Sermons on encyclical: showing 1-15 of 245

No Development Without God Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 17, 2010

Like Jesus and Stephen, Pope Benedict's words are rejected by a world that cannot admit its need to be changed from within.

April 19, 2010 Caritas in Veritate The secular world doesn’t get it. In fact, the leaders of society have rarely gotten it in any age, because they don’t understand what people really want. In New Testament times, they resisted the change urged by the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit ...read more

Scripture: Acts 6:8-15

Denomination: Catholic

Caritas In Veritate Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jul 11, 2009

The Pope’s new encyclical fits well with the Exodus account of a people oppressed and needing growth and development, but enslaved by a culture of death.

Caritas in Veritate Monday of 15th week in Course July 13, 2009 It is providential, perhaps, that we have in today’s readings all the elements for talking about the role of faith in society. Here we have an oppressed people, enslaved by an unjust system, whose children are being systematically ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 1:8-22

Denomination: Catholic

The Prophet Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jul 8, 2009

There are prophets in every age speaking for God. In our age Pope Benedict has called us to look at Charity in Truth, and consider our responsibilities to the world economically.

Fifteenth Sunday in Course The Prophet July 12, 2009 All over the temperate zone, fruit from the varieties of fig and sycamore are ripening now, and so the Church gives us a reading from the migrant worker, Amos, the reluctant prophet. I call him a migrant worker because he engaged in seasonal ...read more

Scripture: Amos 7:12-15

Denomination: Catholic

Mystery Babylon, Rome's View Of World Power, 19th Century. Series

Contributed by Bob Faulkner on Jul 23, 2015

The spirit of conquest is the spirit that has invaded Rome from its onset, whether pagan or Papal. Read from the Vatican documents just how that notion has influenced her thinking. Should America still be concerned?

PART FOUR:RIDING 20th-CENTURY BEASTS, 1885-1948 FIFTY: THE JEWS AND DREYFUS In Part III, I left dangling a thread that needs to be pulled tight now. Let's quickly visit Catholic France in the latter part of the 19th century. Our guide is Weinberg, op.cit., pp. 70-71. "In the late 1800's, French ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 17:3

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Stewards Of Children And Creation Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jan 16, 2016

The Church cannot be expected to change position on the evil of murder.

Thursday of Second Week in Course 2016 Joy of the Gospel The readings today remind me of the cynical epigram: No good deed goes unpunished. David was the champion of Israel, defeating the Philistines time after time. Still, king Saul, who was probably suffering from a long-lasting clinical ...read more

Denomination: Catholic

The Embodiment Of God's Unremitting Love Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jul 18, 2009

Jesus’s preaching differed from that of Jonah because Jonah prophesied judgement and vengeance, while Jesus embodied God’s unremitting love.

Monday of 16th Week in Course 20 July 2009 Caritas in Veritate Before continuing a commentary on the papal encyclical Love in Truth, let me spend a moment on this analogy to Jonah. Jesus is saying to these Jewish non-believers, in effect, “Jonah eventually got it, and you guys will never get it.” ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 12:38-42

Denomination: Catholic

Come Back Tomorrow Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Oct 25, 2009

The problem of hunger in our world is mostly a matter of people like the synagogue official who would turn away the blind and lame from the healing power of Jesus.

October 26, 2009 Caritas in Veritate There are many meanings to what St. Paul calls “living by the flesh,” and some tie in most wonderfully with today’s Gospel and the Pope’s latest encyclical. We have considered one over the past few weeks–the idea that human development is most importantly ...read more

Scripture: Luke 13:10-17

Denomination: Catholic

The Centrality Of The Human Person In Development Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Feb 20, 2010

We cannot ever forget that when we are planning any project, large or small, for development, that the whole person's development is the target.

February 22, 2010 Chair of St Peter Caritas in Veritate When Pope John XXIII released his encyclical Mater et Magistra, a letter that critiqued both socialism and unfettered capitalism, the late William Buckley, who rejected much of the Church’s social doctrine, famously wrote ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:13-19

Denomination: Catholic

Finance In An Ethical Way Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 10, 2010

We must manifest our conversion by managing our financial systems so as to protect the most vulnerable and strive for the general good.

Monday of Second Week in Easter April 12, 2010 The call to be born from above is a call to a repentance and revolution internal to the person. Once we accept the invitation to be one with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit begins to transform us. Maybe this church won’t experience an ...read more

Scripture: John 3:1-13

Denomination: Catholic

The Astonishing Experience Of Gift Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Dec 5, 2009

Mary is the opposite of Eve, totally open to the plan of God as Eve was closed in, and thus she was able to accept the Greatest Gift, Jesus Christ.

Immaculate Conception December 7-8, 2009 Caritas in Veritate “Charity in truth places man before the astonishing experience of gift.” (CV 34) These words of Pope Benedict from the encyclical begin a new section that is incredibly appropriate for the solemnity we celebrate today, the patronal ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 3:9-20

Denomination: Catholic

Mary, The Church And The Joy Of The Gospel Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Aug 12, 2017

"He [God] will dwell forever in the knowledge and love of each faithful soul”

Thursday of 19th Week in Course 2017 Joy of the Gospel The story of Joshua and the people of Israel crossing the Jordan River in flood season, on dry land, is reminiscent of the crossing of the sea by Israel in the time of Moses. We needn’t concern ourselves with just how it happened. Into the ...read more

Scripture: Joshua 3:7-17

Denomination: Catholic

Put Off Your Old Nature And Build A Culture Of Life

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Jul 27, 2018

Let’s get serious about our following of Jesus, about rededicating ourselves to our vocations, to our families.

Eighteenth Sunday in Course 2018 Today the Word of God reminds us of the fallen nature of humans. God liberated the people of Israel from slavery in the fields and swamps and deserts of Egypt. Moses and Aaron led them out after God worked multiple signs and wonders to convince Pharaoh of the ...read more

Scripture: John 6:24-35, Ephesians 4:17-24, Exodus 16:2-15

Denomination: Catholic

Thomas, The Twin, And The Divine Mercy

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 25, 2014

In the lives and work of St. Thomas, Pope St. John, and Pope St. John Paul, we can see the operation of the Divine Mercy coming from the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Divine Mercy Sunday 2014 Canonization of Two Popes In the first century, there were no printing presses, no typewriters, no word processors, no i-pads, and, in the Holy Land and Rome, no cheap paper. If a literate person wanted to read, he picked up a scroll of papyrus, or parchment, and almost ...read more

Scripture: John 20:19-31

Denomination: Catholic

We Can’t Make Up The Truth Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Dec 12, 2009

Truth is neither planned, nor willed. It imposes itself on human beings.

December 14, 2009 St. John of the Cross Caritas in Veritate The conversation we overhear today between the chief priests and the elders is very instructive as we continue to reflect on the papal encyclical, Charity in Truth. When Jesus asks them whether John’s teaching was divinely inspired or ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 21:23-27

Denomination: Catholic

The Just Society And Why Judas Was Judged Harshly

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Apr 9, 2022

Somehow it seems very strange to ask Judas about the virtue of justice.

Monday of Holy Week I don’t understand why people these days feel like they have to defend Judas from the accusations that he was a thief and a jerk. He was a thief and a jerk. Today’s Gospel shows him accusing Jesus of sinning against the virtue of justice, by allowing an expensive ointment to ...read more

Scripture: John 12:1-11

Denomination: Catholic