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The Church’s Two Birthdays
Reverend Robert Gillelan May 24, 2026
Today on Pentecost we celebrate a birthday of the Church, and we call it a birthday because Pentecost marks the end of our Lord’s Paschal mystery, His Paschal mission, His suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus ascends to the Father so that the Holy Spirit can descend and shower upon those disciples all of the gifts that the Holy Spirit has to give to embolden them, to inspire them, to empower them to go out to all the world and proclaim the good news. And the apostles did that, and the Church has done it for almost 2,000 years.
We know that because the Catholic Church has a presence on all seven continents and in almost every nation on Earth. So we call this a birthday because it represents the birth of the missionary Church, the missionary character of our Catholic Church. But there is another birthday, so think about it for a minute. What might be the other birthday of the Church?
Correct. It’s Good Friday. Good Friday is the other birthday of the Church because Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Augustine say so. In their theology, the Catholic Church was born on Good Friday when Jesus died on the cross and His side was pierced with a spear and outflowed blood and water, the sacramental signs of sacramental life in the Church. And those signs mean water, baptism, and blood, the Eucharist, the two fundamental sacraments of the Church.
John Chrysostom and Saint Augustine saw in this just as Eve came forth from the side of Adam, so the Church came forth from the side of Christ.
When we think about birthdays, we think about gift-giving. And at this point, we should think about the gifts that Jesus and the Holy Spirit have poured out in copious amounts into the Church.
Let us start with Jesus and consider that as Jesus was preparing to give birth to this Church that we belong to today, He didn’t just give us two sacraments, baptism and Eucharist. He gave us seven. And let’s consider why He gave us those seven sacraments, because He knew we would need spiritual help at spiritually decisive times in our lives.
✔️He gave us baptism to initiate us into the family of God.
✔️He gave us the Eucharist to spiritually nourish us on our spiritual journey.
✔️He gave us confirmation to strengthen us.
✔️He gave us the sacrament of reconciliation to forgive us.
✔️He gave us the sacrament of anointing of the sick to heal us.
✔️He gave us the sacrament of holy orders so that priests and deacons could serve the Church.
✔️He gave us the sacrament of holy matrimony as a service to the family and the Church and society.
Absolutely brilliant that Jesus gave us all of these spiritual helps, not to mention all of His teachings, which give us moral and spiritual guidance in life. Let’s not forget, the Ten Commandments handed on to Jesus and to us in the Catholic Church to give us moral guidance.
And then there’s the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who did not come to the Church empty-handed but came to give us seven gifts: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, piety, fortitude, and fear of the Lord. Just think of that.
In the words of George Gershwin “Who could ask for anything more? “
Think of that!
We have the Ten Commandments. We have the teachings of Christ enshrined in the teachings of the Catholic Church. We have the seven sacraments. We have the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit to help us, to heal us, and to help us to grow in holiness, to live in our Lord’s grace and friendship.
All of that is why we call the Church the Sacrament of Salvation, because we have everything we need and everything that we could want to help us to get to heaven (and basically on our way not to kill each other and tear each other apart.)
So today, as we celebrate these birthdays, and you can take or pick whichever one you want, I like to put them together and think instead of a date or a point, I like to think of a birthday process. Jesus and the Holy Spirit put an awful lot of thought into this to give us what we have today.
All of this, the Church, is under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has taken over the operation of this whole enterprise that we call ‘Holy Mother Church.’
It is the Holy Spirit whose principal job description would be to lead us into all truth, which Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would do, and to keep us unified in our search for truth and holiness, and to be the foundation, the fundamental of our spiritual lives.
So whether you might put Friday as a birthday or whether you might Pentecost as a birthday for the Church, let us celebrate that birth of the one holy Catholic and apostolic Church born of blood and water and the Holy Spirit. May we rejoice in the abundant gifts that Jesus and the Holy Spirit have poured into our Church directly towards our salvation, and may we go forth like those first disciples encouraged to proclaim the good news.
Happy Feast Day.
The Gospel Changes the World
Homily by Reverend Robert Gillelan
May 17, 2026 For 2,000 years, the Catholic Church has been changing the world and changing lives. Consider that for 2,000 years, the Catholic Church has been upsetting worldly philosophies and ideologies and proposing instead the one true holy Catholic and apostolic faith.
