Homilies from the National Shrine

The readings for this homily: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032026.cfm
In the Gospel of John, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles in secret. The Jews were already plotting to kill Him, yet His hour had not yet come. This is the profound truth of this passage: human plans cannot override divine timing.
Father Mark Baron, MIC, reflects on this mystery, exploring the Feast of Tabernacles and its significance. This ancient feast celebrated the end of the harvest and recalled Israel's time in the wilderness when God provided water and food while they dwelt in tents. It was a feast of thanksgiving and trust.
Jesus went to this feast knowing the authorities sought His life. Yet He declared that His hour had not yet come. The death of Jesus does not happen because of a human plan. It is part of a divine plan. Jesus recognizes He is from God, the Son of God, sent by the Father to lay down His life for our sins.
This is crucial for Lent. The season is not only about seeking purification from sin. It is also about preparing to celebrate the Paschal mysteries—the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We prepare ourselves to celebrate those events that constitute the hour of Jesus.
In the first part of Lent, we read about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Now we enter readings that speak of how Jesus was led to death historically. We read about His conflict with religious leadership, whose way of life revolved around the temple and worship God had established. Jesus came to fulfill and transform that system.
Jesus says He goes to the Cross freely. He lays down His life voluntarily. He chooses when He dies. The Father has planned this from all eternity. Human beings are instruments in this divine drama—some as instruments of death, some as instruments of faithfulness.
Just as Jesus' name was on everyone's lips then, the name of Jesus is spoken widely today. But speaking about Jesus does not always mean we understand Him correctly. We must confess Christ is King — a statement of faith, not a political slogan. We cannot be afraid to use that phrase.
Man does not determine the second coming of Christ. We do not force God's hand. It is always God's hour, always according to God's plan, not human plans to manipulate divine timing.
Christ is King because He reigns from the cross. Today we ponder events that lead Him to that moment where He is lifted up from the earth, conquering the works of the devil, so our hearts can truly be ruled by Jesus in our lives.

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The readings for this homily: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031926.cfm
Happy St. Joseph's Day! Five years ago marked a historic milestone — the Church's first year ever dedicated to St. Joseph. This is no accident. Though St. Joseph was humbly hidden, he played the most significant role after the Blessed Virgin Mary in assisting Christ's plan of redemption. After Mary, he remains the most significant figure in Christ's plan of salvation for all people.
Father Matthew Tomeny, MIC, reflects on this profound truth, exploring how devotion to St. Joseph has grown organically over time, rather like the Church has grown in her devotion to and understanding of the Eucharist. In the last 150 years, the Holy Spirit has moved the Church to develop her teaching about and devotion to St. Joseph. Since the Holy Father’s declaration of St, Joseph as universal patron of the Church in 1870, we have seen encyclicals, religious orders, and shrines dedicated to him. Pope Leo XIII dedicated March to Saint Joseph. In 1955, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker was added to the calendar. In the 1962 revision of the Roman Missal, St. Joseph was inserted into the Roman Canon. In 2013, Pope Francis added St. Joseph to the rest of the Eucharistic Prayers, as well.
Pope Francis also declared a Year of Saint Joseph from Dec. 8, 2020 through Dec. 8, 2021, and consecration to him has grown rapidly. As our Lord tells us in the “Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska,” God is preparing us for His second coming, giving us the Day of Mercy before the Day of Judgment. With this will come the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, joined to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
We are living in a time of moral and spiritual famine. The Church must go to St. Joseph, just as Israel went to Joseph in times of famine. Saint Joseph protects the Church from real attacks threatening destruction. During the Holy Family's exile in Egypt, it must have been tempting to think Jesus was not the Messiah. Similarly, when attacks on the Church grow and teachings seem shrouded in darkness, St. Joseph will be there to protect, nourish, and guide us.
Saint Joseph is the father of the Mystical Body of Christ. He spiritually feeds, shelters, clothes, educates, protects, and corrects us. Where the St. Joseph Oratory in Montreal, in Canada, stands today, St. Br. Andre attributed countless miracles to St. Joseph's intercession. In our day, Jesus wants the Church to know, love, honor, and seek refuge in St. Joseph.
With such poor examples of fatherhood in the world, we desperately need him as a perfect model of paternal love — an earthly icon of God the Father. Saint Joseph is higher than all the patriarchs, higher than all the saints of the New Testament. Unlike St. Peter and St. Paul, he never denied or persecuted Jesus. He is the only one who can say he saved Jesus — the savior of his Savior.
May St. Joseph continue to protect the Church and intercede for us to have purity of mind and heart so that, through Mary, Jesus may dwell in the home of our hearts.

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The Father Is Still at Work

The readings for this homily: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031826.cfm

In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes a startling declaration: "My Father is at work until now, so I am at work." To the Jewish authorities, this was blasphemy. They understood exactly what He was claiming — equality with God. Yet this is the heart of the Christian faith: Jesus is not merely a teacher or prophet. He is the Son, united with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Father Chris Alar, MIC, reflects on this profound passage, exploring what it means that God never stopped working. The Father rests on the seventh day of creation, yet He continues to sustain all things, to give life, to guide history. Jesus shares in this divine activity. He gives life to whom He wishes. He exercises judgment. He calls all who hear His voice to pass from death to life.

