Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies
Episodes
Seek the Mark of the Spirit
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, Happy Pentecost Sunday! On this great celebration of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, meditating upon the number three will ...
Come, Lord Jesus!
25 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, on this Seventh Sunday of Easter, the Church gives us the privilege of hearing the very last words of the Bible. If you're reading poetry, a ...
The Heavenly City
17 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, in many ways, the second reading for this Sunday is the climax of the entire biblical revelation. We find a detailed description of the heave...
Rescued from the Depths
10 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, on this Fifth Sunday of Easter, we continue our reading of the book of Revelation, leaping ahead toward the very end of the Bible. Looking at...
The Great Army of the Martyrs
03 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, during this Easter season we're reading from the book of Revelation, that marvelous, final book of the Bible. In today's reading, John sees m...
Right Praise, Right Order
26 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, the last stanza of a poem, the last chapter of a novel, or the last lines of a play are of extraordinary significance, but only if you’ve r...
The Unveiling of a New World
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, Revelation comes from the Latin “Revalatio,” which in turn translates the Greek “Apokalypsis”—which means, literally, “unveiling....
Three Lessons of the Resurrection
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, a very blessed and happy Easter to you all! The Resurrection of Jesus is the be-all and the end-all of the Christian faith. If Jesus didn't r...
The Master Has Need of It
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, in the Palm Sunday Gospel reading proclaimed before the procession, the Lord instructs two of his disciples to go into the village and unteth...
Refuse Scapegoating Violence
30 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, this Sunday, we hear the story of the woman caught in adultery from the eighth chapter of John. René Girard thought that this story was ...
Everything He Has Is Yours
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, our Gospel reading for this Fourth Sunday of Lent is one of the greatest stories ever told: the parable of the prodigal son. In a way, this p...
Who is God?
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, on this Third Sunday of Lent, we have the privilege of reading one of the most important texts in the Bible: God addressing Moses from the bu...
Awaiting Resurrection
09 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, all three of our readings for the Second Sunday of Lent emphasize the transcendent world, the goal of all our religious striving. St. Paul sp...
Three Levels of Temptation
02 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, we come now to the great and holy season of Lent, a time to get back to spiritual basics. This First Sunday of Lent, we hear Luke’s account...
Beware of Blind Guides
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There are a lot of people claiming to be spiritual gurus, teachers, and guides today. But is the person to whom you’ve entrusted your life spiritual...
Give As God Gives
16 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, whenever we give or receive a gift, we're always caught in a difficult rhythm of exchange and mutual obligation. The great exception to this ...
To What Does Your Heart Belong?
09 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, when our heart belongs to anything in this world, we live in an empty and lifeless spiritual space. But when our heart belongs to the Lord, t...
The Invasion of Grace
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, the spiritual life begins with an invasion of grace out of God's sheer, unmerited love. As we direct our lives toward the light, we become mo...
Give Away the Grace You’ve Been Given
25 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, Jesus tells us his messiahship is one of service, not self-interest. As sinners, we have a tendency to understand our religious lives in a se...
Should We Build Walls or Bridges?
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, our first reading this Sunday reminds us that we need walls to maintain our identity. But our ultimate purpose is not to hunker down behind t...
Your Water into God’s Wine
12 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, this week we resume Ordinary Time, and the Church gives us this extraordinary story of the first sign of Christ’s divinity—the miracle at...
Priests, Prophets, and Kings
05 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, when we are baptized, we are grafted onto Christ, who has anointed us all as priests, prophets, and kings. Let's live out that identity.
Is Science Opposed to Faith?
29 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, the supposed warfare between religion and science is assumed by a lot of young people who disaffiliate from the Church today. But the Magi fo...
Love the Ones You’re Given
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, families teach us that we don't always get to choose the people we love, but we're given people that we're then called upon to love. On this ...
Give Up the Ego-Drama!
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, most of us are stuck in the boring and narrow confines of the ego-drama. Mary is not playing an ego-dramatic game; she is playing a theo-dram...
Have You Found Joy?
08 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, on this Gaudete Sunday, we are called to rejoice! Detach yourself from the anxieties of the world and live in the peace and joy of Christ.
The Historical Reality of Jesus
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, a couple years ago, there was a poll conducted in Great Britain that revealed that the majority of people there feel that Jesus was not a rea...
Look Back, Look Around, Look Forward
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, many years ago, in the context of a high school religion class, a very wise Benedictine nun gave me a template for understanding Advent that ...
Is Jesus the King of Your Life?
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, this Feast of Christ the King encapsulates what the Christian life is all about. All the other celebrations of the year are leading us to thi...
What Is the Apocalypse?
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, there is something dark, threatening, and a little bit dire about the Gospel reading today, but through it, we see that death is not the fina...
Trust in the Lord
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, a connection with God leads to life and flourishing. When we sever that connection, we experience a drought similar to the one in our first r...
No God but the Lord Alone
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, God is not satisfied to be in the background of your life. The Lord your God is the Lord alone, so love him with everything you've got—your...
Are You Blinded by Cities of Sin?