And for centuries, the Catholic Church has opposed a society and creation of chaos and anarchy, and instead has proposed law and order as an expression of the divine plan for society and creation. And speaking of law and order, yesterday I came back from jogging on the rail trail, and as I was entering through the chapel
door on Cumberland Street, three little boys came up to me, maybe the ages of 6 to 10 years of age, and the oldest one said to me, “Hey, mister, are you running from the police?” And I said, “No, I’m running because I’m jogging.” And then the littlest one said, “Are you sure you’re not running from the police?”
And so I showed them my key and I told them I was the pastor of this church, and that seemed to settle everything. So that’s the good news that we have the neighborhood watch group. They’re on duty, so I suggest maybe you don’t run to your cars.
The Catholic Church, in the past century, has opposed the economic and political platforms of socialism and communism and has promoted instead the dignity of the human person with inalienable rights given to us by a creator and not by the state.
And the Catholic Church, for 2,000 years, has upset subjectivism and relativism in all of its forms and has promoted human freedom guided by the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus Christ. And all of that began with Jesus and the apostles.
And as we hear in our first reading today and in the Gospel, this is why the apostles went back to that room after our Lord’s Ascension to wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who was going to come to them and empower them to fulfill that commissioning of Jesus Christ, go out to all. the world, and proclaim the good news, because that good news is going to change the world and change lives. And that’s why Jesus we hear the Gospel today, that Jesus prayed for his disciples.
That’s actually called the high priestly prayer of Jesus, and it happened at the Last Supper. Jesus knew the seriousness of the undertaking that he was handing over to his disciples. And I think in a very special way, we see how the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ changed the world when we read through the Acts of the Apostles. And in the Catholic Church, we’ve been doing that after Easter, and, it’s a beautiful Bible study on how Saint Paul and his preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ began to change the world order. (And by the way, I just found out at the Mass at Fatima that Dr. Scott Hahn is doing the same thing. He’s on the Hallow App , so if you get Hallow, you might want to check out Dr.
Scott Hahn. But just consider how the preaching of Saint Paul and his companions changed the world.
And for Paul, we’re talking about in his missionary journeys to Turkey, Greece, and Rome, and his preaching changed the religious order of things. Because when Paul started preaching Christ crucified, it very much upset many of the Jewish groups, and they tried to expel Paul from their midst.
They threatened him. They stoned him almost to death.
They put him in prison because he was preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. So Paul’s beginning to change the world order relative to religion.
He also changed the moral order of things. And he changed that because when Gentiles or pagans became Christians, they were commanded to start eating kosher and giving up incestuous and illegitimate marriages so that they would not scandalize the Jewish Christians.
And for the Jewish Christians, they too had to accept the new moral order. No moralism going to be the lex talionis or an eye for an eye.
It was going to be, now that you’re a follower of Christ, you need to learn to love your enemies and pray for your persecutors. Paul is changing the moral order.
And then there’s the social order. Paul’s preaching changed that too.
He started to break down barriers because it was Paul who said there’s no more Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, but everyone is invited to fellowship around the table. Paul also began to change the economic order of things.
He expelled a demon from a slave girl, and this slave girl went to his possessed, was able to tell fortunes, and so her master, who’s making a lot of money, called her for fortune telling. But Paul exercised that demon, and now she was spiritually free, but she wasn’t bringing in the money that she had accrued because she
wasn’t able to tell fortunes, and that slave owner had Paul beat and thrown into prison.
Also, when Paul told the silversmiths and their union that they need to stop making silver idols because that’s idolatry. And Paul started a riot when he did that. Kind of reminds me of when some of you who are old enough remember, I think it was 1997, when Oprah Winfrey made a comment about eating beef and all the Texas cattlemen sued her.
So Paul was also affecting the economic order by his preaching of Jesus Christ. And finally, we know that he met his end by going up against the political order because he preached Jesus Christ as Lord, and that was a threat to Caesar, and it also disturbed the Roman peace, and Paul was eventually beheaded.
So in all of these ways, we see how the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ changed the world and changed lives. And that’s what the Gospel and its preaching is supposed to do for us.
It is supposed to transform our lives by these kinds of values. And it’s really important to get this right, that the Gospel is supposed to inform our political, economic, social, and moral views, not the other way around.
Our political, economic, social, and moral views are not to form our faith. It’s our faith that becomes our groundings and our foundation.
And that was the secret sauce: Jesus and the preaching of his Gospel that changed the world and changed lives. And we too, as baptized Catholics, are commissioned to do the same, to go out to all the world and proclaim that good news.
