Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies

The church fathers saw so clearly that we will never understand the New Testament without understanding the Old Testament. Our readings for this weekend show how the angel's words to Mary at the annunciation are intelligible only in light of God's promise made, ten centuries before, to David.

In our second reading from Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, we hear the strange recommendation to pray always, rejoice in every circumstance, and give thanks at all times. How is this possible? Only when our lives have been radically reconfigured around Jesus Christ.

The theme of preparing a highway for the Lord emerges from the time of the exile. When the Babylonian captivity was coming to a close, the prophet Isaiah envisioned God making a highway in the desert to facilitate the return of his people to Jerusalem. From what captivity of ours is God leading us this Advent?

Our first reading for this first Sunday of Advent gives us the master image of God as the potter and we, his creatures, as clay. St. Irenaeus said that God's provident direction of our lives is easy as long as the clay of our hearts remains supple and moist. Trouble comes only when we allow the clay to harden.

We celebrate today the feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran, the Pope's cathedral church as bishop of Rome. This gives us the occasion to speak of the importance of all church buildings, images of the temple in Jerusalem.

Why do we speak of the "soul?" We do so because there is something in us that links us to the eternal. Though the body fades away, the core of the person does not. And therefore, we remain connected to those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. We should pray for them in the hopes that one day we might live in communion with them.

Pope Benedict has said that the church has three basic jobs: to care for the poor, to evangelize, and to worship. These three are on clear display in our three readings for the weekend.

The Gospel for today raises the famously complex question of the relationship between "religion" and "politics." Though there is a legitimate distinction between the two, this can never turn into a separation. We should certainly render to Caesar what is Caesar's, but we must never forget that even Caesar belongs to God.

One of the most powerful and enduring symbols of God's intention toward the world is the sacred banquet. God wants his life to flow into us and through us to one another. The result of this is life and life to the full. The question posed by the Gospel is this: when the invitation to this banquet comes, do we answer yes or no?

In both the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel of Matthew, we find the image of the vineyard as a symbol of Israel. As Jesus develops this image, we see both the glory and the tragedy of Israel-as well as the promise that the church will emerge as the bearer of the God of Israel to the nations.