Below are the recordings of the homilies during our 40 Hours devotion. If you would like to view the full services, please visit our YouTube playlist – Forty Hours Devotion 2022.
Fr. Patrick Welsh shares a homily at the opening Mass for 40 Hours
What words do YOU use to describe God?
All-powerful, all-knowing, merciful, just, loving.
What words does God use to describe Himself?
God describes Himself as a jealous God just under 20 times in scripture (Exodus 20 – Ten Commandments). He is afraid of losing something that belongs to Him to other idols and false gods. Sometimes you may think of yourself as unworthy of because you feel He may be better off without you, BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT HE THINKS. He wants us to TOTALLY belong to Him. He becomes one with us so that we may become one with Him.
What is Sunday all about?
The Lord’s day – God’s rest is a completion of an action (Pope St. John Paul II). He takes a step back from His labor, gazing upon his creation with love that passes over the pinnacle of creation – man & woman. Our response is to look back at him with love and thanksgiving for creating and redeeming us.
God looks at you with nothing but LOVE in the Blessed Sacrament.
Will you take the opportunity today & everyday to look back at Him the same way?
Like the rich young man in the Gospel, we are coming to Jesus exposed in the Blessed Sacrament during these 40 Hours. Like the young man, we generally like to ask questions. Are we prepared for the answer the Jesus gives us? Are we prepared for an answer like He gave the young man? Difficult, but not impossible with God.
Fr. Welsh uses the movie Ben-Hur (1959) to describe how anger can consume us if we don’t let it go and lay it down at the foot of the cross. Ben-Hur on the surface may seem like a story of vengeance, but it is really a story of Christ and redemption. Come to the Blessed Sacrament and lay it all out to God and let it go. Allow yourself to be free of all the hate. God’s love IS enough to let go of whatever angers you.
Fr. Windle shares a homily at the Mass for the Feast Day of St. David
C.S. Lewis wrote The Great Divorce, an updated version of Dante’s Inferno which is a journey from Hell through Purgatory to Heaven.
The story is agonizing and frustrating to readers because those on the boundary to Heaven are just RIGHT THERE. All they have to do is step over the line into Heaven, but to do so they have to let go of what is holding them back. It is a cautionary tale because these characters’ stories are relatable to us today.
Pope St. John Paul II talked about “crossing the Threshold of Hope” We are called as disciples to cross the Threshold of Hope and we have the opportunity every Sunday at Mass when we receive the Eucharist. Maybe then we won’t be so fearful of the unknown at the final profession of faith – when we meet Christ after death.
We will know that Jesus is our HOPE. We need courage, trust, hope, and faith to cross the greatest distance, which in reality is only as far as the head is from the heart.