Today*, and for the next four Sundays, till May 12, our family of parishes is doing something that may seem just for a few, but is actually important to all of us as a spiritual family....
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-most-important-holy-communion.html
The title of my homily is, “The Resurrection and the Eucharist.” It’s all bound up together. Let’s start with the Resurrection. To be totally clear, that means Jesus really died...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-resurrection-and-eucharist-sunday.html
All during Lent we were on a pilgrimage to the Cross. Now we are at the empty tomb. The next step on our journey? Heaven. This is what our Faith is about: heaven. Resurrection -- Easter -...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/04/heaven-or-hell-divine-mercy-sunday.html
A few years ago, I made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, And I walked the real, original Way of the Cross through the streets of Jerusalem. I was able to be at the place of the Last Suppe...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/03/you-are-there-holy-thursday-homily.html
Listening to the Gospel we heard--the heart of our Faith -- Makes me fall silent. Maybe you, too. That’s why we do this every single year. If you’ve come this far in Lent, it may ...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/03/this-is-our-week-palm-sunday.html
The first reading is about God’s Law: God’s Ten Commandments, God’s “Rules.” Rules are necessary, like it or not. And while we all love to complain about rules, the trut...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/03/not-rules-but-relationship-sunday-homily.html
...Because we don't really believe it. Do bishops believe priests are fathers? Then why do they move priests around, as if they are branch managers? Priests are encouraged not to get at...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/02/we-catholics-should-stop-calling.html
There are a lot of puzzles in the readings today. What do we make of them? Mystery number one: why would God tell Abraham to offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice? To work it out,...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/02/who-needs-this-sunday-homily.html
This question comes up a lot and most Catholics, including most clergy, feel awkward about the subject. It seems to many -- including Catholics -- to be rude and uncalled for. Most of us struggle...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/02/why-cant-non-catholics-come-to.html
What do you think was the most important day of your life? Was it the day you were born? Or maybe when you graduated from school? Or when you met your sweetheart? Or when you were mar...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-most-important-day-of-your-life.html
Skin diseases might be an odd thing to talk about at Mass. But the point is that illnesses like these do more than make us sick. They separate us from others. Four years ago when we...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/02/whats-leprosy-got-to-do-with-lent.html
One of the things not well understood about parish life, and this includes not only by the general public, but by parish employees, and the priests themselves, is the importance of the pastor as ...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/02/parish-priest-as-supervisor.html
Many of my friends are circulating on Facebook an article at Crisis by another mutual friend, which addresses the current Beacons of Light project with the title, A Plea for Parishes . Before ...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/02/is-canon-law-most-essential-thing-for.html
We’ve all heard of the seven deadly sins, I hope? Just to remind you, they are: pride, envy, wrath, greed, gluttony, lust; and there’s one more we don’t talk about much: sloth. ...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-homily-on-sloth-sunday-homily.html
If you are in an airplane and the plane crashes and you and the other survivors are in the middle of unfamiliar landscape -- maybe a forest or a desert -- you have several options, perhaps more t...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/02/another-provocative-question-about.html
It is a serious question. In the context of the Beacons of Light project, in which the Archdiocese of Cincinnati is presently immersed, there are many decisions and steps being taken, to addres...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/02/do-you-think-your-priests-are-lazy-and.html
This week we celebrate Catholic Schools Week. Since we are a Catholic school, naturally that’s a big deal! Someone might ask us, why have a Catholic school? Why not just have public...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/02/why-have-catholic-school-catholic.html
There is a key detail about the first reading that occurs in the verses just before what we heard today. Moses warns the people: don’t go after soothsayers, don’t conjure up ghost...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/01/god-will-speak-share-in-prophetic-work.html
Jesus has an urgent message in the Gospel. It can even be startling. Imagine sitting at the dinner table, You’re talking about sports or the events of the day, and a family member...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/01/my-version-of-archbishops-homily-on-cma.html
(Source: The Pitzviews Blog ) If you want to boil down these readings to a few key words, how about this: “Stay close; stay quiet.” Samuel is in the House of the Lord. God is...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/01/stay-close-stay-quiet-sunday-homily.html
People often wonder about how priests do what they do. When I'm not too absorbed actually doing it, I do like to write about these things on this blog. Last year I found a little more time to do ...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/01/notes-on-2nd-sunday-readings.html
This is going to sound hokey, but: the title of my homily is: “See the light – be the light.” We start with the Magi, these Wise Men, these seekers, in the Gospel. They saw ...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2024/01/see-light-be-light-epiphany-homily.html
If you have been keeping track, we heard about eight people in these readings: Abraham and Sarah and Isaac; Simeon and Anna; Mary and Joseph, and the Lord Jesus. Each one, in a di...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2023/12/measuring-up-to-holy-family-sunday.html
During Christmas week, I especially like to listen to Christmas music, and I enjoy pretty much all of it. Relaxing after a particularly demanding few days, I am considering the taxonomy of Ch...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-many-musical-christmases.html
For almost everyone, this time of year is a jolt of emotional caffeine. Not only do many of us eagerly anticipate this season of cheer, we make sure we gulp down every drop of it, ...
http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2023/12/why-are-you-here-christmas-homily.html