“Raging Against the Dying of the Light” — Sermon for All Souls, A.D. MMXXV

A woman had just died of cancer at age 41. Her son, daughter, and sister were there. I did my best to console them, to bring the light of God’s mercy and love into their sorrow. I had been there before, in the same hospital, perhaps in the same room in the oncology wing, […]

“Sins can be forgiven?” — Sermon for the XXX Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXV

“I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me.” Peter Kreeft is a well-known Catholic apologist who has taught philosophy at Boston College for sixty years. He regularly asks his students to reflect on: “Why would God let you into heaven?” […]

“The Rosary and Perseverance in Prayer” — Sermon for the XXIX Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXV

“Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them?” Our Lord urges us today to persistence and perseverance in prayer. We probably have all experienced times when this kind of faithfulness is difficult, when God does not […]

“Gratitude, Wonder, and Roots” — Sermon for the XXVIII Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXV

“Please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the LORD.” Faith begins in wonder, because faith is nurtured by perseverance, perseverance is nurtured by gratitude, and gratitude begins in wonder. That’s where we ended last Sunday. Today, […]

“Faith Begins in Wonder” — Sermon for the XXVII Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXV

“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” It is easy to get discouraged hearing these words. Just when we think our faith is small and insignificant, and when the Apostles go the […]

“Miracles and the Poor” — Sermon for the XXVI Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXV

“Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.” It is easy to think that a miracle will solve all your problems. If only God would offer an incontrovertible proof of His existence, or His goodness, then all the faithless or non-practicing members of my family would […]

“Praying for Everyone” — Sermon for the XXV Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXV

Dominica XXV per annum, C 21 September, A.D. MMXXV “I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone … that in every place [you] should pray … without anger or argument.” St. Paul gives us a challenging task today. How do we pray for those who inspire “anger and argument” […]

“Counting the Cost” — Sermon for the XXIII Sunday through the Year, C

Last fall, I told you the story of Father Andrea Santoro, an Italian missionary in Turkey, assassinated while praying in his church in 2006. Father Santoro was an example of someone who “counted the cost” by going to a dangerous country full of anti-Christianity to care for a small Catholic community and witness to […]

“Real Friends” — Sermon for the XXI Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXV

“Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Two thousand years later, many of us have the same question. Whenever I teach on the necessity of Baptism for salvation, or the other means established by Christ to help us get to Heaven like Confession and the Eucharist, and the necessity of using those means, […]

“Being Set Ablaze” — Sermon for the XX Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXV

When I was in college, I heard a homily in which the priest challenged us to come up with a political philosophy using only the words of Christ from the Gospels. Later that week in my political science class, the cheeky professor who was also at that Mass told us what the priest had […]

Father Gregerson

my homilies and other musings