Author: Frank Finamore
2nd Sunday of Easter
Readings: Acts 4:32-35; John 5:1-6; John 20: 19-31
Originally delivered on April 10, 1994
In today’s Gospel, we are called to be the risen Christ to our sisters and brothers, to forgive others, and to believe even when we do not have evidence. We must regenerate others’ hope in Jesus just as the first Christian community was in the Acts of the Apostles.
2nd Sunday of Easter
Readings: Acts 4:32-35; John 5:1-6; John 20: 19-31
Originally delivered on April 10, 1988
In this week’s Gospel, we are reminded that God’s presence will be obvious when we take care of our sisters and brothers. When we forgive them, they will feel God’s presence. We are commissioned to be the Church. We are the Easter people that must let the world know that there is still hope to be celebrated.
Easter
Reading: Matthew 28:1-10 (although this is the wrong Gospel for this year)
Originally delivered April 3, 1994
Through his humor, Fr. Healy reminds us of the power of laughter. We should be happy and laugh because we are Easter people. Indeed, God calls upon us to persevere in spite of whatever is going on around or to us.
Easter Vigil
Originally delivered on April 2, 1988
Reading: Mark 16:1-8
We are reminded that we are joyful, Easter people despite what is happening around us or to us. We have Christ risen so nothing or no one can defeat us because He is within us. We are reminded of some of the significant events of the previous year – some happy and many sad. In the midsts of these events, we must recognize that we are alive and we have reason to sing alleluia.
Passion Sunday
Originally delivered on March 27, 1988
Reading: Mark 11:1-10
In today’s Gospel, we hear that first the crowds welcomed Jesus, throwing palms in front of him, only to later call for His crucifixion. We are challenged to reflect on how we welcome Jesus in our lives. How close do we let our Lord? Do we let our love for and faith in Jesus influence our daily lives? Father Healy reflects on his and the parish’s own decisions regarding the homelessness. We are each invited, even challenged, to explore if we really welcome Jesus in our lives.
5th Sunday of Lent
Originally delivered on March 20, 1988
Readings: Jeremiah 31: 31-34, Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33
Today we hear that we should not be legalistic but boldly loving with God’s Spirit in our hearts. We are challenged to look beyond the law, which often provides easy or black and white answers, to find the spirit of the law. Fr. Healy points to the first reading of Jeremiah which says, “ …I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers…I will place my law with them, and write it upon their hearts.”
4th Sunday of Lent
Originally delivered on March 13, 1988
Readings: Chronicles 36:14-17, 19-23; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21
In today’s Gospel from John, we hear, “Everyone who practices evil hates the light; he does not come near it for fear his deeds will be exposed. But he who acts in truth comes into the light, to make clear that his deeds are done in God.” Fr. Healy, through his own family story, reminds us how difficult it is to stand up for what we believe. Sometimes, we must give up the shelter and comfort of the hiding in the darkness. Indeed, in today’s Gospel, we are called to stand in the light and stand up for truth.
3rd Sunday of Lent
Originally delivered on March 3, 1991
Readings: Exodus 20:1-17 or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17; Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25
In this week’s readings we hear the ten commandments and in the Gospel we hear of Jesus’s anger about the marketplace in the temple. Indeed, we are called to not kill, but to go further and to love those that would be our enemies. There will always be a need for us to have a leap of faith to fully understand God in the depth of our being so that it permeates us and affects how we respond to the world around us.
2nd Sunday of Lent
Originally delivered on February 27, 1994
Readings: Genesis 22:12, 9, 10-13, 15-18; Romans 8:31-34; Mark 9:2-10
In this homily, Fr. Healy focuses on the first reading from Genesis about God’s commandment to Abraham to kill his son, Isaac. Fr. Healy contends that the point of the story is that God would never ask us to kill, but rather, that God would send His own Son, Jesus, to be the scapegoat for us all. He passionately preaches that we must not ever kill our sisters and brothers, despite any rationale that is given. We, as followers of Jesus, must always choose life.
1st Sunday of Lent
Originally delivered on February 20, 1994
Readings: Genesis 9:8-15; Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15
In today’s first reading, we hear about God’s use of the rainbow as a sign that God’s promise to always be there for us. God is promising us that we will never be abandoned. We are challenged to recognize that perhaps the rainbow is a symbol of God’s plan for our diversity and that we are called to be the face of God to our sisters and brothers. Like Jesus in the desert, we will face hardship, but God’s promise will see us through those times, just as Jesus endured the 40 days.
Weekly Homilies 