Sermons from November 2020

Today is the first Sunday of Advent; it begins a new part of the Church’s year.  So Jesus says, “Keep awake; pay attention; watch.”  [To see the words of today’s gospel, click here.]  There is one author who says our spiritual life depends on those words–see, look, pay attention. Why? We need to see where God is working in our lives, how the Lord is touching us.  Sometimes we have to look very carefully to see how Jesus is working,…

The question today is where do we find Jesus?  We can find Jesus in many places. Here in the Eucharist, when the priest holds up the host.  It is Jesus here with us. How is that possible?  Because we copy the words of Jesus.  Jesus said, “Any time you use bread and use my words, ‘This is my body.’ The bread is changed.” It becomes Jesus’s Body. Jesus’s power works to make that happen.  Then we say “The Body of…

In the story today Jesus talks about a man, a master, who gives his servants a lot of money.  To one man he gives 5 gold coins. [To see the words of today’s gospel, click here.] The word for coin is “talents”; it did not mean talents; it meant money, a lot of money. He gave to one 5 gold coins, to another 2, to a third 1.  He told them to use the money well.  Then the master left.…

The second reading is from St. Paul; he is talking about death. [To see the words of the second reading, click here.] He is writing to some followers of Jesus who are worried.  What is the problem? It is 20 years after Jesus ascended up into heaven; people had a very strong belief that Jesus was coming back soon with power and glory. Then all the followers of Jesus would be brought up with Jesus into heaven, into glorious life.…

Today, we celebrate a special day in honor of all the saints, all those good people who help us and help so many other people in the world and are now in heaven with Jesus and Mary. We celebrate the official saints, canonized saints, also all the very good people who have helped us.  “Saint,” what does it mean? The first reading says that an angel will mark all the people who are saved. [To see the words of the…