From the Ambo

In this week's homily, Fr. Tom reflects on the First Sunday of Advent that invites listeners to wake up spiritually as the new liturgical year begins. Centered on the theme of attentiveness to God’s presence in ordinary life, it explores how small habits, quiet awareness, and a renewed openness to grace can prepare the heart to welcome Christ well before Christmas arrives.

A reflection on the surprising meaning of Christ’s kingship, revealed not in glory but on the Cross. This homily explores the courage of the good thief, the mercy of a King who reigns with self-giving love, and the invitation to open the most guarded places of our hearts to Christ. A message about surrender, healing, and the freedom that comes when we allow Jesus to reign within us.

In this week's homily, we explore one of the more unsettling but necessary questions of the spiritual life: what happens when the routines, plans, and structures we rely on begin to crumble? The readings for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time invite us to reflect on how Jesus invites us to find real stability, not in the things that look unshakable, but in the God who never wavers. We are called to honestly look at the fragility of life and see how perseverance, trust, and faithfulness can anchor us even when everything familiar starts to shift.

In this All Souls Day homily titled Death Doesn't Destroy Love, Fr. Tom reflects on the deep hope we hold onto as Christians when we face the pain of loss. While death leaves an empty space in our hearts, it does not have the final word. At every Mass, Heaven and earth come together as the angels, saints, and our loved ones gather around the altar with us. Love, rooted in Christ, endures beyond the grave and continues to unite us with those who have gone before us.

In this episode, Fr. Tom reflects on one of Jesus’ most revealing parables—the Pharisee and the tax collector. The homily explores the subtle temptation to make our prayer about ourselves and our performance rather than focusing on relationship with God. The challenge for us is to move beyond self-congratulation toward authentic humility, to embrace the kind of prayer that opens us to mercy. Because when we stop talking to the mirror and start talking to God, grace finally has room to work in our hearts.

Ten lepers cried out to Jesus—and all ten were healed. But only one turned back. In this week’s homily, Fr. Tom challenges us to look honestly at our own response to God’s healing and mercy. Have we settled for being healed without being transformed? Are we among those who show up to Mass but never truly return to Jesus? The Lord is constantly inviting us to go deeper with Him, to move from routine faith to a living relationship of gratitude and adoration. In the end, ten were healed, but only one was saved. Which one are we?

Fear can hold us back from the very life God is calling us to live. In this homily for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, on Respect Life Sunday, Fr. Tom reflects on how real faith doesn’t eliminate fear, but gives us the courage to walk through it. When we choose to trust God more than our fears, especially in defending and cherishing human life, even the smallest seed of faith can grow into something powerful.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus gives us the only named character in all His parables: Lazarus. The world passed him by, but God knew his name. Fr. Tom reflects on how this parable challenges us to see the people we so often overlook: the poor, the immigrant, the widow, the young person struggling with mental health, even the family member who pushes our buttons. Who is the Lazarus at your gate? And do you know their name? Because when we see Lazarus, we see Christ.

In this week's homily, Fr. Tom unpacks one of the more puzzling parables in the Gospels: the Parable of the Dishonest Steward. What seems like praise for dishonesty is really a call to urgency and decisiveness in our relationship with God. The Lord is challenging us us to examine who we are really serving. Are we choosing to follow the ways of the world or are we choosing Christ? We should strive to act decisively in faith, to pray with sincerity, and to live in the freedom that comes from serving the only Master who never fails.

In a world marked by political violence, division, and uncertainty, where can we find hope? On this Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Fr. Tom reflects on how what once was a symbol of humiliation and torture has become for Christians the sign of glory and victory. The Cross speaks powerfully into our fractured times, reminding us that love — not hatred, not fear, not violence — has the final word.