Category Archives: Sunday Homilies

13th SUNDAY OF LUKE, Luke 18: 18-27

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

‘Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”’ The story of the rich young ruler is in all three synoptic gospels, and addresses a very important question that all of us must ask for ourselves to Christ: “What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” This is a very serious question from a man whom some of the Holy Fathers say is very sincere, and his question requires a serious answer.

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Sunday’s Gospel Luke 16: 19- 3 challenges us in its soberness: We see one man who suffered in this life, saved, and another man, who had everything in this life, condemned. This image is such a challenge because we live in an age where many assume they’re good (by their own definition of what ‘good’ is) and, therefore, ‘automatically’ going to heaven. But this subjective understanding of Heaven just doesn’t square with the Gospel, which makes it clear that the Kingdom of Heaven means foremost this: life with and in God, participation in the divine life of the Holy Trinity—what we call, ‘theosis’—and the bearing of the fruit of that theosis in how and for Whom we live out our earthly lives.

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Sunday Sermon on the Fourth Sunday of Luke, Luke 8: 5-15

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, One God.

We live in a world obsessed with outcomes.
Winning – regardless of the methods, regardless of the means – counts. Nothing else.
In nearly every area of our lives – our athletics, our politics, our business – winning is the criteria by which people are assessed.
A person is either successful, by winning, or a loser.
I don’t think that was always the case. It was not that long ago when people of good character were winners. People who played by the rules were winners.

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Luke 7: 11-16

O Lord, Do you know my pain?
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and Of the Holy Spirit, Amen
O Lord, Do you know my pain?
O Lord, Do you see my struggle?
I am lost in the world; will you find me and bring me home?

Gifts are something we do not deserve, but rather are given to us because of love. Divine Love, the Love of God sees all that we are, all that we will be, and what will become of us. One mystery of life is that the divine patience and love of God gives us true freedom, and choice, even though God knows already what is to come.

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SIXTH SUNDAY OF MATTHEW, Matthew 9: 1-8

In 2015, I went to liturgy in an Orthodox parish in Rome that meets in a vacant Catholic church. After the service, the priest showed me the bones of early Christian martyrs kept there in a cabinet. Rome was the capital city of an empire that put so many to death for their faith in Christ and their refusal to worship the emperor and other false gods. Whether in great cathedrals or humble parish churches, the relics of saints are never far away in such a place. They are tangible signs of holiness.

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Wouldn’t it be nice to find a place of sanctuary, a retreat from the uncertain world that we live in. Finding a sanctuary is an essential element for a healthy spiritual life. The word “sanctuary” comes from the Latin word “Sanctus” which means holy. A sanctuary is a holy place where we can go to find peace and commune with God and with others who also want the same thing. The spiritual life in some ways is a search for sanctuary.

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