So may we not keep that secret to ourselves. May we be bold in our proclamation of the faith to God as greater honor and glory.
The Ascension: Letting Go
Homily by Reverend Robert Gillelan
May 14
Before Mass, Deacon reminded me of our beautiful Ascension stained glass window over here. So as you leave Mass today, if you don’t have a good view of it now, you might want to be inspired by it as you leave.
But also, over here in this corner, we have the beautiful stained-glass window of the Nativity, our Lord’s Incarnation, which, ties in to the Ascension because our Lord’s Ascension is really the crown of the Incarnation. Theologically, the Ascension, celebrates the completion of our Lord’s earthly ministry, what we often refer to as the Paschal Mission, Paschal meaning the Passover, passing over from death to new life in the Resurrection. But it’s really all of the life of Jesus, beginning with his Incarnation, coming to earth as God and man, his public ministry, beginning with his baptism in the Jordan, his suffering, death, Resurrection, post-Resurrection appearances, leading up to what we celebrate today, our Lord’s Ascension.
And Jesus goes to heaven because, in his own words, “I must go so that the Holy Spirit may come,” so that God’s plan for human redemption and salvation may be fulfilled. And so Jesus goes to his throne in heaven amidst the trumpet blasts, and he takes his seat at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, where Jesus intercedes for us as our High Priest, Prophet, and King. He intercedes for us prayerfully as Priest, as Prophet, we continue to hear his word, and as King, we invite the Lord, we ask the Lord to become the ruler of our hearts, and we acknowledge his authority over all creation until he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. And all of this is our hope as that beautiful opening prayer to Mass said, that where Jesus, the head, has gone, we, the body, hope to follow.
So these are beautiful theological points as we celebrate this most important feast day. As I was looking through preparing for Mass, and I was setting up my note back there, which is called the Sacramentary, I noticed that on the opposite page, on one side are my prayers, and on the other side is a beautiful painting.
It’s a painting of the Ascension, but it’s a lot different than that window because, in my book Jesus isn’t yet airborne. He is still on the ground, and the disciples are all around him in very close quarters.
One of them has fallen asleep on him as he’s standing there, and the other one is clinging to his cloak. And the image or the sense that I got from that is that they were saying, “Please don’t go.” And so that made me think, well, maybe there’s, you know, amidst the beautiful theology of this day, there’s a more personal and spiritual message for us. Is there something that we are clinging to, that we need to let go of in order that the Holy Spirit may come to us, in order that God’s plan in us may be fulfilled?
And I’m not talking about sin here. We know we need to let go of sin in our thoughts. I’m talking about something good because Jesus was good. Is there something good in my life that I’m clinging to a bit too fiercely, that I need to, at the very least, loosen my grip on or let go?
Could it be a person I’m clinging to? How about an idea?
How about a memory? How about a feeling?
Or how about a thing? As we all know the saying, we can get too much of a good thing, and this is why the spiritual writers speak to us about detachment, letting go of those things in life that impede God’s will being accomplished in our lives.
And again, during this month of May, we have our Blessed Mother who said to the angel, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” So let us rejoice today that Jesus has gone home to heaven where he continues to intercede for us and help us. May we spiritually prepare ourselves in nine days for the celebration of the birth of the Church and the giving of the Holy Spirit. And let us consider if there is something in our lives that we need to stop clinging to so that the Lord may send his Holy Spirit and God’s will may be accomplished in us.
Happy Feast Day.
Reverend Robert Gillelan
May 14, 2026
Sixth Sunday of Easter / Mother’s Day Homily
Choose Your Camp
Father Bob Gillelan
May 10, 2026
Jesus tells His disciples that if they want to continue to love Him, they need to keep His commandments. But then Jesus says it will not be so for everyone.
Jesus predicts that there will be people in this world who do not know God, who will not accept the Spirit of Truth, who is the Holy Spirit. And because they do not know God, because they do not accept this Spirit of Truth, they will not love the Lord according to His commandments.
Jesus presents this as a sad reality.
He is also setting up what St. Ignatius of Loyola later developed into one of his meditations. Jesus is kind of setting up two camps: those who are going to obey His commandments and love Him by doing so, and those who will not.
It was St. Ignatius of Loyola, in the 16th century, who wrote a series of spiritual exercises for lay people. One of those spiritual exercises was a meditation on the “Two Standards.” By “standards,” he meant banners or flags.
