Catholic Preaching

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan

Solemnity of St. Joseph

March 20, 2023

2 Sam 7:4-5.12-14.16, Ps 89, Rom 4:13.16-18.22, Mt 1:16.18-21.24

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/3.20.23_Homily_1.mp3

 

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: [to be filled out]

* One of the great joys of my priesthood has been to see how the Church has been growing in devotion to St. Joseph. From December 8, 2020 through December 8, 2021, the Church marked a Year of St. Joseph, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the December 8, 1870 declaration by Bl. Pope Pius IX of St. Joseph’s being declared patron of the universal church. At the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis extended St. John XXIII’s decision to include St. Joseph in Eucharistic Prayer I to all of the other Eucharistic Prayers. Many, helped by Fr. Donald Calloway’s book, have been consecrating themselves to St. Joseph and his protection. In an age in which authentic manliness and the importance of fatherhood have been underappreciated not just in popular culture and education but in various pockets of the Church, devotion to St. Joseph is a very healthy remedy. Today is an opportunity for us to express our gratitude for, and receive more deeply, the protection and provision God wants to give us through Saint Joseph, entrusting ourselves to his spiritual fatherhood and intercession. The best way, however, to mark this great feast — like the feast of any saint — is to seek to imitate St. Joseph in his holiness. As Pope Leo XIII wrote, “There is no doubt that [Joseph] approached nearer than any other to that super-eminent dignity of [Mary] by which the Mother of God surpasses all created natures.” For Pope Leo, St. Joseph is second on the hierarchy of holiness right behind his immaculate and sinless spouse. Today we can ponder ten special features of his holiness, ten virtues that he contagiously and helpfully exemplifies.

* First, St. Joseph is just — St. Matthew writes that St. Joseph was a “just” or “righteous” man, a synonym for “holy,” a person in a right relationship with God. He may not have been flashy on the outside but he shone on the inside. St. Frances de Sales once said about him, “He was ‘a just man,’ and so his will was at all times attuned, conformed and united to the will of God.” As Pope Benedict once said in a rare play on words, St. Joseph “ad-justed” his life to the word of God. His whole life was in relationship to God. He shows us how to attune our lives fully to God’s will.

* Second, he is faithful based on total trust in God— Like Abraham, to whom he is implicitly compared in today’s second reading, St. Joseph is a “father in faith” to us. His example invites us to imitate his loving trust, his total abandonment to divine Providence, to take God “at his word,” that is, without clearly seeing his design. When the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home,” he did as the angel had commanded him precisely because he believed. Bishop Jacques Bénigne Bossuet commented in his famous 17th-century panegyrics, “The Bible commends Abraham to us as the pattern of perfect faith (Rom. 4:11), but Joseph’s faith was greater: Abraham is praised because he believed that a barren woman would bear a child (Gen. 15:6); Joseph believed the same of a virgin, and in simplicity accepted that inscrutable mystery of child-bearing maidenhood.” Pope Benedict said 14 years ago today in Cameroon, “Throughout all of history, Joseph is the man who gives God the greatest display of trust, even in the face of such astonishing news.” To say that his is the greatest display of trust of all is something extraordin...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A

March 19, 2023

1 Sam 16:1.6-7.10-13, Ps 23, Eph 5:8-14, Jn 9:1-41

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/3.19.23_Homily_CCM_1.mp3

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* The third to fifth Sundays of Lent are meant to help those preparing for baptism at Easter, and all those already baptized in the Church accompanying them, to realize crucial realities about the Sacrament and the Christian life to which it leads. Last week, in the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well, we see Jesus’ thirst for us and the type of thirst we’re supposed to have for him who is the living water. Baptism, in other words, is not just a ceremony, but an immersion in Christ’s own life, and we’re supposed to hunger and thirst for the holiness life in Christ imparts. Next week, we’ll accompany Jesus as he raises his friend Lazarus from the dead, and we’ll have the change to ponder how in baptism we die and rise anew in Christ, as we put to death in us the old Adam and at Christ’s voice come forth from the tomb to live with him.

* Today on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the Church has us meditate on the illumination Christ imparts in baptism. Just as at St. Paul’s baptism, scales fell from his eyes after he was blinded meeting Christ outside the Damascus city gates, so in every baptism our eyes are meant to be opened to see all things differently. This process is depicted in the famous miracle by which Christ heals a man blind from birth in today’s Gospel. The blind doesn’t cry out for help. He’s just there, along the road, and becomes the subject of a theological question from the disciples about the cause of his blindness. Jesus states that the reason that man was blind from birth was to allow God’s works to show through him; his whole life in darkness until that point was so that he could encounter the saving power of Jesus and from that moment onward be a conspicuous example of God’s own light illuminating him so that he might walk in light. This truth influences the way Jesus performs this miracle, because Jesus had two healings in mind — first a physical one for him and then a spiritual one for him and for us all.

