more
in the land of the living.
No longer shall I behold my fellow men
among those who dwell in the world.”
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
My dwelling, like a shepherd’s tent,
is struck down and borne away from me;
You have folded up my life, like a weaver
who severs the last thread.
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
Those live whom the LORD protects;
yours is the life of my spirit.
You have given me health and life.
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
Alleluia
Jn 10:27
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 12:1-8
Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.
His disciples were hungry
and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him,
“See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.”
He said to the them, “Have you not read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,
which neither he nor his companions
but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath
the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath
and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”
The post Fulfilling the Law and God’s Desire for Mercy, 15th Friday (II), July 19, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
14 min
July 18, 2024 Childlike Receptivity to God’s Self-Revelation and Collaboration as His Instruments, Napa Institute Chapel, Indianapolis, July 17, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
Napa Institute Chapel, Omni Hotel, Indianapolis
Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Votive Mass of the Holy Eucharist
16 Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne
July 17, 2024
Is 10:5-7.13-16, Ps 94:5-10.14-15, Mt 11:25-27

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.17.24_Homily_1.mp3
Reading 1
Is 10:5-7, 13b-16
Thus says the LORD:
Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger,
my staff in wrath.
Against an impious nation I send him,
and against a people under my wrath I order him
To seize plunder, carry off loot,
and tread them down like the mud of the streets.
But this is not what he intends,
nor does he have this in mind;
Rather, it is in his heart to destroy,
to make an end of nations not a few.For he says:
“By my own power I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd.
I have moved the boundaries of peoples,
their treasures I have pillaged,
and, like a giant, I have put down the enthroned.
My hand has seized like a nest
the riches of nations;
As one takes eggs left alone,
so I took in all the earth;
No one fluttered a wing,
or opened a mouth, or chirped!”
Will the axe boast against him who hews with it?
Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it?
As if a rod could sway him who lifts it,
or a staff him who is not wood!
Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts,
will send among his fat ones leanness,
And instead of his glory there will be kindling
like the kindling of fire.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 94:5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 14-15
R. (14a) The Lord will not abandon his people.
Your people, O LORD, they trample down,
your inheritance they afflict.
Widow and stranger they slay,
the fatherless they murder.
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
And they say, “The LORD sees not;
the God of Jacob perceives not.”
Understand, you senseless ones among the people;
and, you fools, when will you be wise?
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
Shall he who shaped the ear not hear?
or he who formed the eye not see?
Shall he who instructs nations not chastise,
he who teaches men knowledge?
R. The Lord will not abandon his people.
For the LORD will not cast off his people,
nor abandon his inheritance;
But judgment shall again be with justice,
and all the upright of heart shall follow it.
R. The Lord will not abandon his people
Alleluia
Mt 11:25
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 11:25-27
At that time Jesus exclaimed:
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
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18 min
July 16, 2024 Eucharistic Revival and the Eucharistic Pilgrimage and Congress That Drive It, St. Philip Neri Church, Indianapolis, July 15, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Philip Neri Church, Indianapolis
Eucharistic Holy Hour
July 15, 2024

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26 min
July 15, 2024 Mission of Love and Welcoming In the Context of Selfishness and Rejection, 15th Monday (II), July 15, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
Holy Spirit Parish, Indianapolis, Indiana
Monday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Memorial (and 750th Anniversary) of St. Bonaventure
July 15, 2024
Is 1:10-17, Ps 50, Mt 10:34-11:1

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
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Reading 1
IS 1:10-17
Hear the word of the LORD,
princes of Sodom!
Listen to the instruction of our God,
people of Gomorrah!
What care I for the number of your sacrifices?
says the LORD.
I have had enough of whole-burnt rams
and fat of fatlings;
In the blood of calves, lambs and goats
I find no pleasure.
When you come in to visit me,
who asks these things of you?
Trample my courts no more!
Bring no more worthless offerings;
your incense is loathsome to me.
New moon and sabbath, calling of assemblies,
octaves with wickedness: these I cannot bear.
Your new moons and festivals I detest;
they weigh me down, I tire of the load.
When you spread out your hands,
I close my eyes to you;
Though you pray the more,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood!
Wash yourselves clean!
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 50:8-9, 16BC-17, 21 AND 23
R. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think you that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
Alleluia
MT 5:10
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
MT 10:34-11:1
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
For I have come to set
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s enemies will be those of his household.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
“Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is righteous
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because he is a disciple–
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”
When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples,
he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.
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30 min
July 13, 2024Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), Conversations with Consequences Podcast, July 13, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
Conversations with Consequences Podcast
Homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, B, Vigil
July 13, 2024

