Father John Hollowell

“Jesus saw that he answered with understanding”   I’d like to recommend this set of books on the 4 Gospels called “Catena Aurea” and is published by Baronius Press.  If you are going to buy it, don’t buy it from Amazon, go to baroniuspress.com The Pope at the time asked St. Thomas Aquinas to take each VERSE of the Gospels, and include the most relevant writings of the early Church Fathers on that verse, and so we see St. Thomas Aquinas pulling together quotes from St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, Venerable Beed and many others.   In preparation for the homily a couple of weeks ago, a lined jumped out at me that I did not end up preaching on.  The line was Jesus asking a man “why do you call me good?  No one is good but God alone.” Which is a line from Jesus that has always puzzled me. Why does Jesus seem to suggest He is not God? And so I was reading in the Catena Aurea and St. Augustine had a marvelous answer.  He said Jesus did not identify himself as God to this particular person because that par

Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 23rd and 24th of 2021   And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.  But he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me!”   Our world is telling Catholics to be silent.  In the United States, for now, Catholics are pressured through a mostly silent campaign to encourage self-censoring, and to discourage speaking the Truth in Love.   In other areas of the world, people are being martyred and tortured for their Catholic Faith and that is a much more literal instance of the world telling Catholics to be silent.   But we know that in some ways, the softer encouragement to self-censor is MORE effective than killing and torturing Catholics because when it gets down to martyrdom and torture, Catholics wake up and start to take their faith seriously.  Those who see fellow Catholics being killed for their Catholic Faith never forget that.   But when it is a soft, subtle campaign to make every Catholic self-censor, it is much easier to

Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, October 16 and 17, 2021   “Those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt.  But it shall not be so among you.  Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant.” The Apostles desire greatness and Jesus says the key is a willingness to serve. 10 days ago, our youth groups were reflecting on the virtue of Magnanimity, which just means a striving for a greatness of soul.  We watched a video put out by the Knights of Columbus on this virtue.  It talked about this very Gospel passage, and what it means to be a great leader: SERVICE You can strive to be the best janitor, the best husband the best wife, the best parent, the best student the best plumber you can be…wherever you find yourself you can strive for becoming great, and that will be attained in proportion to how well you serve those under you.  I find great value in getting down among the trenches with

We hear in our first reading today from the book of Wisdom: “I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.  I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her.” A lot of times, people reach out to me and asking what they should do in a specific situation.  And in so many of those instances I have to say “I don’t know.  You are the only one, in conversation with God, who will know what the best decision is.” The Catholic Church is thought of as telling everyone how to act in every situation, and that just is not the case.  Of course on every topic that seems to dominate our national conversation at the moment, the Church does have very black and white answers: it is never okay to kill a child in the womb, sexual activity is only proper in a marriage, marriage is only between one man and one woman, contraception is never justified, there are only 2 sexes, it is never good to look at pornography… and so the Church, in saying these eter

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, October 2nd-3rd   A Marriage Morning of Reflection We have reflected a lot on the centrality of Marriage to a civilization. Leo XIII, in his encyclical titled “On Socialism” states that the foundation of a society rests first of all in the indissoluble union of man and wife.  We can also see the centrality of marriage looking at the teaching of those who hate the notion of marriage and have made it their project to tear marriage apart. Kate Millet was the author of “Sexual Politics”, published in 1970.  There she decried the patriarchy of the monogamous nuclear family.  Her sister Mallory recounts attending a meeting with Kate Millet and her communist apparatchiks.   “We gathered at a large table as the chairperson opened the meeting with a back and forth recitation, like a litany, a type of prayer done in the Catholic Church.  But now it was Marxism, the Church of the Left, mimicking religious practice: “Why are we here today?” Kate asked.  “To make revolution” they an

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” Harsh words from our Lord today.  But the Gospels never relay Jesus telling a joke.  We need to take Him at His Word. There are 80 million Catholics in the United States.  A recent study found that 5% of the 80 million US Catholics 1) Come to Mass every weekend unless they are sick or caring for someone who is sick 2) And confess their sins at least once a year Apostasy is defined as an abandonment of one’s faith, and I can’t imagine an Apostasy getting much worse than this one.  Again, 95% of US Catholics are not practicing at the most fundamental level.  Saint Paul tells the Thessalonians there will be a great apostasy as a direct precursor to the coming of the Antichrist.  It is hard to imagine this apostasy getting any worse. The Catechism makes it clear “Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibi

