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.
Those who stop going to Mass because they don't like the priest are like followers of John the Baptist who didn't hear what he said, and who fell away after he was beheaded; those who attend Mass because they are drawn to the priest's personality are like brute animals that don't understand the significance of a pointing finger. And priests that fail to lead the faithful to the Lamb of God point to themselves and are unwilling to decrease.
The life of faith is not just a matter of awe and reverence for God and Jesus and the Holy Trinity; nor is it only a matter of having the correct answers to theological questions. The life of faith, Paul tells us, calls us to do the hard work of imitating God.
The Bible doesn't "say" anything - not until the words in question are interpreted. When such interpretive work is ignored, the words in the Bible can be misused in destructive ways. As a case in point, the passage we read today from the Gospel of John needs to be handled with special care to prevent it from being used - as it sometimes has been in Christian history - as a warrant, or excuse, for anti-Judaism, the theological bigotry found at the root of antisemitism, which is an ethnic and racial bigotry. John's primary message is "Trust Jesus to show us the way to have a life-giving relationship with God."