Catholic Preaching

By Father Roger LandryReligion & Spirituality Christianity

Catholic Preaching episodes

July 10, 2024 Bearing Fruit from the Luxuriant Vine of Communion with Christ, 14th Wednesday (II), July 10, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Martin Church, Yorkville, Indiana
Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Votive Mass of the Holy Eucharist
July 10, 2024
Hos 10:1-3.7-8.12, Ps 105, Mt 10:1-7

To listen to an audio version of the homily, please click below:
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To watch the Mass, please click below:

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.’”
The post Bearing Fruit from the Luxuriant Vine of Communion with Christ, 14th Wednesday (II), July 10, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
36 min
July 10, 2024 Passing On As of the First Importance Our Eucharistic Inheritance and Legacy, St. Martin’s Church, Yorkville, July 9, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Martin Church, Yorkville, Indiana
Eucharistic Meditation during a Holy Hour
Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Church in Dearborn County
July 9, 2024

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To watch the homily, please click below:
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54 min
July 09, 2024 Receiving and Extending Jesus’ Eucharistic Mercy, 14th Tuesday (II), July 9, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. John the Baptist Church, Guilford, Indiana
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Votive Mass of the Holy Eucharist
Memorial of the Martyrs of Gorkum
Memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Campanions
July 9, 2024
Hos 9:4-7.11-13, Ps 115, Mt 9:32-38

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
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To watch the Mass, please click below:

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1
Hos 8:4-7, 11-13
Thus says the LORD:
They made kings in Israel, but not by my authority;
they established princes, but without my approval.
With their silver and gold they made
idols for themselves, to their own destruction.
Cast away your calf, O Samaria!
my wrath is kindled against them;
How long will they be unable to attain
innocence in Israel?
The work of an artisan,
no god at all,
Destined for the flames—
such is the calf of Samaria!When they sow the wind,
they shall reap the whirlwind;
The stalk of grain that forms no ear
can yield no flour;
Even if it could,
strangers would swallow it.When Ephraim made many altars to expiate sin,
his altars became occasions of sin.
Though I write for him my many ordinances,
they are considered as a stranger’s.
Though they offer sacrifice,
immolate flesh and eat it,
the LORD is not pleased with them.
He shall still remember their guilt
and punish their sins;
they shall return to Egypt.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 115:3-4, 5-6, 7ab-8, 9-10
R. (9a) The house of Israel trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Our God is in heaven;
whatever he wills, he does.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the handiwork of men.
R. The house of Israel trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
They have mouths but speak not;
they have eyes but see not;
They have ears but hear not;
they have noses but smell not.
R. The house of Israel trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
They have hands but feel not;
they have feet but walk not.
Their makers shall be like them,
everyone that trusts in them.
R. The house of Israel trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
Jn 10:14
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 9:32-38
A demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus,
and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke.
The crowds were amazed and said,
“Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
But the Pharisees said,
“He drives out demons by the prince of demons.”Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”
The post Receiving and Extending Jesus’ Eucharistic Mercy, 14th Tuesday (II), July 9, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
31 min
July 09, 2024 Jesus’ Alluring Ourselves to Him in the Eucharist, 14th Monday (II), July 8, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. John the Baptist Church, Guilford, Indiana
Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Votive Mass of the Holy Eucharist
July 8, 2024
Hos 2:16-18.21-22, Ps 145, Mt 9:18-26

To listen to an audio recording of tonight’s homily, please click below:
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The readings for Mass were:
Reading 1
Hos 2:16, 17c-18, 21-22
Thus says the LORD:
I will allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak to her heart.
She shall respond there as in the days of her youth,
when she came up from the land of Egypt.On that day, says the LORD,
She shall call me “My husband,”
and never again “My baal.”
I will espouse you to me forever:
I will espouse you in right and in justice,
in love and in mercy;
I will espouse you in fidelity,
and you shall know the LORD.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8a) The Lord is gracious and merciful.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.
Generation after generation praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.
They discourse of the power of your terrible deeds
and declare your greatness.
They publish the fame of your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your justice.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.
Alleluia
See 2 Tm 1:10
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 9:18-26
While Jesus was speaking, an official came forward,
knelt down before him, and said,
“My daughter has just died.
But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.”
Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples.
A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him
and touched the tassel on his cloak.
She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.”
Jesus turned around and saw her, and said,
“Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.”
And from that hour the woman was cured.
When Jesus arrived at the official’s house
and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion,
he said, “Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.”
And they ridiculed him.
When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand,
and the little girl arose.
And news of this spread throughout all that land.
The post Jesus’ Alluring Ourselves to Him in the Eucharist, 14th Monday (II), July 8, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
32 min
July 08, 2024 Receiving the Eucharistic Jesus like Mary and Joseph and Not The Other Nazarenes, Fourteenth Sunday (B), July 7, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Lawrence Parish, Cincinnati, Ohio
Sunday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year B
July 7, 2024
Ezek 2:2-5, Ps 123, 2 Cor 12:7-10, Mk 6:1-6