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, September 18-19, 2021 “Where selfish ambition exists, there is disorder and every sort of foul practice”   Jesus, in today’s Gospel, is traveling with his Apostles and is trying to communicate that He will be put to death soon.  And what are they doing…arguing about who of them is the greatest.  That had to be gut-wrenching for Jesus.   After His resurrection, He appears to his Apostles, and they can’t believe it is really him and I am sure He was tempted to say “I told you on three different occasions, I laid it all out, but you were arguing about which of you was the greatest!”   Our 2nd reading today was written by one of those Apostles who was arguing about who is the greatest.  Let me repeat, our 2nd reading is written by one of the Apostles who was arguing about who was the greatest.  But now, in this post resurrection version of Saint James, he is able to warn “Where selfish ambition exists, there is disorder and every foul practice.”  He could have added on

Homily for September 4th/5th – Fear Not! “Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!”   Fear is thick in the air right now.  Fear about the coronavirus.  Fear about inflation.  Fear about Afghanistan.  Fear about potential lockdowns.  Fear at the grocery stores, fear at the schools, fear at Church and on and on. And God breaks into our day and says to us whose hearts are frightened: “BE STRONG, FEAR NOT!” “How could He possibly say that?” we might ask.  And it is here I’d like to give a brief medical update.  My tumor surgery went well but they had to leave about 20% of the tumor in there.  The type of tumor I have is considered curable with radiation and chemo, but the infection that I suffered from the first surgery delayed radiation and chemo for about 2 months, and so the radiation and chemo did not make much of a dent in the tumor at all.  And I have decided that if the tumor ever starts to grow back, I will let nature take its course.  It some ways I feel like chemo therapy on your

Homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, August 28th/29th, 2021   “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”  Saint John Chrysostom: “Do you want to honor Christ’s body? Then do not scorn him in his nakedness, nor honor him here in the church with silken garments while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked. Let us learn to honor Christ as he desires. For a person being honored finds greatest pleasure in the honor he desires, not in the honor we think best.  Give him the honor prescribed in his law by giving your riches to the poor. For God does not want golden vessels but golden hearts. Now, in saying this I am not forbidding you to make such gifts; I am only demanding that along with such gifts and before them you give alms.” Here I, Fr. Hollowell, want to clarify in case it isn’t clear what St. John is saying.  He is saying it is okay to fix up your chur

Homily for the 21st Sunday in ordinary time, Year B  In the early 2000’s when I was in the seminary, several seminarians and myself were big sports fans, and any time we learned a sports star or celebrity was Catholic, we would get especially excited.  “look it is one of us performing on a national stage.”  But 15 years later it doesn’t matter to me in the least.  Last week, as we learned that Simone Biles, a Catholic and the best gymnast in the history of the sport, came out in support of abortion, I wish I could say I was disappointed, but in all reality, I had stopped caring about Catholic celebrities 4 or 5 years ago, particularly now when America seems to be circling the drain. In our first reading we hear Joshua draw a line in the sand.  It has gotten to the breaking point where a decision needs to be made, and there are only 2 options “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve… As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” In almost the exact same way, our

A lot of non-Catholics ask where the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is in the Bible Here is the short answer – it is not in the Bible The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was declared in 1950 by an infallible (protected from error) statement of Pope Pius XII 71 years ago. What is papal infallibility?  It is the teaching, particularly laid down at the First Vatican council 150 years ago, that Pope’s have the ability to declare something infallibly (protected from error)  So where is the Pope’s ability to teach infallibly in the Bible – Here is the short answer – it is not in the Bible A papal teaching, even if it is declared without infallibility invoked (As all but the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary have been) still require submission of intellect and will, as Pope John Paul 2 made clear when he had inserted into Canon Law “While the assent of faith is not required, a religious submission of intellect and will is to be given to any doctrine which the Pope declares upon a matter of faith

An answer to our prayers!

The Israelites wandering in the desert - “ho hum, there’s the cloud coming down again”

Becoming a 3rd order Franciscan is a great way to counter the assault on Truth

Three years later: revisiting 2018

Prayer as resting in God, who holds all in being

Homily for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Joseph’s brothers recognize Joseph for the first time in 20 years

Homily for July 4th, 2021. 14th Sunday in ordinary time, Year B

If you are following along with us, these are the chapters for Monday, April 12th