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, in today’s Gospel, we hear the marvelous story of the healing of blind Bartimaeus—an icon of tremendous power and a sacred picture of the...
Do You Really Want What God Wants?
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, power and honor, in and of themselves, are not a bad thing, but we wreak havoc when we ask for them in the wrong spirit. When we beseech the ...
It’s Time for a Radical Choice
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, in our first reading today, Solomon finds that all the power and wealth of the world are nothing compared to the gift of wisdom—seeing life...
How to Fall in Love
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, our readings this weekend have to do with biblical anthropology—or who we are in the presence of God—and the Christian understanding of m...
We Just Don’t Get It
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, let us rejoice whenever the grace of God is on display. The point of the sacraments is so that God’s grace may flood the world, but the Lor...
Envy Will Destroy Us
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, when envy takes over our spiritual lives, we sow disorder and disintegration. The life of Jesus is about self-emptying love; it is in this gi...
God Suffers for Us
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, with our readings from this weekend, we are on very holy ground because we're dealing with the imagery, symbolism, and theology of the suffer...
Have You Stopped Listening to Jesus?
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus travels outside of Israel and heals a man of his deafness. Today, we live in a realm of spiritual deafness. We are...
The Beauty of the Law
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, the more we revere something, the more we surround it with laws. The most important thing in our lives is to be in harmony with God, and so w...
Time to Test Your Faith
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, today’s Gospel concludes John’s reflection on the Eucharist. At the end of this remarkable chapter, we are faced with a question that def...
God’s Warrior Queen
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, today on this marvelous Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin, we celebrate Mary’s assumption, body and soul, into heaven. But this doe...
Where to Go When You Cannot Go On
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, we've all hit points in which we felt we could not go on spiritually, physically, or mentally. In the Gospel today, Christ declares himself t...
Finding Lasting Happiness
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, the ensemble of this world that God has made is good, and we're meant to enjoy it; however, we hunger for something that transcends this worl...
What You Need to Know about the Catholic Mass
21 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, the sixth chapter of John is one of the most profound reflections we have on the meaning of the Eucharist. Let us pay close attention to our ...
How to Be a Good Leader
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, our readings today center around the familiar biblical theme of sheep and shepherding. Both human and divine, it is Jesus who has come to lea...
Proclaiming Christ in the Culture
07 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, today's first reading makes it clear that if you are baptized, you are called to bring God's word to others. This week, I share five recommen...
You Are Called to Be a Prophet
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, all baptized Christians are summoned to announce the Word of God. In our Gospel today, we hear the call, like Ezekiel, to share the Good News...
Faith When You’re Frustrated with God
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, in our Gospel today, we find two stories tensely intertwined together, and both contain great suffering and great healing. Through this passa...
Why Is Life So Full of Suffering?
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, the book of Job is one of the most profound and most challenging books in the entire Bible. In today’s reading, we see that God does not ha...
The Last King Standing
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, in our Gospel today, Christ paints a picture of a growing mustard tree, under whose shade all people are invited to dwell. Jesus speaks here,...
The Lifeblood of God
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, for this feast of Corpus Christi, today’s readings run red, dripping in sacrificial symbolism. When we gather together for Mass, we are not...
How To Understand the Trinity
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, Trinity Sunday serves as a wonderful opportunity to unpack the life-giving relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Every time ...
What “Unity in Diversity” Actually Means
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, we come today to the marvelous feast of Pentecost, a celebration of the Holy Spirit, the Church, and evangelical preaching. Pentecost reverse...
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus makes extraordinary observations about discipleship. He speaks about being enraptured by God, having exuberant joy...
What Does God Want for Me?
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, with these fabulous readings for the sixth Sunday of Easter, we discover an embarrassment of riches through the exploration of God's care and...
Becoming a Friend, Healer, and Teacher
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, in our Gospel passage today, Jesus proclaims that he is the vine and we are the branches. There is give and take in this divine relationship....
Getting St. Peter's Sermon Right
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, in today’s first reading, St. Peter tells us that there is no salvation outside of Christ. In this homily, I encourage you to let the truth...
The Strangeness of the Resurrection and Why It Matters
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, Christ acts as an advocate for our souls through the cosmos-reorienting events of his death and Resurrection, the forging of a connection bet...
Life in the Church
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, today’s Gospel reveals the dawning of Christianity. With his wounds bared to his disciples immediately upon his arrival in their midst, Chr...
Breaking Out of the Tomb
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, a blessed and peaceful Easter to you! Although grave sites are known to be quiet places of reflection, God, through his sovereign power, over...
Breaking, Singing, Pulling Away
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, one of the best known stories in Western culture is the narrative of Christ’s Passion and death. However, this very familiarity can block o...
Writing the Law Upon Our Hearts
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, one of the most fundamental beliefs of the Biblical Israelites is that God is a covenant-maker. He formed his people through a series of agre...
Nicodemus Came at Night
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, our Gospel for today contains one of the most important lines in the entire Bible: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, s...
