Four minute homilies

The Good Shepherd 

            The main task of the Good Shepherd is to bring us to good pastures. What are the good pastures for us? We have the wrong idea where to find them or what they are. We think that they are wealth, honours, health, entertainment, food, beauty, pleasurable things, love, gadgets, adventure, travelling; all sort of different things, depending on our age and circumstances. If we don’t agree what our good pastures are, how are we going to follow the Good Shepherd to where he is trying to lead us? This is the real prob...

Second miraculous catch of fish

            Peter said: “I am going fishing.” The other apostles agreed: “We are going with you.” That night they caught nothing. It was a good idea to have a break, make a bit of money and get some food, but they spent the whole night casting the net and all they caught was an old boot and a broken amphora. Last time they went fishing was the first miraculous catch of fish. They thought they could pull it off again. They started with a lot of enthusiasm, but as the hours went by, the c...

Thomas 

            Jesus’ disciples were afraid of the Jews and locked the doors where they were staying. Jesus came through the walls, stood in the midst of them and said: Peace be with you. He came with his glorious body and they found difficult to recognise him. This is the kind of body we are going to have at the end of time, when our soul will be reunited to our body. We are body and soul, and to be truly human we need our body back. Our society adores the body and has forgotten the soul. It...

Holy Thursday 

            One of the most beautiful ceremonies we perform today is the washing of the feet. The Church wants us to witness again what happened at the last supper, not to forget the example of the Master. Saint John begins this chapter in is his Gospel saying that Jesus “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” John is the beloved apostle who had the best access to Jesus’ heart. The washing of the feet is a straight manifestation of the message of the Gospel. It helps us to peek in...

Good Friday 

            After the homily we are going to bring the crucifix veiled, Jesus crucified hiding behind a purple cloth. Purple used to be a royal colour, because it was the most expensive colorant to produce. Herod covered Jesus with a purple robe, to mock him. This is why we use this colour. We cover the crucifix because we don’t know if he is still alive; we don’t want to see him dying for us. The unveiling signifies the death of Jesus. Before it was hidden; now we know.

            We are going to unveil h...

Easter Sunday 

            While the men were sleeping, women went to Jesus’s tomb. Women are always more on top of things. They didn’t have time to finish anointing Jesus’s body on Friday night. They waited till Sunday, because on Saturday it was forbidden to work. We must be like them, awake, here on the most important day of the year, waiting for Jesus to rise from the dead. We believe that he is going to rise, because he does so every year. We are celebrating his resurrection. The women’s love and generosity made them first...

Palm Sunday 

            Today we read the Passion from Saint Luke’s Gospel. Every evangelist gives his particular vision of the event. When we witness or hear about something that happened, we all have different recollections. Luke presents five specific details that are absent in the other three Gospels. The first one is about the night in the garden of olives. He uses the word “agony”, a word we use when somebody is dying, representing the last moments of a person’s life, the difficult struggle between life and death. Two other details from this scene are the sweatin...

Lent 5 C The adulterous woman

            Saint Augustine defines the meeting between Jesus and the adulterous woman with this great expression: Misera et Misericordia, Misery and Mercy, the wretched woman and the merciful Jesus, the sinner and God, sin and grace. Pope Francis calls his Apostolic Letter at the conclusion of the Jubilee of Mercy, Misericordia et Misera. He turns them around, emphasizing love and forgiveness above sin and justice: “the misery of sin was clothed with the mercy of love.” There they meet, one in front of each other, Mercy and Misery, Jesus and the adulterous...

Lent 4 C The Prodigal Son  

            In chapter 15 of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus proposes three parables of mercy: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. His Gospel has earned the title of Gospel of Mercy. To receive his mercy, first we need to recognise we are lost. Nowadays with GPS, it is very difficult to get lost, unless we run out of data or we lose our internet access. The most famous parable of all is the return of the prodigal son, the summary of the Gospel, very dear to our Christian faith, a reflect...

Lent 3 C Barren fig tree

            Today Jesus gives us the parable of the barren fig tree. Why was it barren? We don’t know why. In spite of all the care and concern of the gardener, the tree remained barren, esterile. It was maybe a proud tree that wanted to just produce leaves, to show off, a beautiful manifestation of its magnificence. Or perhaps it was its selfishness, to keep the produce for itself, not to lose its healthy look. It reminds us of our modern man, too concerned about his body image, going to the gym...

