Fr. Thom's Homilies

          “What is this?  A new teaching with authority .”  We are told in the Gospel today that Jesus taught “as one having authority,” and yet this word, “authority,” is for many an ugly word.  For many it is synonymous with the corruption of power.  Perhaps for us as Americans this is a particularly loaded word because it is a part of our history to celebrate the toppling of authority.  We hold on to our revolutionary spirit.  Of course, it doesn’t help that some who wield authority, at least worldly authority, do not always command our respect.  But I think we have to get at this term, “authority,” as it is meant in this context.  After all, Jesus is no tyrant to be brought down, but the benevolent king and shepherd of our souls.           So what is this “authority” that the people in the synagogue sense in Him?  Well, it can’t be the kind of a...

          “Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed!”  “I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out…For the world in its present form is passing way.”  “This is the time of fulfillment.  The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”  Maybe not the most cheerful way to begin the New Year or the new semester.  This feels more like the end of Ordinary Time, as the readings in the cycle of the lectionary at that time of year always become a little darker in tone, a little more apocalyptic.  Either that, or all this talk of repentance might make us feel like we have “jumped the gun” on Lent, which is still a few weeks away.  But I would submit that despite the initial gloomy tone of these readings, there is good news here.  In fact, it’s not hard to find at all. Let’s start with that passage from the prophet Jonah.  We need to be reminded of a little backstor...

          There are some beautiful parallels between our first reading today, from the Book of Samuel, and the Gospel passage, taken from the first chapter of John’s Gospel.  Both are really stories of calling – vocation .  Both demonstrate how God gradually reveals Himself to us and how we gradually respond to His call.  And so, I’d like to look first at that reading from Samuel and attempt to draw out some of the rich meaning that is there.           There is this simple, almost “throw away” line right at the beginning:  “Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was.”  Ignore the fact, for the moment, that Samuel was sleeping in Church.  He was nonetheless in the temple “where the ark of God was,” which contained not only the fragments of the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, but also the staff of Aaron, and some the manna (...

           What is Christmas about?  I mean, what is it really about?  There’s no shortage stories, movies and Christmas specials that attempt to answer this question, with more or less success.  Some of them miss by a mile; some of them come very close.  I think of “classics” like Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol or Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life .  These stories, and others like them, show the dignity of each human life; they show the importance of relationship with God and neighbor; they exalt the virtue of charity – as they seek to call forth the very best of our humanity in this holy season; they point to what is ultimately most important in this life.  But even these stories, as good as they are, don’t completely capture the “true meaning of Christmas.”   My brothers and sisters, Christmas, at its heart, is about the Incarnation – that God became one of us ; that the Son of God (the “Eternal Word ...

          Each year it seems Christmas comes earlier and earlier.  It is as though after Thanksgiving the secular world, having “already seen this movie,” presses the “fast forward” button to “get to the good parts.”  Meanwhile, we in the Church look like a bunch of curmudgeonly old humbugs, because we insist on watching the whole thing and repeating all the lines; we insist on this thing called “Advent.”  Well, I can assure you, I am no humbug.  I even wore my festive Christmas socks tonight to prove it!  Christmas parties that are actually pre-Christmas are inevitable at this time of year, and even the Church’s liturgy seems to give a “green light” to some anticipated celebration, as each year on the 3 rd Sunday of Advent we have what we call “Gaudete Sunday.”  Gaudete , being the Latin second-person plural imperative for “Rejoice!”  And so, we are told in each of the readings this Sunday, in some way ...

We gather tonight as a campus community to pray, to sing, to and to give glory to God for the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Now, granted, we are anticipating this a little bit, as it is only Tuesday of the 2 nd Week of Advent and Christmas is still almost two weeks away.  But, as we won’t have the opportunity to be together then, we gather tonight in what has been a very longstanding tradition here at St. Ambrose.  Also, today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, commemorating the appearance of our Blessed Mother to a poor, indigenous man by the name of Juan Diego on Tepeyac hill near Mexico City in 1531.  And so we ask for the prayers Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, tonight as well.           While we come together to sing Christmas carols in this somewhat anticipated celebration, it may be easy to get caught up in the sentimentality of it all.  It may be easy to think that Christmas is abo...

          We seem to get some mixed messages in the readings for this 2 nd Sunday of Advent.  On the one hand, we hear a message of peace and comfort, as the Prophet Isaiah prays: “Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end.”  On the other hand, in just the next couple of verses, there seems to be a stern challenge issued: “A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord!  Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!”  This is then reinforced in the preaching of repentance by John the Baptist, the great forerunner of our Lord, at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel.  In fact, the passage from Isaiah is even referenced here: “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’”  It’s as if we are being told simultaneously, “Be at peace. Everything’s going to...