Sunday Homilies

from Father Kevin Laughery, Troy St. Jerome and St. Jacob St. James Parishes, Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. Note: Comments from this page do not reach me; instead, email: kl@kevinlaughery.com

The Podcasts

The cycles of time and the process of conversion.

Direct download: KML_2019-12-15_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 6:09pm CDT

What is the Kingdom which we await?  And how do we participate in its coming?

Direct download: KML_2019-12-08_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 6:08pm CDT

Fifty years of the Lectionary cycle; transforming your tools.

Direct download: KML_2019-12-01_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 6:07pm CDT

Getting a church dedicated, and the strangest conversation imaginable.  BONUS: I forgot to turn off the recorder, so you get to hear a baptism also!

Category: -- posted at: 6:03pm CDT

"A church that looks like a church" vs. a church built upon martyrdom.

Direct download: KML_2019-11-17_830am.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:54pm CDT

The Berlin Wall and scaling the wall of mortality.

Direct download: KML_2019-11-10_830am.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:51pm CDT

Climbing trees and finding mercy.

Direct download: KML_2019-11-03_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 5:49pm CDT

It's time to examine the "interior monologue" that each of us carries on with ourselves.

Direct download: KML_2019-10-27_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:52pm CDT

Jesus' parable is hilarious.  For one thing, it is almost as if the unjust judge can overhear the narration about his turpitude.

Direct download: KML_2019-10-20_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:49pm CDT

The homilist was off last weekend. -- The Naaman incident gives us a picture of the evolution of the idea of God, who is supreme and not a "local god."  Naaman still requests two mule-loads of earth from Israel, so he can have a "local connection."

Direct download: KML_2019-10-13_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:47pm CDT

This was our "Mass in the Grass."  You may remember from last year that my homily was interrupted by a football game and the national anthem.  This year it didn't happen.  I did not say to the congregation, though I was sorely tempted to do so:  "Well, they didn't do civic religion, but they did have whistleblowers."

Direct download: KML_2019-09-29_1030am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:43pm CDT

Cats have nine lives.  People re-invent themselves.  But our God wills that we be simply a person, not a persona.

Direct download: KML_2019-09-22_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:40pm CDT

Note the calf in the Old Testament reading and the Gospel.

Direct download: KML_2019-09-15_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:29pm CDT

So here's what I did at 10:30.

Direct download: KML_2019-09-08_1030am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:28pm CDT

I've never done this before.  I am giving you two versions of my homily, focusing on planning, with a specific reference to planning at St. Jerome.  I left some things out of one, and I left other things out of the other.

Direct download: KML_2019-09-08_830am.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:26pm CDT

The Gospel is not a mere etiquette lesson.  It is an opening onto a fuller life.

Direct download: KML_2019-09-01_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:22pm CDT

We cannot stand on the sidelines.  There are no sidelines.

Direct download: KML_2019-08-25_1030am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:15pm CDT

Jesus is ironic when he speaks of "not peace, but the sword."

Direct download: KML_2019-08-18_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:01pm CDT

People are waiting for the return of the Master.  But will they recognize him?  Some thoughts on the vacuous, stupid idea called "white supremacy."

Direct download: KML_2019-08-11_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 8:27pm CDT

I registered displeasure with a lack of silence at the beginning of Mass, as we considered the honesty of Ecclesiastes.

Direct download: KML_2019-08-04_1030am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 8:25pm CDT

I am using "Amazing Parish" with my pastoral staff currently.  I am finding that ASKING is a big part of my pastoral leadership.  Jesus says, "Ask and you shall receive."

Direct download: KML_2019-07-28_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 8:21pm CDT

We consider hospitality and limits while contemplating Guatemala and poor Martha.

Direct download: KML_2019-07-21_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 8:17pm CDT

What is our treasure?  What is abundance?  We consider the empty-handed 72 disciples and our own volunteerism.

Direct download: KML_2019-07-07_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 8:14pm CDT

Freedom is the opportunity to choose a direction and a commitment.

Direct download: KML_2019-06-30_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 8:21pm CDT

On the God who gets things done.

Direct download: KML_2019-06-16_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 8:20pm CDT

There's no "problem" with Jesus' Ascension.  We must take seriously our incorporation as the Body of Christ, alive and animated.

Direct download: KML_2019-06-02_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 8:18pm CDT

"That all may be one" -- a truly mind-expanding aspiration.

Direct download: KML_2019-05-26_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 8:16pm CDT

Sorry -- I forgot to turn the recorder off until I had reached the intercessions.  Jean Vanier, who died May 7, is the embodiment of Jesus' command "Love one another."

Direct download: KML_2019-05-19_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 12:57pm CDT

While you're at it, be kind to yourself.

Direct download: KML_2019-05-05_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 12:54pm CDT

Just be kind.

Direct download: KML_2019-04-28_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 12:53pm CDT

We gather following coordinated Easter Sunday attacks on Catholic churches in Sri Lanka.

Direct download: KML_2019-04-21_800am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 11:24am CDT

We must consider the woman caught in adultery in light of the never-ending abuse of women -- and where is the man?

Direct download: KML_2019-04-07_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 11:22am CDT

We must remember that a fattened calf is far more palatable than a golden calf.

Direct download: KML_2019-03-31_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 11:17am CDT

Jesus addresses the issue of "theodicy," or the problem of evil and what God does about it.

Direct download: KML_2019-03-24_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 7:20pm CDT

"Let my people go!"  How did Moses find it possible to respond to that voice from a burning yet unconsumed bush?

Direct download: KML_2019-03-21_Moses.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 7:16pm CDT

Is life a pie or the sky?  (This is unrelated to the concept of "pie in the sky when you die," which we will have to treat at another time.)

Direct download: KML_2019-03-10_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 7:12pm CDT

Listen for Jesus' sly sense of humor as he proposes the image of a wooden beam in someone's eye.

Direct download: KML_2019-03-03_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 7:07pm CDT

Instead of a coughing fit, a brief summary of my homily.

Direct download: KML_2019-02-24_summary.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:44pm CDT

The people who know their poverty will always remain connected with their God, in accord with the tree whose roots have a reliable source of water.

Direct download: KML_2019-02-17_1030am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 6:43pm CDT

Can we find a hitherto unnoticed strength in ourselves?  Paul's reflection on love celebrates love as a strength!

Direct download: KML_2019-02-03_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 6:40pm CDT

A government shutdown is the opposite of the harmony described by Saint Paul in his description of the Christian community according to the "analogy of the body."

Direct download: KML_2019-01-27_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 6:38pm CDT

We want to know that we are "chosen" and "espoused."  Our God assures us that his love for us is of this quality.

Direct download: KML_2019-01-20_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 6:35pm CDT

Uncertainty about the identity of the Magi does not impede us from appreciating their role in "manifesting" the Savior to all nations.

Direct download: KML_2019-01-06_1030am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:05pm CDT

Families allow children to become themselves.  Pain is necessarily part of the process, even in the Holy Family.

Direct download: KML_2018-12-30_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 1:04pm CDT

An exploration of how secrets indicate a rich interior life.

Direct download: KML_2018-12-23_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 12:56pm CDT

Joy is not anesthesia.  Joy acknowledges the depth and complexity of human life, including grief and pain.

Direct download: KML_2018-12-16_830am.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 12:54pm CDT