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.7.24_Homily_Nazareth_1.mp3

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1
Ez 2:2-5
As the LORD spoke to me, the spirit entered into me
and set me on my feet,
and I heard the one who was speaking say to me:
Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites,
rebels who have rebelled against me;
they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day.
Hard of face and obstinate of heart
are they to whom I am sending you.
But you shall say to them: Thus says the LORD GOD!
And whether they heed or resist—for they are a rebellious house—
they shall know that a prophet has been among them.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 123:1-2, 2, 3-4
R. (2cd) Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven —
As the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
Have pity on us, O LORD, have pity on us,
for we are more than sated with contempt;
our souls are more than sated
with the mockery of the arrogant,
with the contempt of the proud.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
Reading 2
2 Cor 12:7-10
Brothers and sisters:
That I, Paul, might not become too elated,
because of the abundance of the revelations,
a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan,
to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.
Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,
but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is made perfect in weakness.”
I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.
Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints,
for the sake of Christ;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Alleluia
Cf. Lk 4:18
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mk 6:1-6
Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, “Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?”
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
The post Receiving the Eucharistic Jesus like Mary and Joseph and Not The Other Nazarenes, Fourteenth Sunday (B), July 7, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
37 min
July 06, 2024Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), Conversations with Consequences Podcast, July 6, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
Conversations with Consequences Podcast
Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, B, Vigil
July 6, 2024

