Solemnity of All Saints
1 November 2025
All the saints, whom we celebrate today, have preceded us and shown us that sanctity is within our reach. Sanctity is simply allowing the grace God has planted in us through baptism to grow and develop. No situation or circumstance can prevent God’s grace from working powerfully in a docile soul. The saints, men and women from all ages and all walks of life, have modeled the way. Their example and their intercession are powerful aids on our own journey. We know we can make it to heaven because they have.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’s invitation to blessedness is an invitation to joy. However, Jesus’s joy sets the world’s joy on its head. We want to avoid discomfort and pain at all costs. Jesus says, ‘Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you… Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.’ However, the promise of heaven amidst suffering is not merely a promise of future joy, but of a joy already begun even while suffering. This joy amidst suffering was the ‘insanity’ that only the saints understood. St John Paull II said, ‘To know that God is not far but close… is reason for profound joy that different daily events cannot affect… An unmistakable characteristic of Christian joy is that it can coexist with suffering, because it is totally based on love.’ The saint knows he or she is secure in God’s love amidst suffering. This experience of God’s love then moves the saint to give everything back to Christ and, in that self-sacrificing gift, to find deep joy.
epriest.com
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The Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed (All Souls)
2 November 2025
In Luke 7:11-17, Jesus encounters a grieving widow in the town of Nain whose only son has died. Moved with compassion, He touches the funeral bier and commands the young man to rise – and he does. This miracle reveals Jesus’ power over death and His deep empathy for human suffering.
The widow, already vulnerable in a society where men provided economic stability, faced a bleak future. Jesus’ intervention was not just a display of divine authority but also an act of tender mercy, restoring both life and hope. His words, ’Do not weep’ (v. 13), acknowledge her pain while offering a solution beyond human capability.
This passage challenges us to trust in Christ’s power in our own moments of despair. Just as He saw the widow’s sorrow, He sees our struggles and responds with compassion. The miracle also foreshadows Jesus’ ultimate victory over death through His resurrection, assuring believers of eternal hope.
Furthermore, the crowd’s reaction – ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ (v. 16) – highlights Jesus’ divine identity, yet His mission extends beyond admiration. He calls us to recognise Him as Lord and to share His compassion with others.
In our lives, we may not witness physical resurrections, but Christ still brings life to dead situations – broken relationships, lost purpose, or spiritual dryness. Like the widow, we must approach Him in faith, trusting that He can restore what seems lost. Let this miracle remind us of Jesus’ power, His compassion, and His desire to bring new life where there is despair.
Epriest.com
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The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
9 November 2025
Every dedication of a Church is about Jesus Christ and about worship in spirit and in truth.
If we look at the readings today in terms of Church and the service of the Bishop of Rome, our Pope, we can see in the first reading, from the Prophet Ezekiel, a reflection of what the Church and the service of the Pope are supposed to be: the water of life flowing out from God and giving life to all that it touches. This is the ideal and it is rarely completely reached. Yet we have seen so many holy Popes in the last one hundred years that we can understand that the role of the Pope and the role of the Church is to give us life.
The second reading today, from the First Letter to the Corinthians, reminds us that we are the Church, the temple of God. We are not the Church all by ourselves in some exclusive way. Each of us is the Church and yet together we are the Church. Each of us is a temple of God and together we are God’s people.
Finally, in the Gospel today, from Saint John, we understand how the body of Christ points to resurrection, for Him and for us. We are to recognise in all of this the hand of God: Jesus dies for us and we must die for one another. This is the Church and this is why we celebrate the dedication of a Church. The Bishop of Rome, our Pope, can lead us to walk with Christ – but we must be the ones who walk.
Monastery of Christ in the Desert
Christdesert.org
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Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
16 November 2025 • World Day of the Poor
It is interesting that just after hearing Jesus commenting on the relative insignificance of offerings made by the wealthy, the next thing that happens is his disciples admiring the wealth and grandeur of the temple. I wonder what would happen if all church communities lived from a place of knowing their own buildings are impermanent and their own wealth is fleeting?
His disciples remembered Jesus’ words and wrote them down so that they – and we – might be wise in turbulent times.
And so it might be best to risk extracting ‘general principles’ from this Gospel passage, and avoid unfruitful speculations about the concrete details:
- Everything in this world will pass away. (Verses 5-6)
- There will be false teachers, don’t be led astray by them. (Verses 7-8)
- There will be calamities, don’t be afraid. (Verses 9-11)
- Following me will put you at odds with the folks that run this world, and even your own family. Don’t be surprised by – or run away from – conflict. (Verses 12, and 16-17)
- There’ll come a time when you’ll have to account for why you are my disciple, don’t worry about it ahead of time, I’ll be with you and give you all the wisdom you’ll need at the time. (Verses 13-15)
- Believe me, you won’t perish. By enduring, you will save your true self. (Verses 18-19)
Jesus doesn’t promise us an easy life. Instead, he tells us the truth. And he promises us that the truth will set us free. I wonder how the words of today’s passage have been true and freeing for us?
David Ewart
holytextures.com
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Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
23 November 2025
What is the Kingdom of God? What is the Kingdom of Christ the King? Here is a beautiful explanation given by Gerald Darring (St Louis University: Center for Liturgy): The Kingdom of God is a space. It exists in every home where parents and children love each other. It exists in every region and country that cares for its weak and vulnerable. It exists in every parish that reaches out to the needy. The Kingdom of God is a time. It happens whenever someone feeds a hungry person, or shelters a homeless person, or shows care to a neglected person. It happens whenever we overturn an unjust law, or correct an injustice, or avert a war. It happens whenever people join in the struggle to overcome poverty, to erase ignorance, to pass on the Faith. The Kingdom of God is in the past (in the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth); it is in the present (in the work of the Church and in the efforts of many others to create a world of goodness and justice); it is in the future (reaching its completion in the age to come). The Kingdom of God is a condition. Its symptoms are love, justice, and peace. Jesus Christ is king! We pray today that God may free all the world to rejoice in his peace, to glory in his justice, to live in his love.
frtonyshomilies.com
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First Sunday of Advent
30 November 2025
The word ‘advent’ means ‘coming’ or ‘arrival.’ It’s about keeping watch as the preface puts it, we who watch for that day.’ The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent and looking forward to his return as King in his Second Advent. In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolises the spiritual journey of every individual and every community in the here and now.
In spite of all kinds of predictions, allegedly from the sayings of the saints and other holy people, no one knows the time of the Second Coming, only God, and that it will come upon men and women with the suddenness of a rainstorm out of a blue sky. They tell us that that time will come with shattering suddenness on those who are immersed in material things. Noah prepared himself in the calm weather before the flood and when it did come he was ready. But the rest of humanity was lost in the ‘eating and drinking and merrymaking’ and were caught completely unawares and so were swept away. These verses are a warning to us never to become so immersed in time that we forget eternity, that there is a God and that the issues of life and death are in his hands, and that whenever his call comes, at morning, at midday or evening, it must find us ready. However we must remember that the watching of the Christian for the coming of Christ is not that of terror-stricken fear or shivering apprehension, rather it is the eager expectation for the coming of glory and joy.
Blessingtonparish.ie
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