FEATURED HOMILIES
Homiletic Pastoral Review
Homiletic Pastoral
Review
The Divine Gift: Our Life, Wisdom, and Existence
Philosophy and Faith: The homily highlights the distinction between ancient Greek philosophy’s quest for wisdom and the Hebrew perspective that views wisdom as a gift from God. It encourages the idea that true understanding comes from faith, rather than relying solely on human intellect.
Existential Threats and Faith: The passage discusses the challenges faced by Jairus in the Gospel story and how his faith in Jesus leads to his daughter’s healing. It underscores the importance of faith in navigating life’s difficulties and choosing to trust in God’s wisdom and provision.
Sharing Wisdom and Faith: The homily emphasizes the importance of sharing wisdom and faith with others, as these gifts from God are meant to be given, not hoarded. By embracing and imparting these gifts, we can positively influence others’ lives and find deeper meaning in our own.
Deacon Peter McCulloch
Deacon Peter
McCulloch
Jairus and Two Daughters
The Gospel story from today is constructed like a sandwich, with two interconnected stories within it: Jairus’ daughter and the suffering woman. Both stories offer valuable lessons about faith.
The Suffering Woman: The second story highlights the importance of patience, trust, and touch. The woman who suffered for years believed that touching Jesus’ cloak would heal her. Her faith resulted in instant healing. This story teaches us about the power of touch, both in our relationships with others and with Jesus.Helen Keller’s story is an example of the importance of touch in connecting with the world and with Jesus, especially when receiving Holy Communion.
Jairus’ Daughter: Jairus desperately begs Jesus to save his dying daughter. Instead of immediately healing her, Jesus spends time with Jairus and helps him grow in patience and faith. Sometimes, our prayers aren’t answered immediately because God wants us to grow and deepen our trust in Him.During their journey, Jairus witnesses Jesus healing another person, which strengthens his faith. Similarly, we can draw encouragement from others’ testimonies when waiting for our prayers to be answered.
Fr. Andrew Ricci
Fr. Andrew Ricci
PODCAST: Jesus heals two people, encouraged those present to have faith in him. May we pray for the needs in our lives as we follow Christ today and learn the lessons the Lord is teaching in our hearts.
Fr. Austin Fleming
Fr. Austin Fleming
Dominican Blackfriars
Dominican Blackfriars
Healing Stories: Two women’s encounters with Jesus are described: an older, isolated woman suffering from a blood condition, and a young girl presumed dead. Both experience healing and restoration, one regaining her life, the other reunited with loved ones. These stories highlight Jesus’ power to heal physical and emotional afflictions.
Loneliness and Death: The passage discusses the loneliness associated with illness, aging, and death. It acknowledges the difficulties people face when feeling disconnected from others and the isolation that can occur as life draws to a close.
Jesus Bearing Isolation: This section describes how Jesus, through his crucifixion, experiences and understands the loneliness felt by those who are sick, depressed, or isolated. By doing so, he offers hope and assurance that our own moments of loneliness are not permanent, as he is present with us, just as he was with the healed woman in the Gospel story.
Resurrection and Reunion: The passage foreshadows Jesus’ own death and resurrection, drawing parallels between his emergence from the tomb to reunite with loved ones and the young girl’s resurrection, symbolizing hope and new life. This event transforms the grief of the women who loved him into joy and celebration.
Bishop Robert Barron
Bishop Robert Barron
Christ’s Saving Power and Love
The Impact of Global Events: The ongoing war against terrorism and the situation in Iran are used to demonstrate how world events can affect people’s lives and perspectives on freedom, human dignity, and human rights.
Negative Portrayal of Spiritual Life in Media: The prevalence of materialistic lifestyles and negative depictions of the Church, priests, and spiritual life in movies and television shows is highlighted as a contributing factor to spiritual depletion.
Technology and Politics Cannot Save Us: The limitations of technology and political power to address spiritual concerns emphasize the need to turn to a higher power for solace.
Identifying with Biblical Characters: Encouraging the audience to relate to the hemorrhaging woman and Jairus’ daughter from the Gospel account underscores the importance of acknowledging one’s vulnerabilities and seeking divine intervention for healing and salvation.
Beyond Problem Solving
The Parking Space Prayer: The opening anecdote about a woman desperately searching for a parking spot illustrates how people tend to turn to God only in times of need or desperation, but quickly forget their reliance on Him when things go well.