Back to the Fundamentals — Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermon
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, I have often said that Lent is a bit like basic training for the military or summer workouts for a football team—it is a chance to get back...
The Ordering of Love and the Awful Story of Abraham and Isaac
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, if the intention of an author is to convince people to read and think about what he’s written, the author of Sunday's first reading has don...
Pray, Fast, Give Alms
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, Lent is a marvelous opportunity to deepen our lives of prayer, to temper our desires for food and drink, and to engage in a graced time of al...
Go Tell the Priests
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, today’s Gospel centers around Jesus’ healing of a leper. Although there aren’t many lepers around today, there are plenty of people tha...
How to Evangelize
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, in this Sunday's readings, St. Paul highlights the significance of evangelization. The Church, by its very nature, evangelizes, going out to ...
A Prophet Greater than Moses
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Moses is, without a doubt, the greatest figure in the Old Testament. He heard the voice of God from the burning bush; he was given the Ten Commandment...
Accepting Our Mission from God
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s first reading, we find the story of Jonah, a narrative about the acceptance (or rejection) of God’s mission. We are all called to diffi...
God Raises Up His Prophets
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With the whole Church around the world, we return to Ordinary Time. This week, we have a wonderful Old Testament reading from the first book of Samuel...
The God Who Enters Our Muddy Waters
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Gospel writers compel us, as it were, to pass through John the Baptist to get to Jesus; all four Gospels give us a version of Jesus’ baptism by ...
The Magi and the Spiritual Journey
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For Epiphany Sunday, we hear the marvelous story from the Gospel of Matthew in which the Magi journey to see the Christ child. This scene has beguiled...
What Makes a Family Holy?
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Bible is not particularly sentimental about families. What makes a family holy, as far as the biblical writers are concerned, is its willingness t...
Building a House
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The dramatic readings for this fourth Sunday of Advent place us right in the heart of a central mystery in the Bible: the mystery of God’s providen...
A Year of Favor from the Lord
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The third Sunday of Advent is traditionally called “Gaudete Sunday.” “Gaudete” is a Latin imperative—it’s a command—which means “rejoi...
Clear a Path
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In our magnificent first reading from the prophet Isaiah, which is echoed in the words of John the Baptist in today’s Gospel, a voice cries out: “...
Longing for the Savior
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Advent, like Lent, is properly a penitential season. To enter into Advent, to prepare for the coming of the Savior, is to enter into our need for a Sa...
God Will Shepherd His People
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading is taken this weekend from the last chapter of the marvelous book of Proverbs. After ruminating for many pages on different aspects ...
A Spirituality of Work
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading is taken this weekend from the last chapter of the marvelous book of Proverbs. After ruminating for many pages on different aspects ...
God is Looking for Us
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading for this weekend from the book of Wisdom might easily slip past or through your mind, but it shouldn’t. It articulates what is arg...
The Meaning of All Saints Day
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Law of Israel
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A careful reading of the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, reveals that Israelite identity was determined through three sets of laws: ...
Between Indifferentism and Tribalism
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading for this weekend is taken from that wonderful middle section of the book of the prophet Isaiah. This particular passage is fascinati...
Isaiah and God’s Holy Mountain
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout the book of the prophet Isaiah, there are references to God’s holy mountain. In the twenty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, we have still anothe...
The Lord’s Vineyard
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading, taken from the fifth chapter of the prophet Isaiah, presents a classic trope within the Israelite tradition: the image of the viney...
What Kind of Person Will You Be?
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading for this weekend is taken from the eighteenth chapter of the book of the prophet Ezekiel—one of the four major prophets, along wit...
The Strangeness of God
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our very brief first reading is taken from the magnificent fifty-fifth chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. This section of Isaiah—which stret...
Hugging Anger
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading—taken from the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth chapters of the marvelous book of Sirach, called in older Bibles the book of Eccle...
Correcting a Brother
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Gospel for today addresses an issue of tremendous practical importance—namely, whether and how we ought to engage in fraternal correction. This ...
Losing One’s Soul
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jesus in our Gospel for today says, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Do you want to save your...
Shebna and Peter: The Nature of Authority
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the twenty-second chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah, we find the prophet’s only criticism of an individual. The man in the prophet’s cr...
Israel Is Chosen for the World
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most distinctive (and scandalous) qualities of ancient Israelite religion is the insistence that Israel is the specially chosen people of G...
The Best and Worst of Religion
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading for this weekend, taken from the first book of Kings, is one of the most beautiful and memorable passages in the Old Testament. It t...
Come to the Water!
29 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading for this weekend is taken from the fifty-fifth chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. The “second” section of Isaiah dates f...
What Do You Want?
22 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading for this week is from the first book of Kings, and it has to do with Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba, the great Israelite ki...
How Strange Is the Power of God
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What a privilege we have this weekend to hear from the book of Wisdom. Scholars contend that this is the last book written in the Old Testament, datin...
The Word That Accomplishes Its Purpose
08 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we hear from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and the theme of this short passage is the Word of God. How wonderful that we are hearing one ...