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.13.24_Landry_ConCon_1.mp3

The following text guided the homily:
This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a privilege for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday as he sends out the apostles for the first time to proclaim his Gospel, with instructions that are meant to guide the way that we share in that same continuous mission of the salvation of the world. As the whole Church in the United States prepares for the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis beginning this Wednesday, and prepare for the missionary phase of the Eucharistic Revival after the Congress’ completion, Jesus words will help us become more effective missionaries of Eucharistic knowledge, faith, gratitude, amazement, love and life.
The essential starting point for our mission is that Jesus’ love for us was so great that not only did he want to save us, but he wanted to involve us in our own salvation and in the salvation of our family and friends, even those we don’t know. From the beginning of time, he wanted us to be co-redeemers with him. He could have stayed in our world until the end of time, physically, traversing every country himself. He did not have to ascend. But he wanted to ascend so that we could fulfill the mission he would give us, to bring the good news of salvation to the whole world. So from the beginning of his public ministry, not only did Jesus preach in word and deed, but he prepared us his disciples to do the same. He trained us to preach; he gave us his own authority to cure the sick and cast out unclean spirits. He formed us to be more and more like him, who himself was God the Father’s missionary. He did not merely state, “Do what I say,” but said “follow me,” and he wanted us to follow him in the mission he had received from the Father. That baton was passed to the apostles and first disciples. They passed it on to others, who in turn handed it to others. He hands to us anew this Sunday. Jesus trusted us enough to entrust to us his saving work.
It’s important for us to grasp that Jesus commissions all of us as his missionaries. By our Baptism, and strengthened by our Confirmation, we’re called to share in Christ’s own prophetic work. This universal mission grew in stages. Jesus first trained the 12 and then sent them out (Mk 6:7-13). Then he trained 72 and sent them with the same instructions (Lk 10:1-12). Before he ascended into heaven, he instructed 500 on the mountainside and told them “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel, baptizing … and teaching them to carry out everything I have commanded you” (1 Cor 15:6; Mt 28:18-20). That mission continues down to this day and Jesus wants us — and in some sense needs us — to carry it on.
The second point is that we’re not sent out with our own message or given the instruction to wing it. We’re sent out as ambassadors of Christ with his own message, the same message he himself preached. St. Mark writes that as soon as Jesus returned from his forty day fast in the wilderness, he came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the Good news” (Mk 1:15). Jesus states a fact and gives an imperative. Since the Kingdom of God is at hand, we are called to change our lives and base them on this Gospel. When Jesus sends out the 12, as we see in Sunday’s Gospel, it’s with the same message: “They went out off,” St. Mark says, “and preached repentance.” Jesus gave the same message to all the disciples before his ascension: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (Lk 24:47-48). The fundamental message of Jesus is about our need for conversion, indeed a new life, and the great news that God mercifully wants to give us that life. Jesus sent his first disciples out with that message, that good news, of the call to turn away from sin and live in the kingdom of God. Likewise, he sends each of us with that message, as sheep in the midst of wolves, in the context of a culture in great need of conversion in so many ways. To be credible missionaries, though, we must first enflesh this message. It’s no surprise that among his first missionaries, Jesus had chosen some great sinners — Peter, whose first words to the Lord were, “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Lk 5:8 ); Matthew, a hated tax-collector who used to sin by shaking down his own people; and later Paul, who once terrorized, tortured and presided over the killing of Christians. They were able to preach that conversion from sins was possible and that God has indeed come to reconcile sinners. They were living testimonies of the salvation Christ sent them to preach to others. They went from sinners to saints. The Lord calls us preach this same message not only with our lips but with our life.
