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.
Why did Saint Paul say, "from now on, let no one make troubles for me; for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body." I can only surmise from my own experience that a priest of Jesus Christ like Paul wants to live his life as an Apostle, one sent to spread the Word and labor in the harvest for souls and not be troubled by less important matters in the parish which may distract the priest from his vocation.
If the sick - and this includes the emotionally sick, those who are not well psychologically, as well as physically - , are in your presence and you have become Christ to a significant degree, you will bring healing to their souls, their emotional lives, and that can heal the body as well. And if you are full of light, you will drive out the darkness, because light chases the darkness, not the other way around. And so those who live in darkness, whose lives are entangled in the diabolical, will feel the difference in your presence, and they will either reject you in favor of darkness, or they will begin to escape the clutches of the evil that oppresses them.
Even though Jesus teaches us that we can never fully understand God, we can use our intellects to gain a deeper perspective on what God reveals. All people, despite education or sophistication, can find rest for their souls in Jesus.
This passage tells of a mission, given by Jesus to a large number of disciples. This is not the first formal mission of followers of Jesus. One has already been assigned and carried out earlier in Luke, by the 12 apostles. What we see here is a "progression in mission," from 12 apostles to 72 disciples, and on to us, today.
Two hundred and fifty years have passed for Americans from the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain until now. But what does the future hold -- not just for the United States but for the cosmos? The late theologian Juergen Moltmann, influential among both Catholics and Protestants, insisted that it's in the hands of the risen Christ, who wants all of us to help bring peace to this wounded world.