News in Homilies

Commentary to the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 11, 2018 – Year B

Commentary to the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 11, 2018 – Year B

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

Even one who is poor, like the widow in today’s Gospel, is called to give everything. There is no one so poor that they don’t have something to offer, and no one so rich that they don’t need to receive from others. God has lavished gifts on his children, following the example of the Father who is in heaven, they do not retain them for themselves but put them at the disposal of others.

Commentary to the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

Only after realizing this everlasting and free love, Israel felt the need to respond to it and understood that a God who loves so unconditionally, has the right to control even the heart and also to demand what seems humanly impossible, “If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink” (Pro25:21).

Commentary to The Feast of All Saints

Commentary to The Feast of All Saints

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

In the past, the Saints have enjoyed a tremendous popularity: the churches were full of their statues and recourse to them was perhaps more than to God. The saints—Mary too—are rightly regarded as sisters and brothers who, with their lives indicate a path to follow Christ and invite us to pray all the time, along with them, to the one Father.

Commentary to the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini / Claretian Publications in Homilies,

Homer could see, but is depicted blind. He was the symbol of inspired men, of those who, to penetrate deep truths, hidden from ordinary mortals, must close their eyes to the reality of this world. In ancient Greece, even the wise men, soothsayers, the rhapsodes were believed to be blind. They had to take themselves away from the deceptive appearances, ignoring the earthly flashes, to catch the light and the thoughts of the gods.

Commentary to the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

In Mark, the story bitterly ends: the rich young man chooses to stay with his goods. He dares not trust the proposal of Jesus, not bringing himself to take risks, afraid of losing everything, and sadly, he walks away. He was afflicted because he could not break away from the goods. He does not realize that the human heart is made for infinite love and as long as one is the slave of things he cannot but be disappointed and unhappy.

Commentary to the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

The love between man and woman, contracted “in the Lord” (1 Cor 7:39), is “indissoluble” (v. 24). This is not a law because the use of precepts is always the declaration of a loss of love, but the discovery of the intimate and profound reality of love which, by its nature, cannot die. It is “a divine flame no flood can extinguish,” is a participation in the love of God, love that is able to withstand any test, immovable as a solid rock that “no river can submerge it” (Song 8:7).

Commentary to the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

The conflicts, divisions, schisms in the Church are always derived from pride, lust for power and the desire to dominate others. The scandal, that even today, takes away the “small” from the Church, remains the same: the unedifying spectacle of competition and intrigues to fill the top positions and gain privileges.

Commentary to the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

Who is in love is always “beside himself with joy.” He comes out of himself, forgets himself because to encounter the other proves to be an irresistible impulse. Even the mystical experience of ecstasy, from the Greek word existánai means “to be beside oneself” and caught up in God. “It’s not that we love God but that God first loved us, so we, too, must love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us and his love comes to perfection in us.” (1 Jn 4:9-12).

Commentary to the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is always on the move and his disciples walking behind him. From the very start, they were aware of following an extraordinary character. They always paid much attention to what people said about him. Yet, even after months of communion of life with the Master, they failed to grasp his true identity.

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

The verb “to listen” occurs 1159 times in the Old Testament. It often refers to God who—Isaiah assures—is not deaf (Is 59:1). But unlike people, who often close their ears to the cry of the poor who cries out for help and immediately they pay attention to as soon as they hear praises and compliments.

Commentary to the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

Jesus puts himself in the spiritual line of the prophets and pious masters of his time. He focuses on the renewal of life and takes a strict position against the religion reduced to mere compliance to a legal code. He says that God is not interested in external purity, formalisms, and solemn liturgies of the temple appearances.

ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

The believers’ reflection on the fate of Mary after death continued to grow over the centuries. It led to the belief in her assumption and, on 1 November 1950, to the papal definition: “The Immaculate Conception Mother of God ever Virgin, finished the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” What does this dogma mean? 

Commentary to the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

Unfortunately, today, as then, many simply recognize Jesus as the wise man who has shown the paths of justice and peace, one of the many prophets, perhaps the greatest of the prophets. While esteeming, they consider him a mere man “Joseph’s son” and do not realize or refuse to accept that he is “the Only Begotten” of the Father (Jn 1:14). 

Commentary to the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

Bread maintains, but does not ensure biological life forever; it is destined to be extinguished, and the legendary plant of immortality is a chimera, an illusion. But God has a bread that communicates eternal life and has given it to the world because he wants everyone to have life and have it abundantly (Jn 10:10).

Commentary to the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

It is enough that people put aside their selfishness, overcoming the greed to possess, “which is the root of every evil” (1 Tim 6:10), they welcome the logic of the Kingdom and make available to the brothers, without reservation, all that they have and the miracle happens: all are fed and had leftovers. 

Commentary to the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

In the church, who leads cannot but reproduce the pattern of the Master. Peter, reproved by Jesus several times for his eagerness to stand out, recommended to the priests of his community: “Shepherd the flock which God has entrusted to you, guarding it not out of obligation but willingly for God’s sake; not as one looking for a reward but with a generous heart; do not lord it over those in your care rather be an example to your flock” (1 Pet 5:1-2). 

Commentary to the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

Commentary to the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B –

by: Fr. Fernando Armellini in Homilies,

It is commendable that, where no one acts, the church performs a substitute work in areas where she is not specifically competent, but refuses to be identified with the humanitarian institutions. She keeps vigilance to avoid being innocently involved in spectacular and lucrative initiatives, so as not to compete with civilian structures that, through the commitment of lay Christians, is instead called to animate. She possesses a divine word and it is on this word that she relies, resisting the temptation to resort to means that people consider more effective.