Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies

The story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus teaches us how to see. When we listen to Christ explain the Scriptures to us, we understand the pattern of his life and death. And when we eat his body and drink his blood, we see precisely who he is: God's love made flesh.

Essential to the Easter message is mission: we are sent by the risen Jesus to do his work in the world. It is never enough that we contemplate his risen splendor; we must become his forgiveness-bearing presence to those around us.

For the first Sunday of Lent, the church brings us back to spiritual training camp and encourages us to review the basics. We are in the garden with Adam and Eve and in the desert with Jesus. When the devil approaches us, do we respond as they did, or as he did? Everything else will flow from that decision.

In the beatitudes, the Son of God tells us what every one of us, deep down, wants to know: how to be happy. So we must listen with great attentiveness. At the heart of the program is the beatitude: blessed are the merciful. This is because mercy is a participation in the divine life itself. All of the other beatitudes center around and relate to this one.

Our Gospel passage from the 4th chapter of Matthew's Gospel tells us, in very short compass, what the work of the Messiah was. Jesus proclaims the kingdom, commences the gathering of the tribes of Israel, and takes on God's enemies. We who are grafted on to him must do the same.

John the Baptist's designation of Jesus as Lamb of God is, I submit, largely misunderstood. It has little to do with Jesus' meekness, mildness, or humility and everything to do with his being the victim of a sacrifice. To find out why this is such good news, listen to the sermon!

The feast of the Baptism of the Lord is a celebration of God's great humility. In order to rescue us sinners, God the Son bent low and stood with us in the muck and mud of our dysfuction. This was so that he could draw us up to his glory.

One of the truths that is manifested on Epiphany (that's what the word "epiphania" means) is the compatibility of faith and reason, of religion and science. The Magi were scientists, astronomers interested in tracking and measuring the heavenly bodies. But they also saw in the orderliness of the universe evidence of God. Their search for Christ symbolizes the fact that all of science leads finally to God.

Paul lays out for the Colossians (and us) the virtues that make a family healthy. They include compassion, patience, bearing the burden of the other and, above all, love. To find out precisely what these terms mean, listen to the sermon!

Both Ahaz and Joseph are being summoned out of a narrow perspective and encouraged to dream big, to think of their lives within the context of God's purposes and plans. This makes them prime Advent figures.