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.6.24_Landry_ConCon_1.mp3

The following text guided the homily:
This is Father Roger Landry and it’s a joy for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus this Sunday, as we ponder a scene that should bring those who truly love Jesus almost to the point of tears. Jesus came to his hometown. He already had a famous reputation for the teachings and the miracles he had worked throughout Galilee. He had cast out demons, cured the paralyzed and the sick, and taught with authority unlike any had ever heard. He visited his neighborhood synagogue — the equivalent of his parish Church — on the Sabbath, just like he did every Saturday as a boy and young carpenter.
The head of the Synagogue allowed him to come up to teach. St. Luke’s Gospel tells us what he did (see Lk 4:16-30). Jesus unrolled the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and read the passage, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Is 61:1-2). This was a passage referring to the Messiah for whom the Jews had long waited. Jesus’ homily, his commentary on that passage, was one sentence long: “Today,” he declared, “this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Mark and St. Luke both tell us that his listeners’ first reaction to Jesus’ teaching was astonishment. They were amazed at the “gracious words that came from his mouth” and “the wisdom that had been given to him.” But that quickly changed once they began to reflect on what he said. Through fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy, Jesus was basically announcing that he was the Messiah, that all the words that the prophet wrote about the coming Anointed One were taking place right then, right there. The future apostle Nathaniel (also known as Bartholomew) once wondered aloud whether anything good could come from Nazareth.
Those in the Synagogue likely shared that sentiment, because they refused to accept that one from among their own could be the fulfillment of their messianic hopes. They thought they knew Jesus. They likely had pieces of furniture he made. Perhaps he had played with them, or their kids or grandkids when he was younger. So, to knock him down to size, they began to murmur to themselves, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?” Their doubts soon multiplied and, as St. Mark tells us, they began to “take offense at Jesus.” Not only would they not believe what Jesus said, but they began to be offended by him, because if he were the Messiah, it would necessarily change their relationship with him and, in fact, revolutionize their whole life. Jesus knew their thoughts and said, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown, among his own kin and in his own house.”
That, St. Luke tells us, “filled them with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff, but he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.” In the matter of a few minutes, they went from praising Jesus with amazement, to doubts, to taking offense at him, to trying to murder him. Not only would they not accept Jesus as a prophet by heeding his words and welcoming him as they would the God who sent him, but they — like preceding generations whom Jesus would say elsewhere “kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to it” (Mt 23:37) — would seek to execute him.
Jesus’ reaction to all of this, St. Mark informs us, was “amazement at their lack of faith.” In other cities, strangers who didn’t know him growing up were willing to leave everything to follow him, were moved and converted by his preaching, and were blown away by his miraculous power such that with faith they were bringing to him all those who needed help. But among his own people, he was rejected and deemed worthy of death. The question we need to ask is: Why did they reject him and ultimately try to kill him? St. John gives us the answer in the prologue to his Gospel: “He came to his own, and his own people did not accept him. … The light came into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” They didn’t want a real Messiah, even or especially if he were a native son.
They preferred, rather, to keep their concept of Messiah neatly packaged, unthreatening, and something aspirational and futuresque; they didn’t want a prophet in the here and now, because if Jesus were the Messiah, then their day to day existence, their conduct, their values, and everything else would have to change, and they preferred to live in the darkness of a life without the Messiah and without the real God. They preferred, unconsciously, not to have Scripture fulfilled in their hearing, to have the good news announced to them, to be set free from their self-imposed prisons or to be cured of their spiritual blindness. They preferred, to use the words God said to Ezekiel in this Sunday’s first reading, to be “hard of face and obstinate of heart” and “rebellious,” and to make God’s true messengers feel, like we will hear in the Psalm, full of “contempt, … with the mockery of the arrogant, with the contempt of the proud.”
But this Gospel does not refer merely to what happened 2,000 years ago when Jesus returned to Nazareth. Like every Gospel, it must be actualized, applied to the present day. Who are Jesus’ “own” people today? Who are his kinsmen, the modern Nazarenes that he wants to accept him as a prophet and have Scripture fulfilled in their midst? We are. Through baptism, we have become true members of his family, his spiritual brothers and sisters. Through the Eucharist, we become, we can say, his blood relatives. Many, perhaps most, of us have grown up with the Lord our whole lives. We’re literally “familiar” with him. As with our other relatives, we have pictures of him at home, celebrate his birthday every December, and mark the most important moment of his life each spring. The question for us is whether we, like the majority of ancient Nazarenes, allow our familiarity with Jesus actually to weaken, rather than strengthen, our faith. Do we allow our greater contact with Jesus to make us take him for granted or to help us grow in love for him?
As we come off the celebration of the Fourth of July during this past week and pray for our country, all its cities, towns and inhabitants, it’s important to learn the lessons of Nazareth. Nazareth is a tale of two towns. On the one hand, it’s a place of the most important welcoming of all time, when Mary, hearing God’s proposal through the Archangel Gabriel, replied, “Let it be done to me according to your word,” and by the power of the Holy Spirit, on behalf of the human race, welcomed God into her womb with faith-filled love. It’s also the place where, months later, after Mary had returned from helping her cousin Elizabeth and Joseph had seen her very much pregnant, he, with the help of the angel of the Lord who appeared to him to assist him to overcome his fear, welcomed both her and Jesus growing within her, into his home and life. Nazareth is first and above all a place of loving welcome. But it’s also, as we see in this week’s Gospel, a place of harsh and even homicidal rejection, where in a heartbeat Jesus’ fellow Nazarenes went from praying to trying to murder their guest preacher!
As we look with love at our country as a whole and all our neighborhoods, the big question for the Church and our Church’s huge role in society is: will we accept or reject Jesus? We show whether we have faith in Jesus by whether we put faith in his words and act on them. When Jesus comes to us, his own, as the light of the world, do we live and walk in the light of the Lord or do we “love darkness?” When he comes to us hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, ill or imprisoned, do we care for him or cast him aside? When he teaches us that whatever we do to the least of his brothers and sisters we do to him, do we therefore care for him in the littlest of his brethren, those growing in the womb, or do we look the other way when some want to celebrate their slaughter as a huge advance in human rights? When Jesus speaks to us about purity of heart or about the importance of marriage in God’s plan from the beginning as the indissoluble union of one man and one woman, do we order our lives to the truth or do we prefer the Barabbas of the sexual revolution? When he teaches us about loving our enemies, praying for our persecutors, forgiving 70 times 7 times, seeking first his kingdom, and picking up our cross daily and following him, do we strive to live by the light of those words or do we ignore them? The biggest question of our life is whether we will welcome, embrace and love Jesus as a prophet, the Messiah, the Savior, the Way, the Truth and the Life or whether we will ignore, reject, or even ultimately, like those in Nazareth and later in Pilate’s courtyard, seek to snuff him out.
The second biggest question of our life is whether we are prepared, in living according to Jesus’ words and announcing them as genuinely good news to others, to suffer out of love for Him, others and the truth, what Jesus himself suffered. If the Nazarenes did not want to accept Jesus as prophet because what he taught made them uneasy, we should be under no illusion that everyone will accept us when we live out the prophetic dimension of our baptism and confirmation. Jesus promised that the servant is not greater than the Master and if they hated him they would hate us. If we’re faithful to Christ, we, like him, will experience difficult rejection by some, including by those we know and love in our family or hometown. To be a true Christian today requires this type of holy realism.
This obviously has an important application to the ongoing Eucharistic Revival. Jesus’ astonishing gift of himself in the Eucharist is rejected by many. Five of six Catholics don’t go to be with him and receive him even on the Lord’s day. Fewer make the time to go visit him in prayerful adoration. And those Christians who, recognizing that the Eucharist is Jesus Christ, make the commitment to try to come to receive him as often as they can, even every day, and who make time to come to pray before him, are often mocked, not just by those enslaved to secularist categories but sometimes by Protestant brothers and sisters. This reality of our welcoming or rejecting Jesus in the Eucharist is one of the most important questions the ongoing Eucharistic Revival is meant to raise and remedy.
This Christian Sabbath, the same Jesus who came to his own in Nazareth, comes to the Catholic Church closest to us. He will teach us in Sacred Scripture and bring the words of the prophets to fulfillment. He will feed us with himself as the Word made Flesh, which is his continuous incarnation. Through the intercession of the Holy Family of Nazareth, Mary and Joseph, let us welcome Jesus with great love, receive his words as words to be done, and become his instruments to help our homes, neighborhoods and country grow in gratitude and responsiveness for all the grace God has shed on our spacious skies, amber waves of grain, purple mountain majesties, and fruited plains.