Lent 2 Transfiguration 

            Today we are going to ask five questions about the transfiguration. First of all, Where did it happen? Tradition places this event at Mount Tabor, 300 metres above the plain. It looks taller than it is. Now there is a winding road that goes to the top; they use shuttle buses to take you up there. Pope Francis says that these days of Lent we need to climb up, becoming closer to God, leave material things behind. We carry what we need. When you do the Camino of Santiago they recommend you to carry only 8...

Lent 1 Temptations

            Today we accompany Jesus to the desert to be tempted. For us temptations are part of our daily lives. They say that every temptation can be reduced to one: to believe that we can fulfill the desires of our hearts by ourselves, with our own strength. It was the first temptation of Adam and Eve: to be like gods, knowing good and evil. It is the temptation of the child who thinks he has already grown up and doesn’t need his parents. We think that God is not a good Father, he doesn’t...

Ash Wednesday 

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” The Gospel acclamation of today’s Mass centers on our struggle for the weeks ahead. We begin an intense liturgical time during which God through the Church will give us special graces to undergo a new conversion. We need to hear his voice and let our hearts become softer like a sponge, to absorb as much as we can from the power of God. During the year, our hearts have been hardened by the obstacles found on the way, blackened with the dust of the...

Two Parables 

            Today in the Gospel Jesus gives us two parables, more like two comparisons or examples, very practical for our Christian lives. The first one is about the blind leading the blind. We all have the image of a line of blind people falling into a cliff, one after the other, oblivious of what is going to happen to them. It helps us to ask the question: What or who are we following? Is my life taking me to a safe haven? We should check from time to time our compass, to make sure we are...

Magnanimity

            Today’s Gospel reading reaches a higher level. Jesus is always lifting us up to a higher level of perfection. It is a reminder of the universal call to holiness. We are all called to become holy; it means that when we die, we go straight to heaven. It is a central message of the Second Vatican Council. We are not called just to be a good Christian, but to become holy. It is not a matter of saying hundreds of rosaries or being involved in the activities of the parish, but to have a new he...

The Beatitudes 

            The readings of today’s Mass focus on trust. The first reading from the book of Jeremiah, compares a man who trusts in human beings with the man who trusts in the Lord. The first one is like a bush planted in the desert, dried and barren; the second one is a tree planted on the shore of a river, its roots sucking up water all year around and producing magnificent fruits. The Responsorial Psalm praises whoever leaves things in God’s hands: “Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.” The second reading from th...

Miraculous catch of fish

            Today in the Gospel we have a beautiful scene full of lessons. We are at the lake of Gennesaret, surrounded by boats and nets. This is how we imagine Jesus, close to the water, on the shores of the lake, among fishermen. The scenery hasn’t changed much from Jesus time. He got into Peter’s boat, which represents the Church. The Pope is the captain leading us to a safe harbour. He is steering the boat and we are under his command. If we get out of the boat, or we try our...

Presentation of Our Lord

            Today Jesus is brought for the first time to his temple, to fulfil the duties prescribed by the Jewish Law. He comes in his mother’s arms; he is too little to be able to walk. Joseph brings a pair of pigeons. They were a poor family and couldn’t afford a lamb. A poet says that because God couldn’t find poverty in heaven, he came to find it on earth. After all these centuries waiting for the Messiah, when he arrived, there was no party to welcome him. Only two people r...

Beginning of Luke's Gospel

            We begin this new year with the Gospel of Saint Luke. He is the only evangelist to give his book a preface, where he describes why he has written the book: to provide an orderly account of the life of Jesus. Luke is the most prolific author of the New Testament: he wrote the longest Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. He was a Greek from Antioch, and he became the fellow worker of Saint Paul, remaining with him till his martyrdom. Some people say that he was one of the 72...

Wedding at Cana 

            Jesus’ public life begins with a wedding banquet, with a celebration. It is the beginning of the announcement of the good news. It this setting Jesus chose to manifest himself first as a Messiah. The apostles were happy to begin to follow Jesus to a wedding. They were afraid that they were going to go through the hardships of the disciples of John the Baptist. Jesus begins his public ministry bringing wine to us, something to cheer us up, a very cheerful message, the Gospel of joy. When Jesus comes to our soul, he...