The goal of this meditation was to choose your camp, to choose your flag. Are you going to pitch your tent in the camp of Jesus or in the camp of Satan?
This is a wonderful meditation to make a conscious, visual act of the will — a visual intention that we truly want to strive to live our lives in God’s grace and friendship.
And we might be surprised how easy it becomes to migrate from the camp of Jesus to the camp of Satan.
We see that very much in our world today. People who have either knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously, migrated from the camp of Jesus to the camp of Satan.
We might use the analogy of moving from the Spirit of Truth to living our lives according to the spirit of lies.
Exorcists, who deal with the demonic on a daily basis, give us some signs and warnings about what to look for in the spiritual life — indications that demonic influence may be at work.
One of those signs is rebellion.
Rebellion against God and the things of God — things that are good and right and just and holy and true.
Rebellion is why there are demons in the first place. Demons and devils were originally good angels who rebelled against God. And now their stock and trade is to tempt us to rebel against God and against all that is right and good and just and holy and true.
Another sign of the demonic is an inability to use right reason.
Often, when people fall into serious sin, the intellect becomes darkened, and they are unable to reason clearly about what is right and good and just and holy and true.
A perfect example might be people who are otherwise very intelligent, perhaps even highly educated, but cannot define what a woman is because their minds have become darkened and corrupted by transgender ideology and its lies.
Another sign of demonic influence is what is called the principle of inversion.
This happens in temptations all the time — when something evil is presented as something good. That is how temptation works. Something we know is wrong or sinful is presented as good, or at least “not that bad.”
But this can also happen in extreme ways.
For example, with abortion, demonic influence would say that abortion is something good, that it is “healthcare,” when in reality it is a violation of the commandment: You shall not directly and intentionally kill innocent human life.
Inversion. Good becomes evil, and evil becomes good.
And perhaps a final sign — though there are more — is violence and destruction when all else fails.
Get violent. Destroy.
We see this principle in mass murders followed by suicides. It is not enough simply to kill others; Satan also incites the person to take his own life.
We also see this in the culture of death around us, where we have moved from a cancel culture to what can become an assassination culture — destroying or killing what you do not like or agree with.
So what Jesus says in the Gospel today is not merely something soft, warm, and fuzzy — “If you love me, do your best to keep my commandments.”
There is a real spiritual imperative here: that we strive to live according to the teachings of Jesus and the Holy Spirit whom He has given us.
The Holy Spirit keeps us in a place of spiritual safety, gives us the guidance we need to have a healthy spiritual life, and ultimately helps save our souls.
So, with all this talk about demons — Happy Mother’s Day.
And I mean that sincerely, because Mary, our spiritual mother, is the terror of demons. They absolutely hate her, and they fear her.
In one account, an exorcist described how difficult it was to expel a demon. At one point, Our Blessed Mother was invoked, and the demon was heard saying to the other demons, “Oh no — she’s here.”
Our Blessed Mother is a powerful intercessor for us against temptation.
And on this Mother’s Day, let us also, with grateful hearts, thank our own mothers — living and deceased — who have been so instrumental in passing on the faith to us and teaching us to obey the commandments in order to love Jesus as He loves us.
Let us pray with grateful hearts that all mothers today will be blessed, and that we may continue to be blessed by their faithful example.
And as Peter said so beautifully in the first reading, may we consecrate the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts so that we may know the Lord, obey Him, and follow His Holy Spirit and truth.
So that we may continue to know, love, and serve the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Service & Unity in the Early Church
Homily based on Acts 6 John 14: 1-12
In our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear that something was wrong. But before we get to the problem, let us first understand what the Acts of the Apostles is.
It is St. Luke’s second volume. In his Gospel, he tells the story of Jesus; in the Acts of the Apostles, he continues that story—describing beautifully and powerfully the formation of the Church, built on the foundation of the Apostles under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
So with all that going for it, what could possibly go wrong?
Well, as we hear in today’s reading, something did go wrong. The Greek-speaking widows—Jewish women who believed in Jesus Christ—were being overlooked in the daily distribution, while the Hebrew- or Aramaic-speaking widows were being cared for.
This problem was brought to the attention of the Twelve Apostles. And they addressed it.
But what is important is not just that they fixed the problem—it is how they fixed it, and what that says about us as a Church.
