Homilies and Other Writings

The liturgies of the Holy Week are full of meaning. They try to focus our attention on the historical events of that first Holy Week, the Holy Week of Jesus, almost two thousand years ago. Tonight’s Vigil is no exception. The tabernacle is empty, as Jesus’ tomb was empty when the women arrived to anoint His body (cf. Luke 24:1-3). We have been hearing of his resurrection from the start, but, like the women, we have not seen Him yet. The women heard the announcement of the resurrection from angels: we have heard the angelic Easter proclamation. The Apostles heard the announcement from the women and from the disciples of Emmaus: we have heard men and women reading the word of God. Jesus Himself explained the Scriptures to the disciples of Emmaus: we have heard Jesus’ Gospel but, like those disciples, perhaps we have not yet recognized Jesus alive among us (cf. Luke 24:13-35). 1.   The first part of the Vigil is the liturgy of the light: the proclamation of Jesus’ victory in His...

On that blessed night of the Last Supper, the Eucharist was not yet made. This is why today the tabernacle is empty. Jesus knew that He was about to be betrayed and taken to prison: this is why today’s celebration will finish with us accompanying Jesus, after Supper, to a place of prayer. That Supper was the last time Jesus could communicate with His disciples before his death. He wanted to leave a treasure behind, He wanted to establish a people for generations to come, He wanted to stay with them forever and write His testament on their hearts. He had to move forward but he found a way to stay behind. Three gifts He left: His Law of Love, His Body and Blood, and His priests. 1.   There is no people without law: the first thing Jesus did at the Last Supper was to teach the law of love, as we have heard tonight. The Gospel is the one where Jesus teaches us to love one another as He has loved us (cf. John 13:1-15). Jesus, however, was not content with words only: He taught with...

(Text of Fr. Andrew’s Homily for March 24, 2024) The Lenten Season was meant to purify our sight to see the mystery, the mysteries of Holy Week. We are there now: Palm Sunday. Let us pay attention to the Mystery. The word “mystery” is used in the Church to refer to the Sacraments, especially to the Eucharist. Mystery, in this sense, refers to something we can see, but something which—at the same time—hides a deeper reality, something which cannot be seen. The word “mystery” refers also to the hidden reality itself, something difficult to see or to understand. During Holy Week, we are invited to see this double aspect of mystery: the aspect by which a mystery is something deep that cannot be easily understood, something invisible; and the aspect by which a mystery is a sacrament, something which can actually be seen, but with a hidden meaning. We are invited to realize that, behind the Eucharist which we celebrate every Sunday, there is a reality: the passion, death and resurr...

Today we celebrate Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. We read the narrative of the Passion. And the entire Holy Week is dedicated to meditating on the historical events of that holy week, the Holy Week of Jesus, almost two thousand years ago. We know that everything does not finish with Good Friday. We know that life does not finish with death. But each Holy Week celebration teaches us something different and useful for our life. On Holy Thursday, we will meditate on Jesus’ gift of priesthood, why Jesus established ordained ministers in His Church. On Good Friday, we will see the Cross as a podium from which the dying Master teaches; and on Easter each of us, like Mary Magdalene, will find again—alive by His power—the One we pierced with our own sins. Today, Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday, we use red coloured vestments. Why? In order to conquer our hearts, in order to show us His love, Jesus chose the red colour of His blood. In order to declare His love for the human race, in ...

“I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” What is this glory? We are not meant to obtain from this world a glory we do not yet have. The world cannot give us what we want. We are meant to glorify God with the glory he has already given us, so that we may then receive further glory, not from the world, but from Him. We go from the glory we have to the glory we do not yet have, as St. Paul says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image from glory to glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” ( 1 Corinthians 3:18). Modern society, with its own standards and values, exercises a certain pressure on Christians. It is peer pressure sometimes, it is also felt like an attraction other times, or like the threat of failure if we do not comply. The world offers us its own “salvation” from the evils of life; the world offers its own “redemption” from our sense of failure and worthlessness; the world offers its own...