Epiphany

            The three wise men saw the star and followed it. This is the story of their lives, of their encounter with God, of their place in history. It is an amazing one; by following a star, they met a baby, and they discovered the Messiah. Humanly speaking it was crazy. Why did a passing star provoke that reaction on the Magi? How do you follow a star? Where or when is it going to stop? These are questions that belong to our lives. We too discovered a star, we are following it, and hopefully it wil...

Holy Family C

            There were three important feasts for the Jews, the Passover, Pentecost and the Feast ofTabernacles. Many Jews used to go to Jerusalem for one of these feasts. The Holy Family used to go for the Passover, the greatest of the three. Nazareth is just some eighty miles from Jerusalem. For the trip they used to go several families together; the journey took four or five days. Coming back to Nazareth, Jesus stayed in Jerusalem without the permission of his parents. They used to travel in two groups, one of men and another of wom...

Christmas

            During this Advent, in our quest for Jesus, we have been following the example of John the Baptist, Joseph and Mary. They have led us to him. We have arrived at our destination. We have reached the center of our lives and the focus is a baby. Now we realise that baby Jesus is all that matters. These days of Christmas are days of calm and serene contemplation of baby Jesus. All we need to do is to look at him, to plunge into the mystery of God becoming man, admiring the mingling of humani...

Fourth Sunday of Advent

            After the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel left Mary, Saint Luke says that she set out in haste to a town in the hill country of Judah. Mary was in a hurry to fulfill the will of God. Even though God didn’t ask her directly to help her cousin Elizabeth, Mary understood immediately what God wanted her to do, and she didn’t waste time thinking about it. Joseph would have accompanied her, on a trip of three or four days, walking dangerous paths through the mountains, and would have asked her...

Third Sunday of Advent

            Today we can use rose vestments. Why? To express our joy because the Lord is coming. Today’s Sunday it is called Domenica Gaudete, because this is how its entrance antiphon begins in Latin: Gaudete, rejoice. It comes from Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice. The Lord is near.” After two weeks of penance for preparation for Christmas, we take a break, a rest, and we look at the beautiful panorama that the ascent of mount Advent shows us: Jesus is almost upon us...

Second Sunday of Advent

             Today we follow Saint John the Baptist in our way to Bethlehem. He is going to lead us to baby Jesus. But his path is not going to be easy for us because it goes through the most difficult terrain, the desert. He was inspired by the Holy Spirit to retire into the wilderness. There he devoted himself to prayer and to live a penitencial life, where he could meet God without distractions from other people. Origen says that “he went into the desert, where the air was more pure, the heavens m...

First Sunday of Advent

            Today we begin a new liturgical year. It is a new beginning, where we walk again through the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why do we need to tread on his footsteps every year? Because once is not enough. We human beings need to be reminded of important things over and over again, because we forget or because it takes us a long time to grasp its full meaning. That’s why companies need to keep advertising their brand names, with a logo to remember their products. The liturgical year is like...

Pontius Pilate 

            Today the Gospel brings to us the conversation between Pilate and Jesus about his kingship. Pilate was the governor of Judaea for ten years, the time of Jesus’ passion and death. His name appears in the Creed to place Jesus in a particular time of history. Tradition says that he became a Christian and died a martyr. We don’t like kings in our present time. We either see them as oppressive or irrelevant. In our individualistic world, we are critical of authority. We don’t want to be told who we are, we prefer to...

Second coming

            We are now to the end of the liturgical year where we get these apocalyptic Gospels, which talk about the end of times. Apocalypse means unveiling, to lift the veil and to reveal what is going to happen, what is behind the curtain that separates us from eternity. We know that Jesus is going to come back one day, every day a bit closer, to end our time and to begin his everlasting Kingdom. Next Sunday we close the liturgical year with the feast of Christ the King. In the creed we say every...

The widow’s mite

            Today the readings of the Mass present to us two widows. In the first reading a widow from Elijah’s time and in the Gospel a widow going to the temple. Widows had a hard life, with no husband to look after them, and it was especially tough if they didn’t have grown up children. Both were generous, giving out of their poverty the last resources they had. And both got much more than what they expected. Elijah’s widow was going to die with her son and received food for the whole...

