Homilies and Other Writings

  To love someone as Jesus loves is to share with them all the good we possess, especially the truth. Jesus loves his disciples in that He tells them everything He has heard from the Father. He shared with them the truth which He had received from the Father. This is why He calls “friends” His disciples: “I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father” ( John 15:15). If He had hidden from His disciples the truth, He would have kept part of His good to Himself and would have left the disciples in a lower position, as slaves. When someone wants to control people and manipulate them better, this person needs to hide the truth, spread false ideas and undermine education. This is not what Jesus came to do. He did not come to make us slaves, but to set us free. This is why He told us the truth about ourselves, about His Father, about our final destiny and a...

( Fr. Andrew’s homily for Sunday, April 28th ) Today's gospel ( John 15:1-8) is about how to glorify God by giving fruit, abundant fruit. Jesus says that we need to be pruned. Jesus also says that we need to remain in him. What do these things mean? Don't we all want to be fruitful? Don't we all want to give glory to God with our talents? How does that happen? 1.   We need to be pruned. This “pruning” is usually understood as suffering: suffering purifies our soul from sin and gives us an opportunity to grow in love. But the first pruning happens in our intelligence, in our hearts, when God’s word, as a pruning hook, appears in our lives to challenge the way we live... God’s word offers us the truth, like a sword cutting out from our mind error and falsehood. God’s word requires faith, acceptance, submission... and these are not easy. This is the first pruning of which Jesus is talking today: “ You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you” ( John 15:3) ...

  (Fr. Andrew’s Homily for Sunday, April 21, 2024) The problem of talking about the Good Shepherd is that the mind goes faster than our feet. It is easier to understand how the Good Shepherd must be than to make it happen in ourselves. It is easier to write a poem about Jesus than to become ourselves a living image of the Beautiful Shepherd. Today, Good Shepherd Sunday, is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. We need to pray so that more people, especially young people, make it their choice to serve God in their neighbors. And praying will certainly help, but I think that the reason we do not have more vocations is that, sometimes, we shepherds are not able to inspire young people. Not because we do not know how to talk about the Good Shepherd but because we find it difficult to follow his steps in a way that we ourselves may in turn be followed. Our own words are empty when they are not full of love for what we say. Our words are cold when there is no fire in our hearts...

  The idea of this homily is to meditate on the words of Jesus on the cross by reflecting upon the words which Jesus did not say. Sometimes, we understand better something by contrast with the opposite thing. Today, let us try to better understand the words of Jesus on the cross by contrast with something we ourselves may be tempted to say, when we face our own crosses. 1.  “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing” ( Luke 23:34). Jesus did not say, “ Lord, make them feel what I feel now, punish them justly for the injustice they have done to me today .” Instead of justice for Himself, Jesus wanted justice for the others: He wanted sinners to be one day just. And the only way to obtain that was to forgive them now. “If I want these people to be just one day, I have to let this one go. I love them more than Myself. Father, forgive them!” Jesus did not say, “ This is too much, this is enough and more than enough, Lord! Now it is the time for just...

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you” ( Luke 24:44) Is Jesus no longer with the Apostles? Is he not right there before them? Why does Jesus say this? Until His death, Jesus was with the Apostles and the people as a mortal man , bound to the laws of nature, bound to the laws of space and time and subject to suffering. After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus’ Body is no more bound to those limitations. [1] His Body is penetrated with a glory that makes it participate in certain heavenly characteristics and, at the same time, can still interact with nature and human beings on earth. This is why today He lets Himself be touched by the Apostles and even eats a fish ( Luke 24:39-43). His Body is still a body but is also free from natural limitations and endowed with special gifts. So, in what sense is Jesus no longer in the world? Jesus is no longer in the world because He is in Heaven: His human Body shares the glory which is the reward of the just. J...

(Fr. Andrew’s homily for April 7 th 2024) To say that God is merciful is easy, even popular. However, receiving God’s mercy is not that easy. It is easy to understand that God forgives, but it is not as easy to seek God’s forgiveness. God’s forgiveness is like a doctor’s healing. If you want to be healed by a doctor, you need to acknowledge that you are sick, go to the doctor and do what the doctor says, even when it is painful. In order to be forgiven we need, first, to acknowledge that we have sinned and this requires humility; second, we need to acknowledge it before God Himself, who is not only the doctor but also the one whom we have offended with our sin; finally, we need to take the prescribed medicine, which is going to confession, and this requires great humility as well. Jesus prescribed this medicine to the Church in today’s Gospel, when He said: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you... Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sin...