Homilies

This Sunday we begin a new liturgical year, with the Time of Advent, our preparation for the coming of Christ and for Christmas. In these last days of the current liturgical year, the evangelist Luke presents Jesus speaking to us about the arrival of the Kingdom of God and its signs. Just as people have the intelligence to understand the change of seasons by observing the dynamics of nature and trees, human beings are capable of understanding the arrival of the Kingdom of God by observing its signs. And Jesus is the greatest and most important sign that the Kingdom of God has already arrived. Jesus also states that heaven and earth will pass away, that is, that all things will be transformed, will be renewed, because they will be freed from the consequences of human sins. Finally, Jesus guarantees that His word will not pass away, that is, that His teachings are eternal, stable, permanent, and trustworthy. Let us be attentive to the signs of the times and let us be converted, trusting ...

Jesus' life was not easy, and neither is the life of His disciples. Jesus was handed over by the apostle Judas Iscariot. He was hated, seized and persecuted by enemies. He was led before the governor Pontius Pilate. He gave testimony with a wisdom in speaking that all His adversaries were powerless to resist or refute. He was put to death, but by His perseverance, He secured His life in the resurrection. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus prepares His disciples for the persecutions that they will also suffer, telling them that they must persevere with confidence to overcome death and gain life. In fact, Luke witnessed the persecution of the first generations of Christians by the Jews and the Romans. Some examples were the apostles Peter and Paul and the deacon Stephen. But they followed Jesus' recommendations and are reigning with Him in Heaven. Let us learn from Jesus and the first Christians to bear witness to our faith with courage and perseverance, without fear of persecution, in...

Today, the evangelist Luke presents Jesus speaking about the beauty of the Temple and its destruction. The Temple was a very important place for the Jews, where worship was held and sacrifices were offered. The Temple, which had religious and economic importance, had been destroyed twice, once by the Babylonians and once by the Greeks. When the Gospel of Luke was written, around the year 85, the Temple had already been destroyed by the Romans. In other words, the evangelist wrote about something he knew about. Jesus tells his disciples to reject people who come in His Name to deceive them about His identity and about the end of times. Jesus says that, before the end, there will be wars between nations, insurrections, powerful earthquakes, famines and plagues from place to place, awesome sights and mighty signs come from the sky. But Jesus tells his disciples not to be terrified. When human beings turn away from God, they can do terrible things to themselves and to nature. We see this e...

Today, the evangelist Luke presents Jesus speaking about generosity, about absolute trust in God. In the Temple of Jerusalem, pilgrims used to put offerings for its maintenance. Walking through the Temple, Jesus observed the generosity of a poor widow who put in two coins, which was her whole livelihood. She did not worry about going into need because she trusted completely in God, who would not allow her to lack anything. Widows belonged to a group very dear to God, who should receive special care, along with orphans and foreigners. Wealthy people put their offerings from their surplus wealth. They were not generous and trusted more in their wealth than in God. We are invited to imitate the attitude of that poor widow, putting generous offerings to God for the maintenance of the temples, trusting completely in God, who will not allow us to lack anything.

Brothers and sisters, today we begin the last week of the Liturgical Year, with the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. God willing, next Sunday we will begin a new Liturgical Year, with the Time of Advent, preparing ourselves for the coming of Jesus Christ and for Christmas, on December 25th. In today's Gospel, according to John, Jesus admits His identity as King before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, shortly before suffering the passion and being crucified. Indeed, on the cross of Christ, Pilate placed the sign that said "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." Jesus tell Pilate that He was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. He said that everyone who belongs to the truth listens to His voice. In other words, everyone who sincerely seeks the truth and reaches it will certainly come to Christ. The prophets of the First Testament foretold that a man would come on the clouds of heaven and be presented before God. He would receive do...

God wisely creates each human being with gifts and talents so that they may help in the fulfillment of His plan of salvation. In addition to these gifts received from God, human beings can also develop other talents through their own personal effort. The evangelist Luke introduces us to Jesus telling us a parable about gifts. Some people demonstrate great personal effort, developing other talents in addition to those received from God. Such people are praised and rewarded for their effort in the form of responsibilities and possessions. Unfortunately, other people do not demonstrate effort and do not develop the gifts received from God. Such people are criticized and punished in the form of loss of responsibilities and possessions. There are people who spend their entire lives without knowing the gifts received from God. How could they then develop new talents? We should ask ourselves whether or not we are demonstrating personal effort to develop new talents and gifts in addition to th...

How beautiful and moving was Zacchaeus' encounter with Jesus, which the evangelist Luke tells us about today. Zacchaeus was a sinful man who had become rich unjustly, as a chief tax collector. They worked for the Roman rulers and were hated by the Jews, who considered them traitors to the people. But Zacchaeus was curious to know Jesus and wanted to change his life and be a better person, a good son of God. Knowing the sincere desire of Zacchaeus' heart, Jesus created the perfect opportunity! And Zacchaeus took advantage of it! Visiting Zacchaeus' house, Jesus saw how he sincerely repented of his sins, promising to share his possessions with the poor and return the money to those he had stolen. The Church - which is us - must reach out to those who have become unjustly rich and proclaim to them Jesus Christ, who wants to forgive them and give them the opportunity for a new life, committed to social justice for the poorest. The Book of Revelation shocks us with such a direct...