The Gospel passage on which the homily was based was:
Gospel
Mk 6:1-6
Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, “Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?”
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
The post Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), Conversations with Consequences Podcast, July 6, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
11 min
July 06, 2024 Our Emmaus Moment in Madeira, Votive Mass of the Holy Eucharist, St. Gertrude Parish, Madeira, Ohio, July 5, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Gertrude Parish, Madeira, Ohio
Votive Mass of the Holy Eucharist
July 5, 2024
Prov 9:1-6, Ps 116, Lk 24:13-36

To listen to the audio version of the homily, please click below:
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The post Our Emmaus Moment in Madeira, Votive Mass of the Holy Eucharist, St. Gertrude Parish, Madeira, Ohio, July 5, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
28 min
July 05, 2024 Cooperating in Christ’s Reconciling the World to Himself, Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, KY, July 4, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, Kentucky
Thursday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
Independence Day, Memorial of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Elizabeth of Portgual
July 4, 2024
Amos 7:10-17, Ps 19, Mt 9: 1-8

To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.4.24_Homily_1.mp3

The readings for this Mass were:
Reading 1
Am 7:10-17
Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam,
king of Israel:
“Amos has conspired against you here within Israel;
the country cannot endure all his words.
For this is what Amos says:
Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land.”To Amos, Amaziah said:
“Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah!
There earn your bread by prophesying,
but never again prophesy in Bethel;
for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.”
Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet,
nor have I belonged to a company of prophets;
I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.
The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me,
‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
Now hear the word of the LORD!”You say: prophesy not against Israel,
preach not against the house of Isaac.
Now thus says the LORD:
Your wife shall be made a harlot in the city,
and your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword;
Your land shall be divided by measuring line,
and you yourself shall die in an unclean land;
Israel shall be exiled far from its land.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11
R. (10cd) The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R. The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
The command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
R. The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
The ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
R. The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
Sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
R. The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.
Alleluia
2 Cor 5:19
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 9:1-8
After entering a boat, Jesus made the crossing, and came into his own town.
And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
“Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”
At that, some of the scribes said to themselves,
“This man is blaspheming.”
Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said,
“Why do you harbor evil thoughts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
But that you may know that the Son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sins”–
he then said to the paralytic,
“Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
He rose and went home.
When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe
and glorified God who had given such authority to men.
The post Cooperating in Christ’s Reconciling the World to Himself, Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, KY, July 4, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
24 min
July 04, 2024 Imitating St. Thomas’ Confession Toward Jesus in the Eucharist, Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, July 3, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Francis de Sales Parish, Lebanon, Ohio
Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle
July 3, 2024
Eph 2:19-22, Ps 117, Jn 20:24-29

To listen to an audio recoding of today’s homily, please click here:
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The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1
EPH 2:19-22
Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 117:1BC, 2
R. (Mark 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
For steadfast is his kindness for us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
Alleluia
JN 20:29
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You believe in me, Thomas, because you have seen me, says the Lord;
blessed are those who have not seen, but still believe!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
JN 20:24-29
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But Thomas said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
The post Imitating St. Thomas’ Confession Toward Jesus in the Eucharist, Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, July 3, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
18 min
July 03, 2024 Lessons on Approaching the Eucharistic Miracle by the Blessed Mother, Elizabeth Ann Seton and Francis de Sales, St. Francis de Sales, Lebanon, Ohio, July 2, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Francis de Sales Parish, Lebanon, Ohio
Eucharistic Adoration Reflection
July 2, 2024

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The post Lessons on Approaching the Eucharistic Miracle by the Blessed Mother, Elizabeth Ann Seton and Francis de Sales, St. Francis de Sales, Lebanon, Ohio, July 2, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
21 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.