Fr. Jim's Weekly Homily

Homily for the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time (October 20, 2024) Total Time: 8m47s

Homily for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time (October 13, 2024) Total Time: 11:52s (Recorded at the St. Anthony Prayer Group Retreat at the Archbishop Brunett Retreat Center at the Palisades)

Text quoted from Pope Benedict XVI's Homily of September 2, 2012

The Church has set the words of Deuteronomy — “Where is there a people to whom God is so close as our God is close to us, every time we invoke him?” — at the centre of the Divine Office of Corpus Christi, and gave it new meaning: where is there a people to whom God is as close as our God is to us? In the Eucharist this has become the full reality. It is of course not merely an exterior aspect: someone can stand near the tabernacle and, at the same time, be far from the living God. What matters is inner closeness! God came so close to us that he himself became a man: this should disconcert and surprise us again and again! He is so close that he is one of us. He knows the human being, he knows the “feeling” of the human being, he knows it from within; he has experienced all its joys and all its suffering. As a man, he is close to me, close “within earshot” — so close that he hears me and I am aware: He hears me and answers me, even though perhaps not quite as I imagined.

Let us be filled again with this joy: where is there a people to whom God is so close as our God is to us? So close that he is one of us, touches me from within. Yes, he enters me in the holy Eucharist. A bewildering thought. On this process, St Bonaventure once used in his communion prayers a formula that shakes, almost frightens, one. He said: my Lord, how did you ever think of entering the dirty latrine of my body? Yes, he enters into our misery, he does it knowingly and in order to penetrate us, to clean us and to renew us, so that, through us, in us, the truth may be in the world and bring salvation. Let us ask the Lord forgiveness for our indifference, for our misery that makes us think only of ourselves, for our selfishness that does not seek the truth but follows habit, and that perhaps often makes Christianity resemble a mere system of habits. Let us ask that he come with power into our souls, that he be present in us and through us — and that in this way joy may be born in us again: God is here, and loves me. He is our salvation! Amen.

Homily for the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time (October 6, 2024) Total Time 13m2s

Homily for the 26th Sunday of OrdinaryTime: Total Time 12m4s

Homily for the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time (September 22, 2024) Total Time: 10m20s

Homily for the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (September 15, 2024) Total Time: 12m33s

"The Anxious Generation" book by Jonathan Haidt (AMAZON)

Interview about "The Anxious Generation" Jonathan Haidt (CBS NEWS - YouTube)

Homily for the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (September 8, 2024) Total Time: 8m0s

Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 25, 2026) Total Time: 9m50s

Here is the quote (full) from In Sinu Jesu: 

So few souls remember to thank Me after receiving My Body and Blood. This is true even of My priests—My priests, My friends, My chosen ones from whom I expect more, from whom I desire more. Hearts have grown cold and indifferent towards Me in this the Sacrament of My love. For many, receiving Me has become a routine action devoid of faith and with no manifestation of adoration and of love. How has My Church come to this? 

I will raise up holy priests to rekindle a burning love for the Most Holy Eucharist in the hearts of My faithful. I am calling many priests to adore My Eucharistic Face and to approach My open Heart in the Sacrament of My love. These are the priests whom I will use to minister first to their own brothers in Holy Orders and then, through them, to vast multitudes of souls who have never understood the mysteries of My Body and Blood offered to the Father and given up for the life of the world. 

It is in these few precious moments after Holy Communion that My Heart seeks to hold conversation with My friends, but so many turn away from Me to busy themselves about many things.1 Of you, My friend, I ask something more. Remain with Me for these few moments. Listen for the sound of My voice in your heart. Know that My desire is to speak to you and to listen to all that you have to tell Me. It is in these moments that I am most disposed to grant the requests made of Me in faith.

Monk, A Benedictine. In Sinu Jesu: When Heart Speaks to Heart--The Journal of a Priest at Prayer (pp. 154-155). Angelico Press. Kindle Edition. 

Homily for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time (August 18, 2024) Total Time: 10m41s

Homily for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Total Time:  9m50s