Voice In The Wilderness

“We were hoping…” Those are the words of the disciples on the road to Emmaus in today’s gospel. Hope is such a happy word,… The post Homily 467 – Overcoming Expectations – 3rd Sunday of Easter appeared first on Shawn the Baptist.

When will the pandemic be over so I can do the things I used to do? I miss baseball… I miss movies… I miss… The post Homily 466 – Something New – Easter Sunday appeared first on Shawn the Baptist.

We spend a lot of our time trying to gain power and be in control. We don’t want to suffer and so we try… The post Homily 465 – Power, Passion, and Presence – Good Friday appeared first on Shawn the Baptist.

When things are empty or we are empty we normally feel this as something bad. We want to fill the emptiness. That’s definitely the… The post Homily 464 – Empty is Good – Palm Sunday appeared first on Shawn the Baptist.

Deus semper maior! God is always greater! This phrase is meant to stretch our imagination. Fear and anxiety are often brought on when we… The post Homily 463 – Deus Semper Maior – 5th Sunday of Lent appeared first on Shawn the Baptist.

Today’s readings talk a lot about seeing. Who can see and who cant? Who is blind and who merely thinks they can see? The… The post Homily 462 – You Are the One – 4th Sunday of Lent appeared first on Shawn the Baptist.

Every time I check my email, it seems that something else has been canceled. Who knows how long we will even be able to… The post Homily 461 – More Than Toilet Paper – 3rd Sunday of Lent appeared first on Shawn the Baptist.

Being on top of a mountain is an amazing experience. You can see so clearly in all directions. In the summers, I work at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. The highest peak at Philmont is the famous “Mt. Baldy” at 12,441 feet. It gets it’s name from the fact that there are no trees […] The post Homily 460 – Tabor, Calvary, Baldy, and Beyond – 2nd Sunday of Lent appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

In today’s gospel, Satan offers Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world” in exchange for what seems like a pretty simple thing… Jesus just needs to bow down and worship Satan. Now, that obviously seems like a fairly ridiculous thing to us. How could Jesus ever worship Satan? Jesus passes the test, but the real […] The post Homily 459 – What Do You Worship? – 1st Sunday of Lent appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

Remember those New Year’s resolutions you made? Ya, me neither. Most people don’t make it past January. But today is different. Today is the beginning of Lent. All those things you’ve been thinking about giving up? Well, today is the day. “Now is a very acceptable time,” St. Paul tells us. But don’t just give […] The post Homily 458 – Now Is the Time – Ash Wednesday appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

“Be holy!” …well that sounds hard. “You’re a temple!” …that just sounds silly. “Be perfect!” …that sounds impossible. Yet God tells us all three of these things this weekend. It’s helpful to know a bit about what the words actually mean in the context of the Bible. Holy – This word actually means “set apart.” […] The post Homily 457 – God Tells Us Our Telos – 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

We often water down the law of God today. Sure, there are the commandments, but no one really keeps all the commandments, do they? God is so merciful today (unlike that mean “Old Testament” God) that he understands that rules cramp our style and inhibit freedom. At the very least, there’s a lot of gray […] The post Homily 456 – What Do You Want? – 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

“Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them…” These words from the first reading should sound familiar. They are some of the corporal works of mercy which Jesus asks all of us to do. These words also teach us an important truth: Following Jesus […] The post Homily 455 – The Church Visible – 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

The following homily was given in the historical town of Emaus at the end of eleven days of pilgrimage through the Holy Land When Jesus was presented in the Temple it was easy for most people to miss it. Simeon and Anna were waiting and rejoiced at his coming, but probably not many others even […] The post Homily 454 – Revealing the Hidden Jesus – Presentation of the Lord appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

The following homily was given in the church of Dominus Flevit on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, also near the church of St. Mary Magdalene. This location on the Mount of Olives gives us an opportunity to focus on two parts of evangelization. There is the exterior and then there is the interior. As […] The post Homily 453 – Are You a Weeper? – Dominus Flevit and Mary Magdalene appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

This homily was given in Bethlehem in the Latin church of St. Catherine adjoining the Church of the Nativity, the site of the birth of Jesus. On the plane ride over to the Holy Land, I was reading the book Daring Greatly by the popular psychologist and speaker Brené Brown. I’m only half-way through, but […] The post Homily 452 – Dare to Be Vulnerable – Christmas Mass in Bethlehem appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

Today we begin seven consecutive weeks of reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians. Today’s second reading is just the opening verse of the letter. We could easily overlook these lines as just the “Dear so and so” beginning of any letter. But there’s actually quite of bit of theology in […] The post Homily 451 – Called to Be Sent – 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

Peace be with you! Or, as we would say in Latin, Pax vobiscum! Pax is the Latin word for peace. On this Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, the word pax also points out to us three key lessons. The mysterious “Magi” in today’s gospel famously follow a star to find Jesus. We may […] The post Homily 450 – Sleep in Heavenly Pax – Epiphany appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

On this 8th day after Christmas, the “Octave” of Christmas, we commemorate the day when Jesus would have been circumcised according to the Jewish law and given his name. This was a ritual common to all Jewish boys. The rite of circumcision made them a member of God’s family. St. Joseph officially giving Jesus his […] The post Homily 449 – The Names of Jesus and Mary – Octave of Christmas appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.

I love looking at the manger scenes on Christmas. It all seems so peaceful and happy. Yet, I fear that this one image, frozen in time in the Christmas creche, may also be misleading. It’s kind of like one of those perfect family pictures you see posted to Facebook. A video of everything leaded up […] The post Homily 448 – The Real Holy Family appeared first on Voice in the Wilderness.