When the issue arose, the people brought it to the Apostles. Why? Because they were the leaders of the Church—placed there by Jesus Himself. Already we can see a structure forming, a kind of hierarchy, and a respect for authority within the Church.
The Apostles responded by praying and then laying hands on seven men, consecrating them as the first deacons. This is where the ministry of the diaconate finds its origin—what we read in Acts chapter 6.
The word deacon comes from the Greek word meaning service or ministry. These men were entrusted with caring for the corporal needs of the community—especially those who were being neglected—while the Apostles devoted themselves to prayer and the preaching of the Gospel.
Here we see the growth of the Church:
the development of ministries,
a division of labor,
and different people serving in different ways.
And we also see the catholicity of the Church.
“Catholic” means universal.
From the very beginning, the Church was for everyone. It did not matter whether you were Jewish or Greek, what language you spoke—Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, or Latin. The Church would care for all.
Everyone is invited to come to know the Lord—who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
So in the Acts of the Apostles, we learn a great deal about ourselves and about the Church. But that is not the only place we learn who we are as Catholics.
Every Sunday, when we profess the Nicene Creed, we proclaim that we believe in the four marks of the Church: that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.
Each of these is essential.
One — The Church is one because it is the single Church founded by Jesus Christ, entrusted to St. Peter and the Apostles to govern and to spread throughout the world.
Holy — The Church is holy because it has been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, especially at Pentecost. When we cooperate with that grace, we ourselves grow in holiness.
Catholic — The Church is universal. It exists throughout the world, present across nations and cultures, calling all people into communion with Christ.
Apostolic — The Church is built upon the Apostles, who handed on the teachings of Jesus. Through them, and their successors, that same faith reaches us today.
Just think about how important those Twelve Apostles were—because through them, we have received the fullness of the faith and the spiritual blessings we experience today.
So perhaps today we might renew our interest by spending a little time reading the Acts of the Apostles. There we come to understand more clearly who we are as Catholics.
“Oh—that’s why we are the way we are.”
The Acts of the Apostles can be very revealing.And so, with humility, gratitude, and praise, let us give thanks for the gift of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church—through which we come to know, love, and serve the Lord our God in Jesus Christ, who is our Way, our Truth, and our Life.
Amen.
https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Jesus, the Bread of Life — and the Gift of Faith
Homily by Father Bob Gillelan — April 21, 2026
When we hear Jesus speaking to the people in today’s Gospel, He reminds them of something very important:
it was not Moses who gave their ancestors bread in the desert—it was God.
In doing this, Jesus is revealing something deeper:
God is greater than Moses.
And then Jesus goes even further—He begins what we know as the Bread of Life discourse, referring to Himself as the Bread of Life.
This is a turning point.
Jesus is not simply another prophet like Moses.
He is greater than Moses. But the people do not understand.
At the same time, in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear about St. Stephen, who is boldly preaching about the Resurrection of Jesus. For this, he is accused of blasphemy—
blasphemy against Moses, the Temple, and even God. And as we heard today, they stone him to death.
St. Stephen becomes the first martyr of the Church—the proto-martyr—giving his life for the truth of Jesus Christ.
We begin to see a pattern.
The Jewish people had such a deep reverence for Moses—the great lawgiver, the great leader—that for many, Moses became an obstacle to recognizing Jesus as the Messiah.
Even today, many still do not accept that Jesus is divine.
But this doesn’t only apply to the past.
Even today, many Christians believe in Jesus, but struggle with His teachings—
especially when it comes to difficult issues like:
- the dignity of human life
- marriage and family
- human sexuality
- the sacraments
Some accept Jesus—but not fully.
Some accept parts of His teaching—but not all.
So what do we make of this?
We are reminded that faith is a gift.
Faith is not something we arrive at on our own.
It is a theological virtue given by God—a grace that opens our minds, our hearts, and our wills to accept the truth of who Jesus is.
So today, we are invited to do two things:
First, give thanks for the gift of faith that we have received.
Second, remember those who came before us—
those like St. Stephen, who gave their lives for that faith.
There is a famous saying from Tertullian:
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
Because of their witness, the faith has been handed on to us.
May we, like St. Stephen,
have the courage to profess our faith boldly,
to live it faithfully,
and to remain rooted in the truth of Jesus Christ—
the Bread of Life, given for the world.
Hearts Burning at Mass. April 19, 2026
https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
(Lightly edited for clarity from recorded audio.)