That leads us directly to how Jesus wants us to deliver the message. He gives several specifics in the Gospel: “He began to send them out two by two… and instructed them to take nothing for their journey but a walking stick; no food, no sack, no money in their belts; they were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.” Jesus’ point was not to give the Church a particular dress code to last until the end of time, but to form his disciples so that their message would be credible. He wanted us to preach the Gospel just as he himself was accustomed to deliver it, with simplicity of life. He wanted to cultivate in us the virtues of the Kingdom, so that we would be able to preach this message not just with words but with our whole bearing. We were to show that we take seriously what we are announcing, the presence of a God who tells us not to worry about what we are to eat, drink, wear or where we are to sleep, because God knows what we need before we ask for it and cares for us more than he cares for the lilies of the field and the birds of the sky. By telling us, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave,” he was instructing us to be grateful for the hospitality given, rather than looking for a better deal. By mentioning, “Whatever place does not welcome you, … leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them,” he was teaching us not to be weighed down with bad memories or nurse their wounds from one place to the next. If we experience rejection, he wants us to let it go, to have a fresh start and not to have the good news of great joy masked by the sadness of a previous bad experience. By sending us out two-by-two, he was also helping us to learn how to grow in love in their missionary journeys. Pope St. Gregory the Great 1400 years ago taught that the reason why Jesus sent the apostles and disciples out in pairs was so that they could learn how to love each other, to be patient with each other, to learn how to forgive each other each day. Most of the disciples Jesus sends out in pairs are married, and they have a mission by their simplicity of life, their dependence of God, their acceptance of his providential will, to give witness to their families, neighborhoods, and cities and towns that the Good News is real, and has filled them with joy. He wanted them to proclaim by their joy, the source of their joy; by their love for each other, the One who loved them first and commanded them to love like Him; by their poverty of spirit, that their treasure was in God, and so forth. Likewise the Lord wants each of us to incarnate the message we proclaim. If we hope to be credible ambassadors of Christ, we need to practice what we preach.
The final question concerns to whom are we sent to proclaim the message: to the whole world, beginning with the one we look at in the mirror each day, and, then after we’ve heard the message and tried to put it into practice, to those with whom we come into regular contact. We’re called to proclaim the good news of repentance and the forgiveness of sins to our family, to friends, to colleagues at work, to fellow students, even, when the occasion arises, to religious, to priests, bishops and even the Holy Father. In some ways, this mission to go to the lost sheep we know is more challenging than going to dangerous missionary territories overseas because it requires profound conversion, since those closest to us can most readily see if our actions contradict the words we try to proclaim. We can’t get away with subtle arguments and beautiful words, but we have to radiate to them the salvation we’ve received from Christ and his zeal for their souls, we have to love them into conversion. At the same time, however, those closet to us are the ones to whom, with God’s help, we might be the most effective instruments God can use to bring them the message of conversion and salvation. We know them. We know what buttons to push and not to push far better than any foreign missionary might. If they’re away from the practice of the faith, or have never practiced, then we will also have better access to them than any priest, nun, or missionary. In involving us in his mission, Jesus wants to give us the joy of seeing his salvation dawn in others, in becoming the greatest benefactors anyone will ever have, because we are the ones called by God to bring them the greatest treasure.
This week as we begin the National Eucharistic Congress and prepare to commit to being missionaries of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, we will also be bringing to conclusion an historic Eucharistic apostolate that has been taking place over 65 days: the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. Since the Vigil of Pentecost on May 18, four different teams of missionaries have been literally transporting Jesus from the Atlantic and Pacific, from the northern and southern borders of the country, to Indianapolis, encountering more than 100,000 people along the way, and showing that Jesus Christ is alive, that the Kingdom of God is still at hand because the King reigns in the Eucharist, and inviting others to join us in the Eucharistic pilgrimage that constitutes the Christian life. One of the most fundamental aspects of our Eucharistic mission is to proclaim unabashedly that Jesus Christ is with us, and to show by our infectious faith in him that life with him is so much richer. As we thank Jesus for all the graces of the last 65 days, we ask him to help us all learn how to proclaim him with faith and love, with courage and effectiveness, all our days.
This Sunday, the same Jesus who sent out the apostles in the Gospel comes to be with us in our Churches. He comes to us in the Eucharist so that we might enter into his kingdom through Holy Communion and be strengthened to go forth to announce that kingdom, filling people with hope that God-with-us is still with us and the great hope that if we repent and believe, if we draw close to him in the Sacraments, then we will experience the fulfillment of the great promise of his kingdom that will know no end! This is what we will be celebrating at the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. This is what we’re meant to celebrate and live all our days.

