Homilies

We begin the thirtieth week of Ordinary Time with Mother Church, concluding the missionary month, the month of the Rosary. The missionary Rosary is a suggestion to step outside ourselves and intercede for missionaries and the peoples of the five continents, for their needs and challenges. The green of the African continent recalls its forests and also the hope of the growth of the Christian faith, thanks also to the missionaries there. The red of the American continent recalls the skin color of the first inhabitants, the indigenous people, and also the blood of the martyrs shed by these peoples during the conquest of these lands by Europeans and also today. The white of the European continent recalls the land of the white race. It is also the continent that has the presence of the Pope, the great messenger and missionary of peace.  The blue of the Oceanic continent recalls its many islands, so lacking in missionaries, yet already sending their missionaries to other lands. It is als...

We begin the twenty-ninth week of Ordinary Time with Mother Church, in this month of mission and the Rosary. We are invited to financially support the Church's missionary initiatives. There are missions taking place in remote regions, with few human and financial resources, with transportation difficulties, in challenging climates, without temples and rooms for Catechesis and pastoral meetings, without Bibles, blackboards, and notebooks. In October, there is a donation campaign for the missions. Let us be generous and decisively support evangelization throughout the world. Today, the evangelist Luke tells us about the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. Jesus told His disciples this parable to show them the need to pray always and never give up.  The judge refused to grant justice to the widow, but due to her insistence and his fear of being attacked, he granted her request. Then the Lord Jesus said that God would quickly bring justice to His chosen ones, who cry ...

We begin the twenty-eighth week of Ordinary Time with Mother Church, in this month of mission and the Rosary. To be a missionary is to go out of oneself to encounter others, carrying faith in Christ in one's heart. There are missionaries who go to distant countries, crossing mountains, forests, and oceans to witness to the faith and serve the Church in challenging geographical and climatic conditions, sometimes risking their own lives in social environments hostile to Christianity. But there are also missionaries who evangelize in their own city and country, in peripheral places, among people in need of bread, embraces, and hope to live, helping Christian communities without human and material resources. Have courage and be a missionary yourself. Christ and the Church are counting on you! Today, the evangelist Luke tells us about the healing of the ten lepers and the gratitude of the Samaritan. Today, leprosy (Hansen's disease) is curable, especially when diagnosed and treated ...

We begin the twenty-seventh week of Ordinary Time with Mother Church at the beginning of October, known as the missionary month and the month of the rosary. On October 1st, we celebrated Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, the universal patroness of missions. Christians are missionaries since their Baptism. The Church was founded to be missionary, that is, to awaken faith in those near and far through the proclamation of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Jesus is the missionary par excellence, having been sent into the world by God the Father to proclaim the Good News. Let us be missionaries, with joy and creativity, sowing seeds of hope in a contemporary society submerged in fear and insecurity.  On October 7th, we celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary, who interceded for the victory of Catholic sailors in the Battle of Lepanto (off the coast of Greece) against Muslim sailors in 1571, while the Catholic faithful prayed the rosary, which the Mother of God had taught through Saint Dominic de Gu...