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A weekly homily podcast from Bishop Robert Barron, produced by Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.
Episodes
Sunday Jul 21, 2002
Sunday Jul 21, 2002
One of the most mysterious and yet practically applicable of Jesus' parables is at the heart of today's Gospel. The wheat and the weeds are allowed to grow together until the harvest, just as, strangely, good and evil are allowed to exist side-by-side in the affairs of the world. Why is his true? Because God deigns to bring good out of evil.
Sunday Jul 14, 2002
Sunday Jul 14, 2002
God is a farmer who sows the seed of his love liberally, on good and bad soil, to saint and sinner alike. There is no limit to God's willingness to save. If we are the least bit cooperative, the grace of God will cause life to spring up in us thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold.
Sunday Jul 07, 2002
Sunday Jul 07, 2002
There is nothing anti-intellectual about the Catholic tradition. It has reverenced great minds from Augustine to John Henry Newman. But the Lord reminds us that the mind can easily become arrogant, self-important, bullying. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived, had, by all accounts, the soul of an innocent child.
Sunday Jun 30, 2002
Sunday Jun 30, 2002
Jesus tells his followers that those who love their mothers and fathers more than him are not worthy of him. This shocking claim is not meant to encourage hatred of one's family! It is meant to force us into a clear prioritization of values: God must be first, without condition, compromise or cavil.
Sunday Jun 23, 2002
Sunday Jun 23, 2002
The Christian disciple is truly free in the measure that he is not afraid. Thomas More couldn't be compromised, precisely because he couldn't be frightened by the loss of earthly goods. Jesus tells his disciples not to be afraid even of those who can kill the body. In faith, we are connected to that power which transcends space and time, life and death.
Sunday Jun 16, 2002
Sunday Jun 16, 2002
In describing the pity that Jesus felt for the crowds, Matthew uses a distinctive Greek term that means, literally, "his guts were moved." God's compassion for the world is a gut-wrenching, visceral desire to address human suffering. The instrument that Jesus chooses to express this compassion are the twelve apostles, prototypes of the Church.
Sunday Jun 09, 2002
Sunday Jun 09, 2002
One of the great conversion stories in the New Testament is the account of the call of St. Matthew. Jesus summons the worldly tax-gatherer and Matthew rises from his post to follow the Lord. In the symbolic language of the Bible, this "rising" evokes the elevation to a higher and richer life: intimacy with Jesus.
Sunday Jun 02, 2002
Sunday Jun 02, 2002
On this feast of Corpus Christ, we reflect on the inexhaustibly rich theme of the Eucharist. The particular motif I pursue in this homily is that of the eucharist as food for eternal life. Eating the body and drinking the blood of Jesus fits us for the rarified atmosphere of a heavenly existence.
Sunday May 26, 2002
Sunday May 26, 2002
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul enumerates the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the concrete results of living the life of the Trinity. These include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control. Is someone living "in Christ," or "in the Holy Spirit?" Watch for these particular signs.
Sunday May 19, 2002
Sunday May 19, 2002
On Pentecost, the disciples heard a strong driving wind, saw tongues of flames, and then received amazing gifts of the Spirit, enabling them to proclaim and witness. The Church, throughout the centuries, has received spectacular charisms of miracle-working, healing, and the speaking in tongues. As with all manifestations of the Holy Spirit, they are given for one reason: the building up of the Body of Christ.