Eternal life is not merely a future hope. Jesus says whoever believes "has eternal life" in the present tense. It begins now, in the moment we truly hear Christ in Scripture, in prayer, in the quiet of adoration. The Mass unites the earthly realm with the heavenly, offering a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Yet Jesus also speaks of a future resurrection. Those who have done good deeds will rise to life; those who have done wicked deeds, to condemnation. This does not contradict the finished work of the Cross. Christ redeemed us, but we must cooperate with grace through our choices. Our actions matter. Our lives should reflect that we have passed from death to life.

John's Gospel is deep, often soaring above the others like an eagle. Tradition holds that John learned directly from the Blessed Mother, receiving a heavenly perspective on Christ's life and mission. To know the Son, we must know the Holy Spirit. To know the Holy Spirit, we turn to Mary, the Spouse of the Spirit, who embodies all the virtues He produces.

She introduces us to sanctity. The Holy Spirit reveals the Son. The Son redeems us and brings us back to the Father. This is the objective of our lives: to return to God the Father, to know Him, love Him, serve Him, and be happy with Him forever in Heaven.

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The readings for this homily: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031726.cfm
In life, we rely on signs to navigate our world. They tell us where we are, how far we must travel, and which direction to take. Without them, we are lost. God, too, uses signs of a different sort to guide us, some written, some unwritten, revealing His presence and power in ways that transcend the ordinary. Saint Patrick, whose liturgical feast we celebrate today, famously used the shamrock, a simple three-petaled leaf, to shed light on the mystery of the Holy Trinity — one God in three Persons. 
During Lent, we are called to examine our lives, recognize our sins, and convert in an annual course correction. Yet there is a danger in remaining excessively fixated on our own misery. If we only look inward, we risk despair. True Lenten conversion requires shifting our gaze from our own failures to the infinite mercy of Christ. As the “Diary” of St. Faustina reminds us, Jesus speaks constantly of our misery, but also of His mercy. The goal of the Christian life is not to wallow in self-recrimination, but to trust in Divine Mercy. We must take our eyes off our own brokenness and fix them on the One who heals.
In the Gospel, Jesus performs a sign at the Pool of Bethesda. For 38 years, a man lay lame, waiting for the water to stir, hoping to be the first to enter and be healed. It was a desperate race, a competition for a cure. But Jesus does not ask him to compete. He does not tell him to run faster. Instead, He speaks a word of power: "Rise, take up your mat and walk." The man is instantly healed. He does not need the pool; he needs the Person of Jesus.
This miracle is one of the great signs in the Gospel of John. Scholars often count seven signs, symbolizing perfection, but some argue for an eighth, representing the new creation and eternity. The signs escalate in power: from changing water to wine, to healing the sick, to raising the dead. Each sign points to a greater reality: Jesus is the Light of the World, the Bread of Life, and the Resurrection. The ultimate sign is the Cross and the Resurrection, where Jesus conquers sin and death forever.
Yet, signs divide. Some accept them and believe; others reject them, clinging to legalism rather than grace. The religious leaders of the time were angry not because a man was healed, but because it happened on the Sabbath. They valued their rules over the miracle of life. They were spiritually blind to the presence of God right in front of them. This is the warning for us today. When we see the signs of God's mercy, do we rejoice, or do we find reasons to doubt?
Jesus tells the healed man, "Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you." This connects physical healing with spiritual restoration. God desires to heal our souls first, for a healed body means little if the soul remains dead in sin. But once the soul is alive, the body follows. The man who was lame for decades walked away, likely dancing with joy, carrying his mat as a testament to the power of Christ.
Let us not be like the Pharisees, blinded by our own expectations. Let us be like the man at the pool, ready to rise when Jesus speaks. Let us embrace the signs He gives us, trusting that He is the source of all hope. Whether through the simplicity of a shamrock, the mystery of the Trinity, or the profound mercy shown to the broken, God is speaking. Will we listen? Will we believe?

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The readings for this homily: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031526.cfm
In the Gospel, Jesus performs the miraculous sign of healing a man born blind, revealing His divine power through supernatural manifestations. Yet even as He demonstrates His identity as God Himself, some Pharisees question His authority, trapped in spiritual blindness despite the divine presence before them.
This spiritual blindness persists throughout the centuries. People can stand before the supernatural, the divine, the miraculous — and still doubt. They may see the power of heaven working through prayer, through sacraments, through the intercession of Our Lady, yet choose to reduce it to something lesser.
Consider the intellectual arrogance of the Pharisees. They questioned the man who was healed, demanding answers. When he spoke simply—"He is a prophet"—they cast him out, claiming he was born in sin. Their pride prevented them from seeing the truth.
God often chooses the humble, the small, the unexpected. David was the youngest son, the least likely to be king. Moses hesitated, claiming he could not speak. Jeremiah resisted, feeling inadequate. Yet God took their smallness and made it a vessel for His grace.
Saint John Vianney struggled with Latin in seminary. His classmates doubted him. But the bishop asked: Does he pray? Does he love Our Lady? The answer was yes. And the Lord worked wonders through this man of holy simplicity.
This is how the Lord works. What the world values as important is not as important as the holy simplicity of one who desires intimacy with God. David was known as the man after God's own heart—not because he was perfect, but because he had sincerity of heart that kept returning to the Lord.
Let us never succumb to spiritual blindness. Let us always see the beautiful presence of God in His miracles and wonders. When Jesus shines in this world, it is often through holy simplicity that leads us to a relationship with God truer than anything of the intellectual realm can bring.

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