Heresy Podclass 1: The First Century
This is the first in a new series called "Heresies and their Remedies." We start with the heresies that popped up in the first century and were tackled by St. John the Beloved. These series will probably be released every other Tuesday. One reference for this class will be a book by St. Alphonsus Liguori called History of Heresies and Their Refutation. NB The music bumpers for this podclass will be a funny fail at the "2001 Space Odyssey" because I thought it was appropriate for how heresy always starts glorious, but proves ugly.
How to Make a Good Confession
This sermon begins with the heart's disposition for a good confession but moves quickly onto the nuts and bolts of the little known parts of confession, including little-known mortal sins. In this sermon, I quote Hinduism Today on modern attempts to separate Yoga from its Hindu roots. (One thing I forgot to mention in this sermon is that although forgotten mortal sins are indeed forgiven in a good confession—where nothing was hidden—they still need to be confessed at the next confession.) This sermon was was given on Quinquagesima Sunday, 2018.
The Hierarchy of Creation
This sermon was given on Sexagesima Sunday, 4 February 2018, in Jacksonville, Florida. It is about the hierarchy of creation containing the hierarchy of knowledge as transmitted through the angels. This will launch us to consider how the Catholic Faith was originally transmitted from the Apostles to bishops to priests to the families of early Christianity.
Candlemas Sermon
This sermon was given on the feast of the Purification, 2018. Please note that my sermons for the next month will be very short, due to fundraising events in this diocese that will take place prior to Holy Mass. Please also note that every other Monday, I will be publishing a new class here called "Heresies and Their Remedies," beginning with Christological heresies that began almost immediately following the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The first of these classes will take place with my parishioners on Sunday, 11 February. That Sunday (as usual) I'll podcast my sermon. The next day, on 12 February (God-willing) I will podcast the first "Heresies and Their Remedies." The reason that podclass is only going to be every other week is because every other Monday I will be on Station of the Cross, a NY-based radio [...]
The Birth Control Podcast
Please do not let anyone who has not yet heard the “birds and the bees” listen to this podcast. It is about the medical effects of the birth control pill that I’m reposting from a recent radio interview that I did. I'm traveling this weekend, so only this Sunday will be a repost from another podcast channel. Our radio show tonight on birth control methods references several modern medical studies, including those I linked here, here, here and here.
St. Mary of Egypt (Written Text)
Here, I’m sharing what I believe to be the greatest ancient account of God’s forgiveness and transformative mercy. It is about a female sex-addict become a canonized saint, St. Mary of Egypt, and it is my favorite short biography of any saint outside the Bible. The following events are promised to be true by its author, St. Zosima. His account takes place in the 4th century, in the deserts of both Egypt and Jordan... The Life of Our Holy Mother, St Mary of Egypt By St Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, 4th century "It is good to hide the secret of a king, but it is glorious to reveal and preach the works of God." (Tobit 12:7) So said the Archangel Raphael to Tobit when he performed the wonderful healing of his blindness. Actually, not to keep the secret of a king [...]
Free to Worship Him Without Fear
This sermon was given on the 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany in 2018. It compares liberation theology to the liberation of the soul that happens in worshipping God as He wants (and finishes with a bit on extreme unction.)
Wedding Feast of Cana in the Old Testament
This sermon was given on the Second Sunday after Epiphany, 2018. The featured picture on the blog for this sermon is from a stained glass window at my basilica of residence downtown. A continued thanks for the music-bumpers of my sermons to the holy nuns of Ephesus.
Doctrine: Why We Can’t Crack
A young priest with whom I was once a seminarian is now on Facebook like me. About a year ago, he posted the account of how he asked an old priest if young priests would save the Church. The old priest said “No, Jesus will save His Church,” or something like that. Of course, this post had a ton of “likes.” For one, it seemed so humble for a young priest to admit that we young priests would not “save” the Church. Secondly, it tapped our modern Catholic desire to prove to Protestants that we only look to for Jesus for salvation. Both are true, and I have no problem with either motivating factor for a lot of “likes” for that. But it diverts readers from the fact that God always sends real saints in the flesh like St. Catherine [...]
The Priest and Our Lady
I was staring at the Eucharist in my private chapel, and I marvelled at how the Eucharist came from me. And the Eucharist is Jesus. And Jesus is God. So...God came from me? I immediately knew there was something wrong about in my thinking. It was this: The Eucharist did not come from me. The best preposition is probably “through.” That is, the Eucharist came through me. The Catholic Church uses the verb to confect as seen in Canon Law: "Can. 900 §1. The minister who is able to confect the sacrament of the Eucharist in the person of Christ is a validly ordained priest alone.” This verb comes from the Latin conficere, meaning to produce or to effect. It’s a variant-stem of con-facere, meaning “to make with.” Combine these two roots, and we have something like “to effect with.” [...]