* The Lord spits on the ground, makes mud with his saliva, and then goes up unbidden to the blind man and smears his eyes with mud. What must the blind man have been thinking? What would your reaction be, for example, if someone right now came up from behind you and put muddy saliva on your eyelids? The blind man in the Gospel could have easily thought that someone was making fun of him or abusing him, as probably happened often. But the Lord was not done. Jesus then tells him to go to wash in the pool of Siloam. The blind man easily could have thought, “What a stupid, pointless and dangerous hassle! Cover me with mud and spit and then send me, who can’t see, to wash in a pool, where I can easily fall in and drown!” Jesus, however, must have given that command in a way that inspired trust. By his willingness to carry out this simple imperative Jesus gives him, the blind man embarks, without knowing it, on the great adventure of faith, on the exciting journey from darkness into light. Jesus allows this man to participate actively in his own healing, so that through the process, he might receive not just the ability to see the physical light of the world but also a much deeper light, the light of faith in Jesus, the true light of the world.

* Three-and-a-half weeks ago, Jesus did something to us similar to what he did to the man born blind in today’s Gospel. We went up to someone acting in His Name,

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Convent of the Missionaries of Charity, Bronx, NY

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A

March 19, 2023

1 Sam 16:1.6-7.10-13, Ps 23, Eph 5:8-14, Jn 9:1-41

 

To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/3.19.23_Homily_1.mp3

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* In today’s Gospel, something very different happens than in all the other miracles in which Jesus cured those who had no sight. First, unlike in the other cases, the blind man doesn’t cry out for help. He’s just there, along the road, and becomes the subject of a theological question from the disciples about the cause of his blindness. Jesus states that the reason that man was blind from birth was to allow God’s works to show through him; his whole life in darkness until that point was so that he could encounter the saving power of Jesus and from that moment onward be a conspicuous example of God’s own light shining ever more brightly through him. That truth influences the way Jesus performs this miracle, because Jesus had two healings in mind — first a physical one for him and then a spiritual one for him and for us all.

* The Lord spits on the ground, makes mud with his saliva, and then goes up unbidden to the blind man and smears his eyes with mud. What must the blind man have been thinking? What would your reaction be, for example, if you were praying here with your eyes closed and someone else suddenly came up to you from behind and put muddy saliva on your eyelids? The blind man in the Gospel could have easily thought that someone was making fun of him or abusing him, as probably happened often. But the Lord is not done. Jesus then tells him to go to wash in the pool of Siloam. The blind man easily could have thought, “What a stupid, pointless and dangerous hassle! Make me dirty and then send me, who can’t see, to wash in a pool, where I could easily fall in and drown!” Jesus, however, must have given that command in a way that inspired trust. By his willingness to carry out this simple imperative Jesus gives him, the man embarks, without knowing it, on the great adventure of faith, on the exciting journey from darkness into light. Jesus allows this man, unlike the other blind men he cured — and this is the second difference from the other cures Jesus worked — to participate actively in his own healing, so that through the process, he might receive not just the ability to see the physical light of the world but also a much deeper light, the light of faith in Jesus, the true light of the world.

* Three-and-a-half weeks ago, Jesus did something to us similar to what he did to the man born blind in today’s Gospel. We went up to someone acting in His Name, who smudged our foreheads not with muddy saliva but moistened ashes, and gave us a two-part command, the very same directive with which Jesus began His whole public ministry, “Repent and believe in the Gospel!” This was Jesus’ pathway for us to participate in our own healing during this blessed time of Lent, in our own coming from the darkness into the light of Christ, in our own exodus from sin to love, in our own Passover from death to life. Some might be tempted to consider this more or less an empty ritual, something merely symbolic — especially if we are blind to our own sinfulness! —  but Jesus wanted to work in us during this time a true miracle of healing, through our participation and trust in this two-part therapeutic process.

