Fr Jim Chern's Homilies

After 72 years of marriage, Gordon and Norma Yeager died just one hour apart, still holding hands. But in their final moments together, something extraordinary happened: even after Gordon had stopped breathing, his heart monitor appeared to be detecting Norma’s heartbeat through him.

It's a remarkable story of love and devotion. But it also raises a much deeper question: What does it really mean to love someone with your whole heart?

In this Sunday's Gospel (Matthew 22:34–40), Jesus gives us the two greatest commandments: love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Simple enough to say. Far more challenging to live.

Love isn't merely a feeling. It's a choice, a commitment, and sometimes a sacrifice. And before God ever asks us to give Him our hearts, He's already given us His.

What if our relationship with Christ became so deep, so transformative, that people could recognize His presence in the way we live?

“So that when the world encounters us, it doesn't just hear us talking about Jesus. It can detect His heartbeat in ours.”

Listen to this week's homily as we reflect on love, faithfulness, the Eucharist, and the extraordinary invitation to let Christ's heart beat through our own.

Read the full homily: https://homilyonthespot.com/

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NOT YET — 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

St. Augustine famously prayed, “Lord, grant me chastity and continence—but not yet.” He wasn't afraid God wasn't listening. He was afraid God WAS listening—and that answering his prayers would mean changing his life.

Sound familiar?

In this homily, preached at the conclusion of our Red Hawk Catholic retreat, Source and Summit: The Eucharist, we reflect on an uncomfortable pattern in Scripture: God's people spent generations praying for deliverance, yet when the opportunity came, some had grown too comfortable to embrace it. And when the long-awaited Messiah stood before the Pharisees and Herodians, they were more interested in trapping Him than recognizing Him.

How often do we do the same?

What if the biggest obstacle to God answering our prayers isn't that He's unwilling to change our lives—but that we're unwilling to let Him?

As we reflect on the Eucharist, we're reminded that Jesus has already given Himself completely to us. The question is whether we're willing to give ourselves to Him.

Maybe it's time we stopped saying, “Not yet.”

Read the full homily at https://homilyonthespot.com

Scripture: Isaiah 45:1, 4–6; 1 Thessalonians 1:1–5; Matthew 22:15–21

A tech billionaire giving lectures about the Antichrist. Pope Leo XIV expressing sorrow over Christians killed in Gaza. A botched execution in Tennessee. What do Peter Thiel, the war in Gaza, and Christa Pike have to do with Jesus' parable of the wedding feast?

More than you might think.

When did defending human dignity become a political statement? Why are we so quick to label people liberal, conservative, or even heretical when they challenge our opinions? And have we reached a point where we're more interested in making Christianity support our beliefs than allowing Jesus Christ to change them?

In this homily, Fr. Jim Chern reflects on the dangers of manipulating Christianity to serve our own agendas, the limits of civility and tolerance, and the surprising challenge of the wedding garment in today's Gospel.

God's invitation is for everyone. But accepting that invitation demands something of us.

Maybe we've been asking the wrong question all along. The question isn't whose side God is on. It's whether we're willing to be on God's side—even when that means admitting we've been wrong.

Scripture Readings:

Isaiah 25:6–10

Philippians 4:12–14, 19–20

Matthew 22:1–14

Read the homily at homilyonthespot.com

WANTING WHAT ISN’T OURS — 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We want the vineyard. We just don’t always want the Owner.

Jesus’ parable of the tenants forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth: our lives, gifts, relationships, bodies, opportunities — even our faith — are not possessions we created for ourselves. They are gifts entrusted to us. And when we begin living as though the vineyard belongs to us, we can start wanting God’s blessings without wanting God to have any claim on our lives. Pasted text

God’s grace is free, but it is never meant to leave us unchanged. “The fruit doesn’t earn God’s love. The fruit reveals what His love is doing in us.” So the question becomes: What difference does belonging to Jesus Christ actually make in my life? What is growing? Pasted text

And after everything God has given us, perhaps the simplest prayer is: “Jesus, don’t let me take Your mercy for granted… make my life the thank-you.” Pasted text

Readings: Isaiah 5:1–7; Philippians 4:6–9; Matthew 21:33–43.

Read the full text: https://homilyonthespot.com

A viral debate on The Breakfast Club about heaven, hell, judgment, and who is saved raises an uncomfortable question: how much does the way we live actually matter?

In Matthew 21:28–32, Jesus tells the story of two sons. One says “no” to his father but later changes his mind and obeys. The other says all the right things — “Yes, sir” — but never follows through.

It’s possible to say “yes” to Jesus with our lips while saying “no” with our lives.

But the Gospel also gives us tremendous hope: our “no” does not have to be our final answer. Ezekiel reminds us that conversion is always possible, and St. Paul points us to Jesus — the Son whose “yes” to the Father was complete.