Love of neighbour

            We are travellers, pilgrims on this earth. We come from God and we are going back to him. Today Jesus in the Gospel tells us what are the two most important commandments for us to follow, to reach the kingdom of heaven: to love God above everything and others as we love ourselves. They are the summary of our Christian faith. Today we can check if we are following them. They are not easy to fulfill. We normally love ourselves first, then others, for what they can do for us, and then God, j...

All Saints

            Once a year in November the Church on earth as a good mother helps us to remember our brothers and sisters who have made it into eternity. On the first of this month, the saints in heaven; on the second, the souls in purgatory. They say there are around 10.000 saints recognised by the Church. It is impossible to count all the saints in heaven. We don’t have time to canonise every person who enters into glory. There are millions of them. We call them anonymous saints, which means saints with no names; not for...

Bartimeus

            Today we come across Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, a blind man, outside the city of Jericho. They say that Jericho is the oldest city in the world still functioning. Timaeus must have been a well known person. His son was begging for money at the road side. We are like Bartimaeus, blinded to the spiritual things, sitting on the road side of life, waiting for Jesus to pass by, begging for help. He heard a multitude coming out of the city and asked what was happening. Blind people rely completely on their hearing. We too...

The sons of Zebedee

            The readings in the past few Sundays come from chapter 10 of Mark’s Gospel. We see Jesus going towards Jerusalem, walking with his disciples, talking to them, taking advantage of this walk by forming them. Jesus is also walking with us and we need to be aware of his presence. We are accompanying him towards the heavenly Jerusalem. They sat down to rest and the sons of Zebedee took advantage of this moment to ask something they wanted to ask. In Matthew’s Gospel it is their mother, Salome, who asks. James and...

The rich young man

            Today in the Gospel we meet a fellow who we call the rich young man. We don’t know his name. All we know is that he is rich and he must be young, because he runs towards Jesus. He was in a hurry as young people always are. He must have been a good looking guy. All of us would like to be young, rich and beautiful. If we are young in our spiritual life, we can run towards God. Once we grow older, we begin to drag our feet. Some sch...

Matrimony

             In the first reading we see that at the beginning God created Adam, the only human being. Adam didn’t need anybody else because he was with God. But God thought he needed a companion to begin to generate other human beings. And then, transforming Adam, he created Eve, and marriage began. In the book of Genesis God reminds us that in marriage men and women become one flesh. From the beginning we were created to become one with our spouse and bring children to the world. Human love is beautiful and great, but we cannot...

Temptations

            Today in the Gospel Jesus warns us of what makes us sin, causes us to lose heaven and sends us to eternal damnation. The devils hate hell, the place God has created for them, and try with all their might for us to follow their fate. We must not be naive about the possibility of losing our soul. We don’t see temptations but we do feel them all the time. We do what we shouldn’t be doing and we know it. There are things that are not good for us and make us lose ou...

Arguing along the way

            We normally imagine Jesus walking with his apostles through out the Holy Land, going from one place to another, meeting people, performing miracles. When you walk in a large group, there are people in front, some at the centre and others right at the back. Different conversations develop and you can hear a bit from here and there. You change groups and catch up with different people. Jesus could hear a heated discussion behind him. When they reached Capernaum and sat down for a rest, Jesus asked them: “What were you discussi...

Who do people say that I am?

            In today’s Gospel as usual Jesus is walking with his disciples. Suddenly he turns around and asks them a question: “Who do people say that I am?” He wanted to know what people said about him, the gossip around town. “They said in reply, John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” People didn’t know who Jesus really was and they had all sort of opinions about him, mainly that he was a kind of a prophet. It is a bit like what happens nowadays...

Our Lady of Sorrows

            Standing at the foot of the Cross is our mother. She is standing, not crying or fainting; she is there supporting her son with her presence. Silent tears run down her cheeks. And Saint John is also there, the celibate apostle, the one Jesus loved. Other women are there too. Women are stronger than men. Many artists tried to capture this moment but with different results. It is almost impossible to represent in a painting what happened at Calvary. Where are the other apostles? Where are the big guys? They said they w...