* The pathway for the cure of our blindness begins with repenting, which means turning away from the life of sin that blinds us. As the Catechism and human experience teach so clearly, sin darkens the intellect and distorts the will so that often we can no longer even see the good clearly or easily choose it when...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

St. John’s Parish, McLean, Virginia

Parish Day of Recollection: “The Eucharistic Revival and a Holy Lent”

March 18, 2023

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/3.18.23_Eucharistic_Apostolate_1.mp3

Fr. Roger J. Landry

St. John’s Parish, McLean, Virginia

Parish Day of Recollection: “The Eucharistic Revival and a Holy Lent”

March 18, 2023

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/3.18.23_Eucharistic_Almsgiving_1.mp3

Fr. Roger J. Landry

St. John’s Parish, McLean, Virginia

Parish Day of Recollection: “The Eucharistic Revival and a Holy Lent”

March 18, 2023

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/3.18.23_Desert_Adoration_1.mp3

Fr. Roger J. Landry

St. John’s Parish, McLean, Virginia

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

March 18, 2023

Hos 6:1-6, Ps 51, Lk 18:9-14

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/3.18.23_Homily_1.mp3

 

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today, as we enter more deeply into the Eucharistic dimension of Lent, the readings help us focus on the connection between God’s mercy and the right worship of God. Pope Benedict once commented on the fact that at the beginning of the Last Supper Christ washed the feet of his apostles. In his dialogue with St. Peter, when St. Peter first objected to having Christ do the work of a slave and wash his feet, Jesus told him that unless Peter allowed him to wash his feet, he would have no part in him. Then Peter asked to have not just his feet washed but his hands and head as well, but Jesus said that one who has been bathed has no need to but to have his feet washed. Pope Benedict said that the bathing to which Jesus referred was baptism and the washing of the feet, that part of us that is in contact with the world, refers to the Sacrament of Confession. It is a prelude to how, in order to celebrate Mass well, come washed in God’s mercy.

* “I desire mercy!,” God says to us today through the Prophet Hosea and that we repeat in the Responsorial Psalm. God desires mercy! He desires it in two ways. First, he desires to share with us his mercy. God’s greatest joy is forgiving, Pope Francis continually repeats, following what Jesus teaches us in the three parables of the Lost Sheep, Coin and Son. He wants us to receive that gift of his compassionate love. But he also desires us, having received it, to be transformed so that we, too, may pass on that mercy to others. He says he desires mercy instead of sacrifice, with sacrifice understood as the slaughtering of animals as an external act of repentance. The type of sacrifice he wants, we pray in today’s Psalm, is a “contrite spirit,” for “a heart contrite and humbled” God will never spurn. We seek to come before the Lord at Mass with that type of spirit and heart, made so by his mercy that wipes out our offenses, thoroughly washes us from our guilt and cleanses us of our sins.

* God wants us to grow in our receiving his mercy and our sharing in it. That’s what’s pointed to in the image of Hosea in today’s first reading. God says that the piety of those in Ephraim (Samaria) and Judah is “like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away.” It’s a powerful image. In context, their faithfulness to receiving and sharing his merciful love is like dew on the grass that just doesn’t last. It evaporates as the day draws near. It passes away in the middle of the day and as life goes on. God’s people started out faithfully early in life but that piety dissipated. God was saying through the prophet that he wanted to show mercy, but that they weren’t open to receiving it. They weren’t persevering in receiving it. Hosea instructed them that the Lord had been trying to bring them to conversion, but they were superficial like the dew. “Come, let us return to the Lord, it is he who has rent, but he will heal us; he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds. He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence [a clear reference to how he will do it through Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection!] … He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth.” Sometimes our life, sometimes our day, can begin like the beautiful refreshing dew, with all types of sentiments and actions of piety and faith, with great recognition of our need for God and his merciful love, but then we allow that inner reverence and love to...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

St. John’s Parish, McLean, Virginia

Parish Day of Recollection: “The Eucharistic Revival and a Holy Lent”

March 17, 2023

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/3.17.23_Fasting_for_the_Feast_of_Faith_1.mp3

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Conversations with Consequences Podcast

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, A, Vigil

March 18, 2023

 

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/3.18.23_Landry_ConCon_1.mp3

 

The following text guided the short homily: 

* This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a privilege to have a chance to ponder with you the consequential conversation God wants to have with us as we mark the Fourth Sunday of Lent. In the Gospel, Jesus will cure a man blind from birth, but he works this miracle far differently from the many other times he cured those who had no sight. In the other cases, the blind men asked, in fact, cried out, begging for help. This Sunday, the blind man doesn’t say a thing. He’s just there, along the road, and becomes the object of a theological question from the disciples about the cause of his blindness. Jesus stated that the reason he was was blind from birth was to allow God’s works to show through him; his whole life in darkness until that point was so that he could encounter the saving power of Jesus and from that moment onward be a tremendously conspicuous example of God’s own light shining brightly through him. That truth influences the way Jesus performs this miracle, because Jesus had two healings in mind — first a physical one for him and then a spiritual one for him and for us all.

