Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies

The second reading for Mass today contains one of the most beautiful passages in the New Testament, St. Paul's hymn to the self-emptying love of Christ. We sinners cling to godliness; the true God does not, but rather gives himself away in humility and love. The cross of Jesus is thus the undoing of the sin of Eden.

God's ways are not our ways; God's thoughts are not our thoughts. How is God's love playing itself out in the world? It isn't always easy to see, for there are so many injustices, so much innocent suffering, so much out of balance. But the dispensing of grace is God's business, not ours, and so we should ask the question "why?" not in a spirit of rebellion, but in an attitude of awe.

Last week we heard of the grace by which Peter correctly confessed the identity of Jesus. This week, we hear of his weakness. Opposing the cross, he becomes an ally of the dark powers. The Church is infallible and the Church is made up of sinners. When we forget one or the other, we fall into trouble.