iPadre: Fr. Cooper's Homilies

Lessons from the Widow - 32nd Sunday in OT

Those coins, dropped in the temple treasury that day, where an important part of this widow’s witness to the power of God to make all things new! By dropping in those coins, she realized she was part of something bigger than herself. She was participating in God’s work on earth. No wonder Jesus was pleased to see her make her offering. No wonder He praised her to his disciples. She had been victorious over her grief. She trusted God for her daily bread, and she was involved in the ongoing work of the kingdom. God measures not how much you give, but how much you have left over. Is there any question this poor widow loved God? She put her money where her heart was. She gave all she had. And Jesus praised her.

You Are Not Far From The Kingdom of God - 31st Sunday in OT

Jesus prayed, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” and the two are forever linked. Wherever God’s will is done, there is the Kingdom, and wherever the kingdom is you’ll find people doing God’s will. Jesus embodied within His own life that precious, priceless Kingdom that He taught. Whenever we see people reaching out in love to other people in the name of Jesus Christ we see evidence of His kingdom, which will come in the twinkling of God’s eye . . . when the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of Our God.

Playing Golf at Midnight - 30th Sunday in OT

Bartimaeus was disadvantaged, but he was not defeated. He came to Jesus and Jesus healed him ... and he became a follower of Christ. May we see what Bartimaeus saw - that Jesus is the giver of every good thing in life. I hope we are as wise as Bartimaeus. May we, too, follow Jesus all the days of our life as well!

Building the Kingdom Together - 26th Sunday in OT

The best way to witness to the Lord of kindness is through our own acts of compassion and charity. This is the way to effectively communicate the wonder of the Gospel. It does not depend on labels for validation. It is offering a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name to any who are in need. And it is recognizing that when someone offers us a cup of cold water, Christ is already at work in that person’s life. When will we realize that Jesus is too big to restrict to one culture or one nationality? There are people of every circumstance and every ethnic origin who bear the name Christian. Just think of how small and petty we are being when we try to restrict Jesus to people who look and pray like we do. There is only one way to communicate the Gospel that truly attracts people into the family of Christ and that is with words and works of charity.

Stewardship: What's in Your Bucket? - 25th Sunday in OT

Stewardship, quite simply, is recognizing that everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God and being grateful and generous with those gifts. We aren’t “owners” of anything, we are merely “stewards” of the gifts that God has given us. Stewardship isn’t a process, or a campaign, or an accounting of our gifts. Rather, it is a lifestyle rooted in gratitude and generosity. The whole point of stewardship is to help each other strengthen our relationship with God and get to Heaven!

‘Ephphatha!’ that is, ‘Be opened!' - 23rd Sunday in OT

Probably the most important aspect of God’s action is that God can change the human heart. For sure, all of us want miracles; we want all that is bad in our lives and in our world to be changed to good. We might ask ourselves today: what would I prefer? Would I like some physical or material reality changed or would I prefer my heart to be changed? The reply will tell us a lot about ourselves! ‘Ephphatha!’ that is, ‘Be opened!’  

 

Tradition! - 22nd Sunday in OT

Tradition can be a wonderful thing. It only becomes destructive when we use it as a means of looking like a follower of Jesus rather than actually following Him. How about you? Where is God? Is He at the center of your heart? Is He the One who determines your attitudes toward others, or is He simply an excuse for your attitudes? Is God simply on your lips, but not in your heart? Tradition!

In it for the Long Haul - 21st Sunday in OT

Faith is hanging in there when the day looks dark and the options are limited, because you know that somehow God is at work in your life. So you have decided that by the grace of God you are here for the long haul. You have placed yourself in God’s hands and you say with Simon Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” That is what faith is all about. Life is a marathon. It’s not how you start, but how you finish. Faith has to do with both having a great race and an even greater finish!

Hungering for the Lord - 19th Sunday in OT

You have heard the saying before: “In other places people EAT TO LIVE but in New Orleans we LIVE TO EAT.” For New Orleaneans, eating is a ritual. Sharing a meal together is a source of nourishment; it is a source of strength; it is a source of building relationships. Because of our lived experiences, I believe all of us know what it means to hunger for God … to have this holy hunger, this deep thirst of the soul that can only be satisfied by God Himself. It is hunger pains that go much deeper than physical hunger. Our spiritual hunger can only be satisfied by the sacred body of Jesus; our holy thirst that can only be quenched by his precious blood. And when God touches you through His sacred Body and Blood, your entire life is transformed; your life takes on a new direction as a disciple of Jesus.

Filling the Emptiness Within - 18th Sunday in OT

Obviously we get hungry a lot! But do we get hungry for that which will truly satisfy us? We know about physical hunger. But do we know about spiritual hunger? “Sir,” the people said in response to Christ’s teaching, “. . . give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” And that’s true. The greatest need that each of us has is to feed on Christ.