* The Lord Jesus first spits on the ground, makes mud with his saliva, and then goes up unbidden to the blind man and smears his eyes with mud. The blind man could have easily thought that someone was making fun of and abusing him, as probably happened often. But the Lord is not done. Jesus then tells him to go to wash in the pool of Siloam. The blind man could have reckoned, “What a stupid and pointless hassle! Wipe mud on my eyes and then send me, who can’t see, to wash in a pool, where I can easily fall in and drown.” Jesus, however, must have given that command in a way that inspired trust. By the man’s willingness to carry out this simple imperative Jesus gives him, the man embarks, without knowing it, on the great adventure of faith, on the exciting journey from darkness into light. Jesus allows this man, unlike the other blind men he cured — and this is the second difference from the other cures Jesus worked — to participate actively in his own healing, so that through the process, he might receive not just the ability to see the physical light of the world but also a much deeper light, the light of faith in Jesus, the true light of the world.

* Three-and-a-half weeks ago, Jesus did to us something similar to what he did to the man born blind in this Sunday’s Gospel. Someone acting in His Name smudged our foreheads not with muddy saliva but moistened ashes, and gave us a two-part command, the very same directive with which Jesus began His whole public ministry, “Repent and believe in the Gospel!” This was Jesus’ way for us to participate in our own healing during this blessed time of Lent, in our own coming from the darkness into his light, in our own exodus from sin to love, in our own Passover from death to life. We might have been tempted to consider this more or less an empty rite, something merely symbolic, but Jesus wanted to work in us during this time a true miracle of healing, through our participation and trust in this two-part therapeutic process.

* The first part of the cure of our blindness begins with repenting, which means turning away from the life of sin that blinds us. Sin darkens the intellect and distorts the will so that often we can no longer even see the good clearly or easily choose it when we do.

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Columbia Campus Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan

Feast of St. Patrick

Readings from the Friday of the Third Week of Lent

March 17, 2023

Hos 14:2-10, Ps 81, Mk 12:28-34

 

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

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/3.17.23_Homily_1.mp3

 

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* On Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, God made a special appeal to each of us through the Prophet Joel: “Return to me with your whole heart.” He asked us to “rend our hearts,” to rip them open to receive his merciful love and to share his compassion with others, a summons that not only should influence the way we read today’s Gospel, but is also at the heart of this second phase of Lent — from the 3rd Sunday through the end of the 4th week — when we ponder the meaning of baptism for the Elect preparing for Baptism as well as for all of us who need to grow in living the consequences of our baptism. We can interpret today’s reading in a baptismal key, for this is one of the most commonly chosen readings for the celebration of baptism, since it shows us what the purpose of a Christian life is and how we can keep our end of the baptismal Covenant with the Lord. When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus responds, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.’” Today Jesus reminds us that the whole point of the Lenten season, the whole point of the Christian life to which Lent is meant to restore us, is to return with our whole heart in love to God, and not just our heart, but to return to him with our whole soul, mind and strength as well, to receive his merciful love without any obstacles and then to learn how to let that mercy we’ve received become the way which we respond to others.

* It’s important that we truly confront what Jesus is asking of us. There are many Christians who believe they love the Lord simply because they have good thoughts about him, they admire him, they think that he’s kind, merciful and generous. But Jesus is calling for much more than this. Love is more than having good feelings or impressions about another; love is the unconquerable benevolence that leads to willing, to choosing consistently, the good of the other for the other’s sake. Love is opting as a habit to sacrifice oneself for another, putting someone else ahead of us, like Jesus would say during the Last Supper and put into action the following afternoon: laying down one’s life for one’s friends, in little ways or supremely. There are many Christians who love God to the point of sacrificing for him, but as today’s Gospel shows us, it’s not enough to sacrifice some of the time and gifts that he’s given us for him and his glory. It’s not enough to give God some of our mind, heart, soul and strength. Jesus is calling us to love God with all we’ve got. Today he says that that’s worth more than all sacrifices. To get to that type of love requires a deep conversion on our part. It means that our hope is not just to be good people but to be really holy people.

* We should make this practical. We need to examine how we use our mind to love the Lord, to seek to think as he thinks, to fill our minds with his thoughts through prayer and reading the Bible and good spiritual books. We need to look at whether we love him with all our heart, loving him more than everything and everyone else in our life, including our life. We need to question whether we’re loving him with 100 percent of our strength,