Jesus is Messiah and Lord, but He confounds every notion we have ever had about these titles. His power reaches perfection in “weakness” and He reigns from the cross. To the world this is utter absurdity, but the Lord insists that we meet Him at the cross. He chooses the foolish to shame the wise; … The post Not Your Average Messiah – A Homily for the 24th Sunday of the Year appeared first on Community in Mission ..read more

Of all the things about which I preach, very few (if any) provoke as strong (and usually negative) a reaction as the call to forgive. I get more angry pushback after a Mass at which I preach on forgiveness than when I speak about chastity, greed, or any other challenging moral topic. It would seem that the anger is rooted in … The post Forgive All Injuries – A Meditation on the Sixth Spiritual Work of Mercy appeared first on Community in Mission ..read more

The Gospels do not simply tell us stories of people who lived thousands of years ago; they tell us our story, and this Sunday’s Gospel is no different. We encounter a deaf man with a speech impediment living in a pagan land; this man represents each of us. If you are prepared to accept it, … The post The Lord Gives a Well-Trained Tongue – A Homily for the 23rd Sunday of the Year appeared first on Community in Mission ..read more

This Sunday’s readings teach a proper understanding of God’s Law and its relationship to our hearts. The readings go a long way toward addressing the false dichotomy that many set up between love and the Law, as though the two were opposed; they are not. If we love God, we want what He wants and … The post The Love of the Law and the Law of Love – A Homily for the 22nd Sunday of the Year appeared first on Community in Mission ..read more

The readings this Sunday feature two “hard sayings,” one on the Eucharist, the other on marriage. One is hard because it defies our sensibilities, the other because it is out-of-season and politically incorrect. This is a long reflection. What I present here is really two separate sermons, but both merit some attention. The first “hard … The post Two Hard Sayings in One Day – A Homily for the 21st Sunday of the Year appeared first on Community in Mission ..read more

In the Gospel this Sunday, we continue with Jesus’ great treatise on the Eucharist (John 6). Although many of the Jewish listeners who hear Him speaking in the synagogue at Capernaum are grumbling and murmuring in protest at His insistence that they eat His flesh and drink His blood, Jesus does not back down. In … The post Costly Truth – A Homily for the 20th Sunday of the Year appeared first on Community in Mission ..read more

The Gospel this Sunday amounts to a summons to faith by Jesus. He is summoning us to faith in Himself and in the truth He proclaims about His presence in the Holy Eucharist. Last week’s Gospel ended with Jesus declaring that He was the bread come down from Heaven. This Sunday’s Gospel opens with His … The post Believe What Jesus Says – A Homily for the 19th Sunday of the Year appeared first on Community in Mission ..read more

All of the readings in this Sunday’s Mass speak of human desire. In the first reading, the Israelites in the desert are hungry, so are the people by the lakeside with Jesus in the Gospel reading, and in the Epistle, St. Paul warns of deceitful desires. In all these passages, God teaches us that our … The post Come Over Here Where the Feast of the Lord Is Going On – A Homily for the 18th Sunday of the Year appeared first on Community in Mission ..read more

We have in this Sunday’s Gospel the very familiar miracle of the loaves and the fishes. One is tempted to say, “Oh, that one …” and then tune out, but it contains a personal appeal directly from the Lord’s lips to our ears: “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” Immediately, objections … The post What Are Your Five Loaves and Two Fishes? A Homily for the 17th Sunday of the Year appeared first on Community in Mission ..read more

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord warns of using uncivil and/or hateful words such as “Raqa” and “fool.” And yet the same Lord Jesus often used very strong language toward some of His opponents, sometimes calling them names such as vipers and hypocrites. We live in a world that often insists on the use of gentle language and euphemisms. While doing so is not a bad thing, we also tend to manifest a kind of thin-skinned quality and a political correctness that is too fussy about many things, often taking personally what is not meant personally. What is the overall teaching of Scripture when i ..read more