Jairus and the Hemorrhaging Woman: This biblical account demonstrates the common theme of people approaching Jesus in times of crisis and emphasizes the importance of turning to faith in difficult times.
RELATED HOMILIES:
Adjusting the Plan (2012)
Re-thinking What is Necessary (2015)
Miracles on the Sly (2021)
Fr. Anthony Ekpunobi, C.M.
Fr. Anthony
Ekpunobi, C.M.
Msgr. Joseph Pellegrino
Msgr. Pellegrino
The Results of Sin
Avoidance of Discussing Sickness and Death: Americans tend to avoid discussing sickness and death, which can lead to denial of reality. This is demonstrated through the use of stories to downplay the reality of these topics, such as the idea of deceased individuals becoming angels or pets going to a species-specific heaven.
Misunderstandings about God’s Role in Death: People often attribute death to God’s will, which implies that God does evil things. This raises questions about God’s goodness and the concept of an All Good God creating evil.
Biblical Account of Death’s Origin: The Book of Wisdom from the Catholic Bible asserts that God did not create death, but rather it entered the world through the envy of the devil. This emphasizes the distinction between God’s original creation of a wholesome and good world and the reality of sickness and death resulting from sin.
Msgr. Charles Pope
Msgr. Charles Pope
The Journey of Jairus
Trial: Jairus, a synagogue official, faces a crisis when his daughter becomes gravely ill. He desperately seeks Jesus’ help, demonstrating how adversity can draw people closer to God.
Tarrying: Jesus accompanies Jairus, but they face delays. This highlights the importance of patience and perseverance in one’s faith journey.
Testimony: A woman with hemorrhages touches Jesus and is healed, showing the power of faith and providing a witness for Jairus to strengthen his own trust.
Temptation: People from Jairus’ house report that his daughter has died, discouraging him from continuing to seek Jesus’ help. This represents the obstacles and temptations that can challenge one’s faith.
Trust: Despite the negative report, Jesus encourages Jairus to have faith. This emphasizes the need to trust in God’s power even when circumstances appear hopeless.
Triumph: Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead, illustrating the transformative power of faith and God’s ability to bring healing and restoration.
Fr. Michael Chua
Fr. Michael Chua
Jesus’ Concern for All Life: The homily emphasizes that Jesus values and cares for all life, regardless of age, health, gender, or nationality. His healings and miracles, such as raising the little girl from the dead, foreshadow the ultimate gift of resurrection and abundant life.
Culture of Death: The passage highlights the challenges of fostering life in a society that often views children, the disabled, and the elderly as burdens. This “culture of death” can lead to the acceptance of practices like abortion, euthanasia, and the neglect of vulnerable populations. The homily discusses the paradoxical fear of both life and death, which can result in a disregard for the value of human beings and a preference for convenience over compassion.
Culture of Life : The passage emphasizes the responsibility of Catholics to promote a culture that respects and defends human life, from conception to natural death, recognizing every individual as a sacred creation of God.
The Holy Spirit’s Role: The homily concludes by acknowledging the Holy Spirit as the source of life and the power to restore both physical health and spiritual life. Christians are called to participate in affirming life and fighting against death and decay in the world.
Archived homily from 2021
Life Issues
Life Issues
Life
Issues
HOME
Beyond Our Ability
Proclaim Sermons
Jesus was asked by Jairus to heal his daughter. While on the way, Jesus stopped to talk with the woman who’d been sick for 12 years who touched his cloak in faith to be healed. Then word came that Jairus’ daughter had died. In two seemingly hopeless situations, Jesus intervened and brought both hope and healing. When we have situations that are beyond our ability to deal with, we should continue to be people of faith.
SOURCE: LifeIssues.net Homily Archive
Gratitute Week 3: Children
Bottom line: Our goal is gratitude, especially for the greatest earthly
treasure – our children. “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His
love endures forever.”
RELATED HOMILIES:
2018: What Pursuit of Happiness Means
2015: Through Him Week 4: Do Not Be Afraid, Have Faith
2012: Excel in Every Respect
2009: For Your Love and Fidelity
2006: When God Seems Distant
2000: Appreciating the Ordinary
Fr. Vincent Hawkswell
Fr. Vincent Hawkswell
Creation and Harmony: The homily begins by describing the harmony and innocence in which God created Adam and Eve, including the gift of unending divine life. They were called to submit to God’s will, symbolized by the tree of knowledge.
