Homilies for the Major Feasts, Christmas, Easter, Weddings, and FuneralsIn the fourth volume of his popular series, veteran pastor and educator Richard Viladesau has written a collection of homilies for the seasons of Christmas and Easter. These two seasons "pose particular difficulties for the preacher because these feasts--especially Christmas--have been adopted into our culture in a secularized form that has little to do with their original religious meaning," contends Viladesau. In addition to homilies for the Christmas and Easter seasons, there are homiletic reflections on the Christian significance of birth marriage and deaths. The homilies, of three to four pages in length, make an engaging connection between Christian faith and contemporary existence in a secularized world. As he has done in his previous volume Viladesau offers a invaluable resource for preachers, who will find in his work food for thought and inspiration for the construction of their own homilies. Lay persons will appreciate as well the author's intellectually honest reflection on faith issues. + |
Contents
| 7 | |
| 10 | |
| 15 | |
| 20 | |
| 23 | |
Feast of the Holy FamilyYear A | 26 |
Feast of the Holy FamilyYear B | 29 |
Feast of the Holy FamilyYear C | 32 |
Fifth Sunday of EasterYear C | 88 |
Sixth Sunday of EasterYear A | 91 |
Sixth Sunday of EasterYear B | 94 |
Sixth Sunday of EasterYear C | 99 |
Seventh Sunday of EasterYear A | 102 |
Seventh Sunday of EasterYear B | 107 |
Seventh Sunday of EasterYear C | 111 |
Feast of the Ascension of the Lord | 114 |
January 1The Octave of Christmas | 35 |
Epiphany | 38 |
First Sunday of the YearBaptism of the Lord | 41 |
Easter Season | 45 |
Easter Vigil | 47 |
Easter Sunday 1 | 50 |
Easter Sunday 2 | 53 |
Second Sunday of EasterYear A | 58 |
Second Sunday of EasterYear B | 61 |
Second Sunday of EasterYear C | 64 |
Third Sunday of EasterYear A | 67 |
Third Sunday of EasterYear B | 69 |
Third Sunday of EasterYear C | 72 |
Fourth Sunday of EasterYear A | 74 |
Fourth Sunday of EasterYear B | 76 |
Fourth Sunday of EasterYear C | 79 |
Fifth Sunday of EasterYear A | 82 |
Fifth Sunday of EasterYear B | 86 |
Pentecost Sunday | 117 |
Solemnities of the Lord | 121 |
Trinity Sunday | 123 |
Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ | 126 |
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord February 2 | 130 |
Feasts of Mary and the Saints | 135 |
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary | 137 |
Feast of All SaintsNovember 1 | 140 |
Feast of the Immaculate Conception | 143 |
Celebrations of Christian Life | 147 |
Christian Initiation of Children | 149 |
Christian Marriage 1 | 151 |
Christian Marriage 2 | 155 |
Christian Death 1 Mass of the Resurrection | 158 |
Christian Death 2 | 161 |
Index of Names and Topics | 163 |
Common terms and phrases
Acts affirmation Allan Bloom baptism beauty become believe birth blessed Blessed Virgin Mary C. S. Lewis celebration Christ Christian faith Christmas Christmas story church commitment communion concrete connection context culture Dag Hammarskjöld darkness death dimension disciples divine doctrine Easter Easter Vigil encounter enter Eostre eternal Eucharist existence experience face fact Father feast forgiveness gives God's children God's love gospel passage heart holy Homilies hope human idea Iris Murdoch Israel Jeffrey Harris Jesus John John's Gospel Karl Rahner kind light liturgical lives Lord Luke Luke's marriage Mary Matthew means merely metaphor mind moral mother night ourselves Passover peace Pentecost person perspective possible present proclaimed reality reason relation religion religious representational art resurrection resurrection of Jesus revealed ritual salvation second reading secular sense sharing shepherd simply Spirit story symbol tells theological things tion today's gospel tradition transcends ultimate vision word
Popular passages
Page 155 - O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Page 63 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Page 53 - I don't know who — or what — put the question. I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer yes to Someone — or Something — and from that hour I was certain that existence was meaningful and that, therefore, my life in self-surrender had a goal. From that moment I have known what it means "not to look back" and "to take no thought for the morrow.
Page 141 - Her finely-touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth.
Page 149 - What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound ?' God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death...
Page 141 - Her full nature, like that river of which Alexander broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those. around her was incalculably diffusive...
Page 149 - We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.
Page 141 - But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive : for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts ; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.
Page 131 - The shepherd would rather see the wolf enter his stable on Candlemas day than the sun ; 2. The badger peeps out of his hole on Candlemas day, and when he finds snow, walks abroad ; but if he sees the sun shining, he draws back into his hole.
Page 17 - The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.