Heaven is real. Judgment is real. But today is not Judgment Day.

Today is vineyard day.

Today Jesus is still calling. Mercy is still being offered. Conversion is still possible.

So instead of asking who else might be going to heaven or hell, perhaps the better question is:

Does my life actually say yes to Jesus?

If the answer is no - or not yet - the Gospel gives us hope: Change your answer.

Readings:

Ezekiel 18:25–28

Philippians 2:1–11

Matthew 21:28–32

Homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - We hear Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard and instinctively side with the people who worked all day: That’s not fair.

But maybe we’re asking the wrong question.

What if we’re not the workers who have been there since dawn? What if we’re the five-o’clock workers—people who desperately need a God whose mercy is far more generous than anything we could ever earn?

A homily about comparison, grace, keeping score with God, and the incredible realization that Jesus isn’t simply the One who gives us the reward—Jesus is the reward.

And no matter how late it seems, the vineyard gate is still open.

Readings:

Isaiah 55:6-9

Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a

Matthew 20:1-16a

Forgiveness is one of those things that sounds beautiful—until we actually have someone to forgive.

Jesus tells Peter not simply to forgive, but to forgive without keeping score. That doesn’t mean pretending the hurt didn’t happen, excusing what was wrong, or allowing someone to keep hurting us. It means refusing to let another person’s sin have the final word in our lives.

What if one of the most convincing witnesses to our faith is what people see when Christians have every reason to become bitter, angry, or vengeful—and choose mercy instead?

“You hurt me. But you don’t get to own me.”

A homily for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Matthew 18:21–35, Romans 14:7–9, and Sirach 27:30–28:7.

Read the homily at Homily on the Spot:

https://homilyonthespot.com/

Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, the memories still feel remarkably close.

I was 27 years old, only two years into the priesthood, serving at a parish less than 15 miles from the Twin Towers. We could see them burning. We heard the military jets overhead. And in the weeks and months that followed came funeral Masses—including for two young men, ages 25 and 29, whose names I’ve never forgotten.

But remembering 9/11 raises a question deeper than simply, “Where were you?”

Where are you going?

Today’s Scriptures remind us that this world was never meant to be our final home. St. Paul tells us to “run so as to win,” and Jesus challenges us to open our eyes and examine our own lives.

Remembering how fragile life is isn’t meant to make us afraid. It should make us awake—and unwilling to waste the life God has given us.

Based on 1 Corinthians 9:16–19, 22–27; Psalm 84; and Luke 6:39–42.

Read the homily at Homily on the Spot:

https://homilyonthespot.com/2026/09/11/9-11-where-are-you-going/

What’s the opposite of love?

Most of us would probably say hate. But maybe there’s something quieter — and sometimes even more dangerous:

“I don’t care.”

“Not my responsibility.”

“Not my problem.”

In this homily for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Fr. Jim Chern reflects on Jesus’ challenging teaching about confronting someone who has gone astray — and the difference between correcting someone because we want to win an argument and speaking because we don’t want to lose a brother or sister.

Christian love isn’t simply being nice. It doesn’t mean fixing everybody, tolerating destructive behavior, or ignoring necessary boundaries. But it does mean refusing to become indifferent.

Because Jesus never looks at another human being and says: “Lost cause.”

The Cross is the ultimate opposite of indifference: God saying, You matter too much to Me for Me to abandon you.

🎧 NOT MY PROBLEM

Homily for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ezekiel 33:7–9 | Romans 13:8–10 | Matthew 18:15–20

Read the homily at HomilyOnTheSpot.com and follow Fr. Jim Chern’s Homilies wherever you listen to podcasts.

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THE JESUS WHO FOLLOWS ME | Catholic Homily

You can believe in Jesus. Love Jesus. Call Him Lord. And still spend your life trying to lead Him.

In this homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Fr. Jim Chern reflects on one of the most jarring moments in the Gospel: only moments after Peter correctly identifies Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” he begins telling Jesus what His mission should—and should not—look like.

Peter wants Jesus. He just wants Jesus according to Peter’s plan. And that raises an uncomfortable question for every Christian: Who’s leading whom?

We can ask Jesus to bless our plans, our relationships, our ambitions and our picture of the future—but discipleship means leaving Him enough room to interrupt those plans, redirect us, challenge us, and sometimes ask us to surrender something we never expected to give up.

Because if Jesus can never tell me no, never redirect my plans, never challenge me, and never ask me to let something go…

“I’ve created a Jesus who follows me.

And that Jesus cannot save me.”

🎧 Listen and reflect: What might Jesus be asking you to surrender—and are you willing to let Him lead?

📖 Read the full homily:

https://homilyonthespot.com/2026/08/28/the-jesus-who-follows-me/

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Scripture: Matthew 16:21–27 • Jeremiah 20:7–9 • Romans 12:1–2

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