A smile is the universal human sign of friendliness. To find a full Doctrinal Homily Outline for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, click here. The three parts are: Central idea: God is love and wants us to love one another. Doctrine: The virtue of friendliness. Practical application: Becoming friendlier. One way we build friendship with our fellow man is through friendliness. Friendliness is a way of showing love toward others. Friendliness is the virtue by which we show to others that we welcome, accept, value and support them. Friendliness helps us to make and keep friends. Friendl ..read more

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Old Vine at Kunde from Sonoma Magazine   For a Doctrinal Homily Outline for the Fifth Sunday of Easter click here. I titled this one, “The conscience of Christ’s branches” because the Gospel was about Christ the true vine and we His branches and the doctrinal focus was a correct understanding of conscience and its formation. Here is a quick preview: Some people think conscience is some undefinable mysterious personal power that can magically justify any course of action. They are in error. What is conscience really? Conscience is one’s reason sitting in judgment over one’s actions based ..read more

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, Springfield in Illinois   For a Doctrinal Homily Outline for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, please click here. Central idea: Christ is the good shepherd. Doctrine: Responsibilities of a good shepherd. Practical application: Supporting one’s bishop. Here is an excerpt worth thinking about: A very important virtue every one of us needs—especially those in authority—is humility. A humble person can accept, when given adequate evidence, that he has been wrong about something. A humble person can then adopt the truth, which he now sees. A humble perso ..read more

The Resurrected Christ by Francesco Buoneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio For two Doctrinal Homily Outlines for the Third Sunday of Easter, please click here and then scroll down. A very interesting doctrine one of the outlines focuses on is that Christ is the key to interpreting all Scripture. After Christ rose from the dead, he gave his disciples a job to do. It was a task that we might easily overlook. Overshadowing it was their Great Commission to evangelize all nations. But this special project he assigned them was to “reread,” so-to-speak, salvation history. He gave them the key to unders ..read more

For two Doctrinal Homily Outlines for the Second Sunday of Easter, click here and then scroll down. Here is a brief excerpt of some doctrinal points drawn from the second reading (1 Jn 5:1-6) Children of God love not only God but also God’s other children. How do we love God and his children? By keeping God’s commandments. These commandments are not mysterious. They are embodied in the natural moral law that can known using reason. They are embodied in the privileged expression of the natural law, which is the Ten Commandments. They are embodied in the two great commandments: To love God abo ..read more

A computer-generated three dimensional image of the Shroud of Turin For links to homiletic outlines for the various Easter Lectionary readings for the various Easter Masses, click here and then scroll down. For a quick read, here are some doctrinal points about Christ’s Resurrection and how it affects us. In the Creed we recite, “I believe . . . he rose again on the third day” and “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” What was resurrected on the third day? Jesus’ body. Death is a separation of the body from the soul. Jesus’ human soul remained united to the divinity of Christ. The Son ..read more

Albrecht Dürer’s “Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem For a Doctrinal Homily Outline for Palm Sunday, click here. Here are some points in regard to the Gospel reading, which is Mark’s account of the Passion. The Gospel reading ends before the Redemption is complete, before Christ rises from the dead. Christ did all he did out of love for us. Christ first left behind for us the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. Then he underwent the full human drama Mark recounts which fulfilled the predictions of the Old Testament. Without being facetious, we can say it is no fun to be a prophet and even less to ful ..read more

Adam Elsheimer, ‘Glorification of the Cross’, ca. 1600 Here is a link to a full doctrinal homily outline for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year B. The central idea I discerned is loving life by hating it. The doctrinal focus is the virtue of temperance or selfless self-preservation. A practical application is a personal encounter with Christ. Here is a brief excerpt: Our Lord always was perfect, both perfect God and perfect man. However, he had a work to accomplish, and this work was completed when he remained perfectly obedient to the Father by suffering everything his Passion called for. We can ..read more

“Noah and the Rainbow” (13) by Marc Chagall (1966) Here is a link to a Doctrinal Homily Outline for the First Sunday of Lent for Year B. The Gospel is Mark’s summary of Jesus’ experience in the desert and the beginning of His public ministry. The first reading recounts the Covenant God established with Noah and his descendants after the Flood. The second reading from 1 Peter connects that Deluge with the Sacrament of Baptism. Doctrinally, the outline focuses on concupiscence, the ‘birth defect’ we are born with as a consequence of original sin. Concupiscence is inordinate desire, our inclinat ..read more