Lifeissues is mainly concerned with publishing thoughtful articles directly related to issues raised in Evangelium Vitae. However, from the very beginning, we have also published a few related homilies, notably by Fr. Al Cariño, O.M.I., Fr. Tony Pueyo, and others.
Please use the pulldowns below to select a homily by Liturgical Calendar date.
Our God is a God of mercy and inexhaustible goodness, but He is a God of Justice, and so He looks for one reason to pour out his blessings upon us. All we have to do is give him that reason, a minimal requirement of justice, and the floodgates of divine grace will open, but so many people refuse to give Him that one reason.
When good things happen unexpectedly accept them without question. All the woman at the well needed was someone to acknowledge the hypocrisy of her life inviting her to change her ways and accept "a spring of water welling up to eternal life". Jesus deals with issues we avoid - never shying away from the truth no matter how shameful while respecting a person's basic human dignity. All God requires is our honesty.
This story rightfully focuses on the Samaritan woman. But the church would do well to focus on the actions of another "character" here: the disciples. After all, "they" are "us."
Jesus' comments to his disciples about the woman of Samaria suggest that he is thinking about the numerous people who, like that woman, his message can reach. He also models a way to focus on what is crucial to us all rather than exclusively what "our side" values.
What is particularly interesting about this conversation with the Samaritan woman is the change that took place in her during the course of it. She goes from calling Jesus "Sir", to calling him a prophet, to becoming a witness to the Samaritan villagers that he is the Messiah, and finally, the townspeople go from believing in him on the basis of her testimony to believing in him through their own personal experience of Jesus, professing him as Saviour of the World (Sir, prophet, Messiah, Saviour of the World). And this was all due to Jesus' decision to enter into a relationship with this woman.