In today’s Gospel, I think we can see a foreshadowing —a foreshadowing of the Liturgy of the Word, and a foreshadowing of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. In essence, a foreshadowing of the Mass. ecause when Jesus appears to the disciples, He opens the Scriptures to them. And their hearts bur vithin them. That is the foreshadowing of the Liturgy of the Woro
And then, at the end of the day, they have a meal with Him, and they break bread. And as they break bread with Him, they come to recognize Him in the breaking of the bread as Lord and Savior, the Risen Jesus Christ. And that corresponds to the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
And the response to all of this is clear: their hearts burn within them, and then there is joy.
A Question We All Ask
Which leads us to ask a very reasonable question. When we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, why doesn’t my heart always burn within me? Why is it that I don’t always feel close to Jesus in the celebration of the Mass, if this is the source and summit of what we believe? Why don’t I have the same response as the disciples?
What Gets in the Way
Well, the saints and spiritual writers of the Church have some answers. Have you ever been to Mass and allowed your intellect to be distracted? The intellect is easily distracted. Have you ever allowed your imagination to daydream? How about your will? Is your will in the right place, or have you ever thought, “I really don’t want to be here-l’d rather be somewhere else.”
Temptation and Sin
Even the saints experienced temptations during Mass. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Francis de Sales, Padre Pio-all experienced this. Why not? It is the perfect place for distraction. And then there is sin.
Serious sin darkens the intellect, impairs judgment, and weakens the will, and we can lose the grace the Lord wants to give us.
Our Humanity
And sometimes, it is simply our humanity. How do we feel? Are we tired? Are we distracted? Are we burdened? All of this affects how we encounter the Lord at Mass.
Our Agendas
And then there is one more thing: the agendas we bring with us. We come with a list-people we promised to pray for, things we want Jesus to fix, and situations we want Him to change according to our will. The problem is that our agenda can overtake the Lord’s agenda.
The Lord’s Agenda
And His agenda is much simpler. He wants to come near to us, to explain the Scriptures so our hearts burn within us, to reveal Himself in the breaking of the bread, and to draw us into communion with Him.
A Spiritual Suggestion
So here is a suggestion-try to leave your agenda outside the church. Notice the statues of our Blessed Mother surrounding the church. In each one, she stands with arms open, inviting us to give her everything we carry—our worries, our distractions, our agendas. She receives them and brings them to her Son, so that when we enter, our minds can be clear and our hearts more open to a deeper communion with Christ.
Final Reflection
If we have ever wondered about our experience of Mass, let us take the counsel of the saints and turn to our Blessed Mother. Let us entrust our burdens to her. Perhaps we can think of her not only as Mary of the Assumption, but also as Mary, the Gatherer of Agendas.
Let Us Pray
Through her intercession, may our hearts burn within us, and may we come to recognize our Lord in the breaking of the bread. Amen.
Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)
Gospel: John 20:19–31
Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and what we reflect on is the forgiveness that flows from the Heart of Jesus into our lives—the forgiveness of our sins.
We often think of that mercy most clearly in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in going to confession. And that is right and true. But from a biblical perspective, mercy is an even broader concept.
As the hymn reminds us: “There is a wideness in God’s mercy.” That wideness speaks to God’s loving kindness—His deep, faithful love for us. Mercy, we might say, is the form love takes when it encounters misery.
One of the ways we see this “wideness” of God’s mercy is through the sacraments—especially those closely connected to the Easter season.
Let us begin with Holy Thursday. Why do we celebrate Holy Thursday? Because it is the night of the Last Supper. And at the Last Supper, Jesus instituted two sacraments: the priesthood (Holy Orders) and the Eucharist.
Jesus gave us the priesthood so that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass would continue throughout time, until He comes again in glory. He desired that His sacrifice on Good Friday would not be forgotten, but remembered—made present. And in the Mass, we receive Holy Communion—His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—given out of love for us. Already, we begin to see the wideness of His mercy: that He would remain with His Church and lift us out of sin, darkness, and death.
Then we come to today—Divine Mercy Sunday. This is where we reflect more deeply on forgiveness, especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If you have ever been asked why Catholics go to confession to a priest, the answer is found in today’s Gospel from John.
Jesus breathes on the apostles and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.” In that moment, He institutes the sacrament of Reconciliation.
Just as He empowered the apostles to be the first priests, He now empowers them to forgive sins in His name. Jesus wanted His Church to be a forgiven Church.
