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Father Bob’s Homily
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.
Father Bob’s Homily – Good Friday
https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Today we remember how Jesus humbly and heroically died on the Cross for our salvation.
In the Gospel we hear those iconic words of Jesus as He completes His earthly mission:
“It is finished.”
In Greek, that phrase carries profound meaning. The word is tetelestai.
Tetelestai was used in several contexts:
• In business, it meant: the debt has been paid.
• In a judicial sense: the sentence has been served.
• In a military sense: the battle is over—the victory has been won.
What a beautiful way for Jesus to speak to humanity from the Cross.
Through His death, the debt of our sins has been paid.
Our sentence has been served.
Our slavery to sin and death is ended.
It is finished.
Because Jesus died on the Cross and rose again, the victory has been won. The Kingdom of God has conquered the kingdom of Satan.
And all of this comes through His humble and heroic proclamation:
“It is finished.”
So we might ask: What return can I make to the Lord for all His goodness to me? What can I do in response to what Jesus has done for my salvation?
The answer is clear.
We follow the command of Jesus: to take up our cross.
Perhaps we can say that the age of casual Catholicism is over. Now is the time for heroic Catholicism.
We are called to take up our cross in a world where it can be very difficult—not only to be a Christian, but especially to be a Catholic.
We see this throughout the world:
• In places like Iceland and Canada, there are growing pressures against speaking the truths of our faith.
• In Africa, Christians continue to suffer violence and persecution. Just this past Palm Sunday, about 20 people were killed in a Catholic church in Nigeria.
• Even here in the United States, there have been hundreds of attacks against Catholic churches in recent years.
• And every day, we encounter ideologies that challenge and oppose the truth of the Gospel.
Yes—it is hard to be Catholic.
It is hard to be courageous.
It is hard to live with the humility and heroism of Jesus.
But as the world pushes against us, we must stand firm in our faith.
So today, as we venerate the Cross, may our hearts overflow with gratitude for the love God has shown us in Jesus Christ—
who paid the debt for our sins and won for us the gift of salvation through His death on the Cross.
And as we venerate that Cross, may we pray for the grace and courage
to carry our own crosses and to live our faith with humility and heroism!
Holy Thursday Homily
Father Bob Gillelan
Today, Deacon Wentzel told me that there was an article in the National Catholic Register about the uptick in the number of candidates and catechumens coming into the Catholic Church this year in our nation.
So I found the article—and did you know that the Diocese of Harrisburg is number six in the entire nation for bringing in candidates and catechumens into the Church this year?
They’re sitting right up front here—we now call them the elect.
The uptick for our diocese is 77% more than last year.
That’s incredible. And in a way, it doesn’t surprise me.
Because, as you know, I’ve been basing many of my homilies this past year on St. John’s Christmas Gospel—the Prologue—where we hear that Jesus came into the world as the Light of the world.
And I think this increase is because people are being attracted to that Light—
the Light who is Jesus Christ.
That’s what they want.
They want Jesus to be for them their way, their truth, and their life—especially in a world where there is so much darkness: the darkness of sin and error.
So there is this beautiful attraction to Christ, who is Light.
Tonight, as we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we see three manifestations of that Light.
1. The Priesthood
One of the things we celebrate tonight is our Lord’s institution of the priesthood.
At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the priesthood in His wisdom and love, knowing that the Church would need shepherds to guide the flock—and ministers to continue the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass through time and space.
Those are two of the central aspects of the priesthood—and they are profound, beautiful, and, at times, humbling for us priests.
2. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
When we speak about the Mass, we speak about the sacrifice of Calvary.
Our Protestant brothers and sisters sometimes struggle with this because they believe that the sacrifice of Calvary happened once and for all in history—and we believe that too.
But through Jesus, that same sacrifice is made present through time and space.
Every time we celebrate the Mass, the sacrifice of Calvary is re-presented on this altar—an altar that symbolizes the Cross—in an unbloody manner.
So each time we celebrate Mass, we are offering Jesus back to the Father.
3. The Holy Eucharist
This brings us to the Eucharist—one of the most powerful and beautiful manifestations of Christ’s Light and Love.
In the Eucharist, Jesus gives us Himself—His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—so that we may be more closely united to Him and to one another.
The Commandment of Love
And along with this gift, Jesus gives us a commandment.
It may not immediately sound like a manifestation of light—but it is.
The greatest commandment is this:
that we love one another.
When Jesus speaks about love in the Gospels, He is often speaking about service—that we learn to lovingly serve one another, following His example.
A Connection to Good Friday
When we read between the lines, Holy Thursday sheds light on Good Friday.
Good Friday is about sacrifice—the greatest sacrifice—Jesus giving His life on the Cross for our salvation.
But Holy Thursday prepares us to understand that sacrifice:
- The priesthood calls priests to a life of sacrifice.
- The Eucharist is Christ’s sacrifice given to us.
- And loving service requires sacrifice from each of us.
A Call to Rejoice and Pray
So tonight, there is certainly cause for rejoicing.
Let us continue to pray over these next few days for our candidates and catechumens—the elect—who will join us at the table of the Lord through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist at the Easter Vigil.
May these days be filled with excitement and great peace for them.
And for ourselves, may our hearts be filled with gratitude, so that we may say with the psalmist:
“Lord, I offer to You a sacrifice of thanksgiving.”