Friends,

On this feast of the Archangels, we reflect on their names and what they tells us about God.

Michael means "Who is like God?"

Gabriel means "God is my strength."

Raphael means "God heals."

Friends,

In today's homily, I reflect on the importance of virtue in keeping the light of Grace shining brightly in us.  If we neglect virtue, that light becomes dimmed.

Our light must shine brightly in order to help those who have wandered off like sheep.  They seek curiosities instead of truth and need the light of Christ to find the path again.

Friends,

Yesterday we reflected on the two thieves beside Jesus during the crucifixion.  We reflected on how we are to choose the Faith of St. Dismas and rebuke the indifference of the impenitent thief within us.

Today, we reflect on Mary and her Sorrows.  We reflect on how the sword will pierce her as well.  She feels the suffering of Christ as if she were on the cross too. This is how we are to live our lives as disciples of Christ.

We must take his sufferings into our own bodies by taking up our crosses to follow him.  The world that mocked Christ will mock us as well.  A Christianity that seeks the praise of the world is a false Christianity because it conforms to the world and not to Christ who was hated by the world. 

Friends,

This Sunday is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.  Jesus hangs on the cross with two others.  We reflect on how each thief teaches us about how we react to Christ.  The choice is between Faith and Indifference.

Friends,

In today's episode, I share the homily which I preached to our middle schoolers today.

We hear in the Gospel how encountering Christ heals.  St. Paul also speaks about how taking the gospel into our hearts transforms our life.

We have been focusing this school year on helping our students enter into prayer in their walk with Christ.

This homily was inspired by some topics that came up in youth group recently.

Friends,

In today's Gospel we hear Jesus proclaim the fulfillment of a passage from Isaiah.  This passage is in reference to the Day of Atonement and the 50th year Jubilee.

I use material from Fr. Giambrone's book The Bible and the Priesthood to examine the significance of this proclamation.

Friends,

In today's homily, I reflect on how liturgy is a public work on behalf of the people.  The greek is often mistranslated as "Work of the People," but this understanding of liturgy seems to be at odds with Jesus' teaching in today's gospel.

Friends,

In this episode, we examine that question put to Christ.  Will only a few be saved?

Bishop Barron often quotes Hans Urs von Balthasar saying "Dare we hope that all men be saved?"  this seems an unlikely interpretation of scripture given our gospel readings of the past few weeks.

Worse, it also makes the unity between the teachings of the Catholic Church and scripture less obvious.

So, what are we to do with all this?

Friends,

In today's gospel, a young man approaches Jesus and asks him what he needs to do in order to gain eternal life.

Isn't it strange how it seems as though this young man views eternal life as if it were just another of things that he can possess?

Jesus responds with the invitation to embrace poverty for the sake of the Kingdom.

Friends,

Today is the memorial of St. Clare.  She dedicated her life to Eucharistic prayer and joyful poverty.  We are called to these same practices because as we learn from our reading from Deuteronomy today, these are qualities of the heart of God.

Let us join our prayers with the prayers of St. Clare this day and foster within ourselves Eucharistic hearts modeled after the heart of God.