As we continue through the Easter season, we hear from the Acts of the Apostles—the story of the birth of the Church through the power of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, fifty days after the Resurrection, the apostles receive the Holy Spirit. That gift gives them courage to proclaim Christ crucified and risen. This is the foundation of the sacrament of Confirmation—the strengthening presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church.
Now we have several sacraments connected to this season.
And as we were taught:
A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace. We might also say: an outward sign instituted by Christ, out of love and mercy, to give grace.
And there is one more to consider.
As the apostles go out and preach the Good News, what is the expected response?
Baptism.
In the Acts of the Apostles, we see people hearing the Gospel and becoming baptized believers in Jesus Christ. That mission continues today. In fact, the Church continues to grow—now numbering over 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.
All of this reminds us of the wideness of God’s mercy.
In Baptism, we are united to Christ.
In the Eucharist, we are nourished in Christ.
In Confirmation, we are strengthened in Christ.
In Reconciliation, we are forgiven when we fall away from Christ.
And through the priesthood, Christ remains present in His Church.
Yes—there is a wideness in God’s mercy.
As we sang today, “His mercy endures forever.”
May we always give thanks to the Lord for His love and mercy.
Happy Divine Mercy Sunday.
Homily on Easter Sunday
https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading John 20: 1-9
P.K. Chesterton, a famous British Christian apologist, once said: “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing—they believe in everything.”
What he meant was that if we don’t believe in God, we often end up believing in anything and
everything that comes along.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen had a similar, though slightly different, take. He said that those who do not believe in God often end up believing in themselves—and he did not mean that in a good way. He meant elevating oneself over God.
Mr. Lee Strobel was one such man. He was an atheist and an investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune. When his wife converted to Christianity, it deeply upset him. Determined to prove her wrong, he set out to disprove Christianity.
Using his investigative skills, he traveled across the United States, interviewing experts in Scripture, history, and archaeology. He wanted to uncover the truth—particularly about the Resurrection.
One common theory is that the Resurrection was a hoax—that Jesus did not rise from the dead, but that His body was stolen by the disciples.
So what did Mr. Strobel discover?
The experts told him that it was highly improbable—almost impossible—that the disciples stole the body.
Consider this: after the Resurrection, the disciples were afraid. They were in hiding. The tomb itself was guarded by Roman soldiers and sealed with a Roman seal. To break that seal and steal the body would have been a capital offense, punishable by death.
So the idea that the disciples stole the body is extremely unlikely.
And even if they had—what would be their motive?
If they had stolen the body, they would have been knowingly promoting a lie. Yet we know that eleven of the twelve apostles died as martyrs, proclaiming the truth of the Resurrection.
People do not die for what they know is a lie.
They died for what they believed to be true.
What about the early accounts of the Resurrection? Were they simply legends?
Historians point out that legends take a long time to develop—often generations. But the accounts of the Resurrection appeared very quickly—within months of Jesus’ crucifixion.
That makes the idea of legend highly unlikely.
For comparison, after the death of Alexander the Great, it took over 400 years for legendary accounts about him to develop. But with Jesus, accounts of the Resurrection spread almost immediately.
Then there is eyewitness testimony.
Scripture tells us that Jesus appeared to many people after His Resurrection—at one point to over 500 people. These encounters happened at different times and in different places, yet the accounts are consistent.
And one final detail: if someone were inventing this story and wanted it to be believed, they would not have chosen women as the first witnesses.
In the first century, women were not considered reliable witnesses in a court of law. And yet, the Gospels clearly state that women were the first to encounter the risen Christ.
All of this evidence profoundly impacted Lee Strobel.
He set out to disprove Christianity—but instead, he came to believe. He was eventually baptized and became a follower of Jesus Christ.
What this shows us is that people come to faith in different ways. Some come through reason and investigation. Others come through simple faith and trust in the mysteries we have been taught.
But what matters most is not how we arrive—what matters is that we arrive.
St. Thomas Aquinas once said , “For those who have faith, no explanation is necessary. For those without faith, no explanation will suffice.”
So no matter how we have come here today, let us pray that we are all believers in Jesus Christ and in His Resurrection.
As St. Paul reminds us: if Christ has not been raised, our faith is in vain. But He has been raised. And the Resurrection proves that everything Jesus said and did is true.
So today, as we celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection, let us rejoice and be glad.
This is the day the Lord has made. He is risen. He is truly risen. Happy Easter. God bless you all.