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1
Hos 10:1-3, 7-8, 12
Israel is a luxuriant vine
whose fruit matches its growth.
The more abundant his fruit,
the more altars he built;
The more productive his land,
the more sacred pillars he set up.
Their heart is false,
now they pay for their guilt;
God shall break down their altars
and destroy their sacred pillars.
If they would say,
“We have no king”—
Since they do not fear the LORD,
what can the king do for them?
The king of Samaria shall disappear,
like foam upon the waters.
The high places of Aven shall be destroyed,
the sin of Israel;
thorns and thistles shall overgrow their altars.
Then they shall cry out to the mountains, “Cover us!”
and to the hills, “Fall upon us!”
“Sow for yourselves justice,
reap the fruit of piety;
break up for yourselves a new field,
for it is time to seek the LORD,
till he come and rain down justice upon you.”
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 105:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
R. (4b) Seek always the face of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
R. Seek always the face of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.
R. Seek always the face of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. Seek always the face of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
Mk 1:15
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Kingdom of God is at hand:
repent and believe in the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 10:1-7
Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot
who betrayed Jesus.
Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
“Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
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10 min
July 13, 2024 Effectively Transmitting Our Eucharistic Faith Like Louis and Zelie Martin, St. Michael’s Parish, Greenfield, Indiana, July 12, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Michael’s Parish, Greenfield, Indiana
Eucharistic Holy Hour
July 12, 2024

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29 min
July 13, 2024 Pilgrimage Along the Straight Paths of the Lord, 14th Friday (II), July 12, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Joseph Church, Shelbyville, Indiana
Friday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Memorial of SS. Louis and Zelie Martin
July 12, 2024
Hos 14:2-10, Ps 51, Mt 10:16-23

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Reading 1
HOS 14:2-10
Thus says the LORD:
Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;
you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words,
and return to the LORD;
Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,
and receive what is good, that we may render
as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us,
nor shall we have horses to mount;
We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion.”
I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and raise grain;
They shall blossom like the vine,
and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?
I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.
“I am like a verdant cypress tree”—
because of me you bear fruit!
Let him who is wise understand these things;
let him who is prudent know them.
Straight are the paths of the LORD,
in them the just walk,
but sinners stumble in them.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 51:3-4, 8-9, 12-13, 14 AND 17
R. (17b) My mouth will declare your praise.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
Behold, you are pleased with sincerity of heart,
and in my inmost being you teach me wisdom.
Cleanse me of sin with hyssop, that I may be purified;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
Alleluia
JN 16:13A; 14:26D
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
When the Spirit of truth comes,
he will guide you to all truth
and remind you of all I told you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
MT 10:16-23
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men,
for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.
Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man comes.”
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18 min
July 12, 2024 St. Vincent de Paul and Our Interior Eucharistic Pilgrimage, St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Shelbyville, Indiana, July 11, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Shelbyville, Indiana
Holy Hour Reflection
July 11, 2024

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27 min
July 11, 2024 Entering the Eucharistic School of the Lord’s Service, 14th Thursday (II), July 11, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Martin Church, Yorkville, Indiana
Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Memorial of St. Benedict
July 11, 2024
Hos 11:1-4.8-9, Ps 80, Mt 10:7-15

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To watch an audio recoding of the Mass, please click below:

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1
Hos 11:1-4, 8e-9
Thus says the LORD:
When Israel was a child I loved him,
out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them,
the farther they went from me,
Sacrificing to the Baals
and burning incense to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
who took them in my arms;
I drew them with human cords,
with bands of love;
I fostered them like one
who raises an infant to his cheeks;
Yet, though I stooped to feed my child,
they did not know that I was their healer.My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity is stirred.
I will not give vent to my blazing anger,
I will not destroy Ephraim again;
For I am God and not man,
the Holy One present among you;
I will not let the flames consume you.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 80:2ac and 3b, 15-16
R. (4b) Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken.
From your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Rouse your power.
R. Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see:
Take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted,
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
R. Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
Alleluia
Mk 1:15
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Kingdom of God is at hand:
repent and believe in the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 10:7-15
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“As you go, make this proclamation:
‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.
Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts;
no sack for the journey, or a second tunic,
or sandals, or walking stick.
The laborer deserves his keep.
Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it,
and stay there until you leave.
As you enter a house, wish it peace.
If the house is worthy,
let your peace come upon it;
if not, let your peace return to you.
Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—
go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.
Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment
than for that town.”
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36 min

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Father Roger J. Landry is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, who works for the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York.