The Fall and Its Consequences: Tempted by the devil, Adam and Eve disobeyed God, losing their harmony with God, each other, and creation. This resulted in decay, death, and a tendency towards sin, exemplified in human relationships and children’s behavior.
Redemption through Christ: Despite humanity’s fallen state, God offers a second chance through Jesus Christ. Christ’s miracles, death, and resurrection defeat death and offer the possibility of eternal life to those who believe in him and participate in the sacraments.
Choice and Eternal Life: The homily concludes by presenting the choice between following the devil and experiencing death, or choosing Christ and receiving eternal life as members of his mystical body.
Fr. Tommy Lane
Fr. Tommy Lane
Trusting in God while suffering
When we enter the world, we find ourselves already in the midst of a battle not of our own choosing, the battle between good and evil. That battle began when our first parents in the Garden of Eden listened to the devil’s lies. As a result of our first parents’ sin, we all suffer the consequences, and we see Jesus overcoming two of those consequences in the Gospel today, sickness and death (Mark 5:21-43).
Fr. John Kavanaugh, S.J.
Fr. John
Kavanaugh, S.J.
Prophetic Dying
Confronting Mortality: The homily introduces Mev Puleo, a vibrant and talented woman who dedicated her life to theology, photography, and attending to the poor. Mev’s life takes a turn when she is diagnosed with an incurable brain malignancy, leaving her powerless and poor in the face of death.
Praying for a Miracle: In response to Mev’s illness, Fr. Kavanaugh composes a prayer and enlists the intercession of Mev’s favorite inspirations. Mev, however, adds the phrase “if it is according to your will,” displaying her profound faith in God’s plan.
Faith in the Face of Death: The homily highlights Mev’s trust in God’s will and the belief that death does not signify perishing but a transition to eternal life. This faith serves as a reminder that, despite mortality, God’s love and grace offer hope for healing and eternal life.
Fr. Leon Ngandu, SVD
Fr. Leon Ngandu, SVD
How We Should Regard Jesus When Facing Our Own Suffering: Jesus Has Divine Power of Life Over Death
The narration features two females: an afflicted woman with a hemorrhage for twelve years and a twelve-year-old girl. The latter died clinically, and the first died religiously and socially, as she was considered unclean because of her blood flow. Jesus brought both of them back to life. Mark teaches us that Jesus has the divine power of life over death. When we are in a good relationship with Jesus, even if we die, we will have eternal life in heaven. When sins cause spiritual death by separating us from God, Jesus brings us to life by forgiving our sins through the sacrament of confession. This is what our first reading teaches us.
Bishop Frank Schuster
Bishop Frank Schuster
Death is Not the End
Innate Belief in Life After Death: Humans have an instinctual belief that life continues beyond death. This concept is represented through various cultural expressions such as angels with wings, symbolizing our transcendent nature. Theologian Karl Rahner suggests that our ability to question eternal life indicates an innate curiosity about it.
Biblical Understanding of Death and God’s Love: The passage contrasts ancient pagan religions’ view of death with the Jewish and Christian understanding. The Book of Wisdom asserts that God did not create death, but it entered the world through sin. Christianity emphasizes God’s sacrifice for humanity, offering healing and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Jesus as a Healer and Savior: The Gospel recounts how Jesus healed a woman and resurrected Jairus’ daughter, demonstrating his role as a healer who addresses the root cause of human suffering. His actions challenge the power of death, opening the way to eternal life in heaven.
God as a God of Life: The homily emphasizes that God values life and desires salvation for all, even those considered enemies. This challenges the notion of a vengeful God and encourages compassion towards others, reflecting on America’s diverse society and calling for mutual understanding and prayer.
Seeking Healing Through Faith: The woman with hemorrhages in the Gospel symbolizes our personal struggles and the world’s suffering. Reaching out to Jesus through faith can bring healing and peace, transforming our lives and relationships.
Innate Desire for Transcendence: The passage highlights our instinctual longing for a deeper purpose and connection with the divine. This echoes St. Irenaeus of Lyons’ teachings about the glory of God being seen in human life and our ultimate purpose being the vision of God.