Today, the evangelist Luke presents Jesus speaking about the days of the Son of Man, about the day when the Son of Man is revealed. These are expressions that refer to the second coming of Jesus Christ, at the end of time, robed with power and glory to judge the living and the dead.  Life will continue as normal, as on any other day. But only those who are prepared, that is, who are in the Grace of God, doing the Will of God, practicing love, will be saved and will be with Christ in Heaven. The rest of the people will die, just as those who did not enter Noah's ark died, just as those who, unlike Lot, did not leave Sodom died.  Salvation is a serious matter. It does not depend solely on God. God does His part, but if we want to be saved, we have to do our part too, doing the Will of God, practicing love.  In today’s world, we must warn people about the need to convert immediately, so that they do not die, so that they may live, so that they may be saved, so that they may ...

Today, the evangelist Luke presents Jesus speaking about the Kingdom of God and the Son of Man. These are two practically synonymous expressions. These expressions mean the maximum expression of God's presence among men. God has always been among men, because He created them and sustained them. But men, having sinned, have turned away from God. But God has not abandoned them. On the contrary, He wanted to be among men to forgive them and bring them closer to Himself. By sending His Son Jesus into the world, God has carried out the maximum expression of His presence among men. In other words, Jesus is the Son of Man and is the Kingdom of God in human form. Jesus teaches that the Kingdom of God is already among men. He teaches that, instead of listening to false news about the location of the Kingdom of God, men should recognize It in Jesus who is among them. The manifestation of the Kingdom of God and the Son of Man will not be for a privileged few, but will be for everyone. Everyon...

Today, the evangelist Luke presents Jesus healing disease and saving people through faith. Leprosy was an incurable disease at the time Jesus lived on earth, which inevitably led to suffering and death. Because it was a contagious disease, religious authorities forbade lepers from living with others. They had to live in remote places. Those ten lepers believed that Jesus was the compassionate Master with the power to cure their disease. Moved by faith, they obeyed when Jesus told them to present themselves to the priests. And, in obedience, the healing happened. Sometimes, the joy of receiving a Grace from God can lead us to forget to thank Him. And that is exactly what happened in today's Gospel. Only one foreigner from Samaria remembered to return to thank Jesus for his healing. Jesus interpreted this gesture as a sign of faith that leads to salvation. In other words, that Samaritan, in addition to being healed by Jesus, was also saved by Christ through faith. We must learn, on t...

Today, the evangelist Luke presents Jesus talking about the good that should be practiced freely, out of conscience, without expecting rewards from others. We live in a society where we learn to be self-interested. We condition the practice of good to rewards, that is, we learn to practice good only to people who do good to us in return. Otherwise, we simply do not do good to them. Unfortunately, many people are ungrateful. They receive good but do not thank them. They think that it is the obligation of others to do good to them. Of course, this is sad and wrong. But Jesus teaches us that this should not hinder us from practicing good. Jesus Himself did for us the greatest good of all, dying and rising again for our salvation. Many people also do not thank Jesus for this, but this did not hinder Him from practicing good. On the one hand, we must learn to be grateful for all the good we receive from others and, on the other hand, we must continue doing good, even if people are ungratefu...

Today, the evangelist Luke presents Jesus speaking to us about the scandals that shake the faith of those who are beginning their discipleship. Scandals are the inconsistencies between what is said with the lips and what is practiced in deeds. Unfortunately, there are still many scandals in the Church today, and there are people who abandon the faith because of these inconsistencies. Jesus teaches that we must do everything we can to avoid scandals and be consistent in order to attract more people to the experience of faith. Jesus also speaks about the importance of repentance and forgiveness after the experience of sin. There should be no limits to forgiveness. However, to obey this teaching of Jesus, we need a lot of faith. That is why we must ask Jesus to increase our faith. Because faith opens our hearts to forgiveness for the offenses received, just as God always forgives us through the sacrament of Reconciliation.

Brothers and sisters, we are celebrating the thirty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time in advance, although today, Saturday, November 2nd, is the commemoration of all the faithful departed. So, let us observe a minute of silence to pray for the eternal rest of our departed loved ones, asking God for their conversion, so that God may forgive them and, thus, they may enter into eternal life, through the merits of the redeeming cross of Christ. May the Virgin Mary, the angels and saints intercede for them. Amen. May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace and may perpetual light illuminate them. In addition to the Ten Commandments, the Jews had hundreds of laws and religious norms to be fulfilled. It was difficult to memorize and practice all of them. It was necessary to know what was essential, the most important, to be memorized and practiced, to please God. In today's Gospel, according to Mark, Jesus helped the scribe in this task, and today he helps all of us. Jesus based his ...

On this November 1st, the Church, our Mother, celebrates the solemnity of all the saints, especially the unknown and anonymous saints, since the saints canonized by the Church already have their own specific liturgical feasts. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of the universe. This is what we acclaim at Holy Mass. Only God is holy, and no one else. In order to be holy, human beings need God's help. God wants human beings to share in his holiness. To be holy is to be whole, to be happy, to love and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven, to be just, to be good, to be true, to be peaceful, to be humble, to be generous. In short, to be holy is to be blessed, as today's Gospel of Matthew says. Without a doubt, Jesus is the blessed one par excellence. Jesus made his life a service to the needy of his time. They were the greatest beneficiaries of Jesus' redemptive action. We, disciples of Jesus, on the one hand, must be holy, as God is holy, we must participate in God's holiness...