Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, Springfield in Illinois   For a Doctrinal Homily Outline for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, please click here. Central idea: Christ is the good shepherd. Doctrine: Responsibilities of a good shepherd. Practical application: Supporting one’s bishop. Here is an excerpt worth thinking about: A very important virtue every one of us needs—especially those in authority—is humility. A humble person can accept, when given adequate evidence, that he has been wrong about something. A humble person can then adopt the truth, which he now sees. A humble perso ..read more

The Resurrected Christ by Francesco Buoneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio For two Doctrinal Homily Outlines for the Third Sunday of Easter, please click here and then scroll down. A very interesting doctrine one of the outlines focuses on is that Christ is the key to interpreting all Scripture. After Christ rose from the dead, he gave his disciples a job to do. It was a task that we might easily overlook. Overshadowing it was their Great Commission to evangelize all nations. But this special project he assigned them was to “reread,” so-to-speak, salvation history. He gave them the key to unders ..read more

For two Doctrinal Homily Outlines for the Second Sunday of Easter, click here and then scroll down. Here is a brief excerpt of some doctrinal points drawn from the second reading (1 Jn 5:1-6) Children of God love not only God but also God’s other children. How do we love God and his children? By keeping God’s commandments. These commandments are not mysterious. They are embodied in the natural moral law that can known using reason. They are embodied in the privileged expression of the natural law, which is the Ten Commandments. They are embodied in the two great commandments: To love God abo ..read more

A computer-generated three dimensional image of the Shroud of Turin For links to homiletic outlines for the various Easter Lectionary readings for the various Easter Masses, click here and then scroll down. For a quick read, here are some doctrinal points about Christ’s Resurrection and how it affects us. In the Creed we recite, “I believe . . . he rose again on the third day” and “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” What was resurrected on the third day? Jesus’ body. Death is a separation of the body from the soul. Jesus’ human soul remained united to the divinity of Christ. The Son ..read more

Albrecht Dürer’s “Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem For a Doctrinal Homily Outline for Palm Sunday, click here. Here are some points in regard to the Gospel reading, which is Mark’s account of the Passion. The Gospel reading ends before the Redemption is complete, before Christ rises from the dead. Christ did all he did out of love for us. Christ first left behind for us the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. Then he underwent the full human drama Mark recounts which fulfilled the predictions of the Old Testament. Without being facetious, we can say it is no fun to be a prophet and even less to ful ..read more

Adam Elsheimer, ‘Glorification of the Cross’, ca. 1600 Here is a link to a full doctrinal homily outline for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year B. The central idea I discerned is loving life by hating it. The doctrinal focus is the virtue of temperance or selfless self-preservation. A practical application is a personal encounter with Christ. Here is a brief excerpt: Our Lord always was perfect, both perfect God and perfect man. However, he had a work to accomplish, and this work was completed when he remained perfectly obedient to the Father by suffering everything his Passion called for. We can ..read more

“Noah and the Rainbow” (13) by Marc Chagall (1966) Here is a link to a Doctrinal Homily Outline for the First Sunday of Lent for Year B. The Gospel is Mark’s summary of Jesus’ experience in the desert and the beginning of His public ministry. The first reading recounts the Covenant God established with Noah and his descendants after the Flood. The second reading from 1 Peter connects that Deluge with the Sacrament of Baptism. Doctrinally, the outline focuses on concupiscence, the ‘birth defect’ we are born with as a consequence of original sin. Concupiscence is inordinate desire, our inclinat ..read more

For a Doctrinal Homily Outline for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, click here. Its focus is on the natural virtue of optimism and the theological virtue of hope. A final book or author I have found especially helpful is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. As a writer about Catholic things, the Catechism is a go-to source for almost everything. As you probably know, the 2865 points of the Catechism are divided into four major parts: I. The Profession of Faith (organized around the Creed) II. The Celebration of the Christian Mystery (organized around the Liturgy and the Seven Sacraments) I ..read more

Raissa and Jacques Maritain, a husband and wife philosophical duo. For a Doctrinal Homily Outline for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, click here. Its focus is on the vocation to marriage and its defense. Another book that has done me a lot of good is hardly a book at all. It is hard bound (like a book should be) but only 46 pages long. It is a printing of the Aquinas Lecture of 1942 called “St. Thomas and the Problem of Evil” by the great lay Thomistic philosopher Jacques Maritain. The problem of evil is captured in the question, “Why does the good God create a world in which natural and m ..read more

Josef Pieper For four Doctrinal Homily Outlines for the Epiphany, please click here and then scroll down. Another book that has been a big help to me Josef Pieper, a married layman, was a German philosopher who worked in the tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas. His dates are 1904 to 1997. He is famous for a slim treatise called, in English, Leisure as the Basis of Culture and the book-length The Four Cardinal Virtues. Over the course of decades, he also wrote one book each on the theological virtues. These have been collected in an English edition, called Faith, Hope, Love. His book on love was a ..read more