November 23 2025. Feast of Christ the King

GOSPEL: Luke 23:35-43

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Luke 23:35-43

The rulers sneered at Jesus and said,
"He saved others, let him save himself
if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God."
Even the soldiers jeered at him.
As they approached to offer him wine they called out,
"If you are King of the Jews, save yourself."
Above him there was an inscription that read,
"This is the King of the Jews."
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying,
"Are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us."
The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply,
"Have you no fear of God,
for you are subject to the same condemnation?
And indeed, we have been condemned justly,
for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes,
but this man has done nothing criminal."
Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

 

1. Everyone is insulting Christ because he does not save himself. But Christ does not think of himself because he only seeks to save us.

The Feast of Christ the King, final Sunday of the year. By means of this feast, the Church recapitulates the entire liturgical year and we bow before the only true king. Many kings surround us, many powers rule over us and seek to orient us towards things that are not compatible with the only true King. We are presented with Jesus crucified and we hear the many voices who insult him and tell him to save himself – the one thing that he does not do. A king, by definition, has power and ought to be able to do as he pleases. But here, on the cross, power is understood in a different way. If Jesus had concentrated on saving himself, then he would not have saved us. Here we recognize the generosity of the only Son who does not act for himself but gives his life for our benefit.

 

2. The thief recognizes his poverty and sees that Jesus truly has a Kingdom, one that is not of this world and goes beyond death. We too need to recognize our poverty and confess Jesus as our only Lord.

A king, in fact, can be distinguished by the gifts that he bestows. Jesus might appear like a failure on the cross, but he bestows the immense gift of paradise upon the thief hanging beside him. This criminal may have done bad things but he recognizes that Jesus has dominion, that he has a kingdom. How did this thief recognize in Jesus, rejected and insulted, the ruler of a kingdom that went beyond death? This is the point. In order to be saved, the crucial thing is not what we do but that we recognize that Jesus is Lord. It is not so much the good that we do but the fact that we recognize that he is the source of all good. The good thief recognizes his own poverty and that he deserves to die. He does not ask Christ to remove his suffering but to carry him to paradise. All of us are poor, all of us have made many mistakes and are in need of salvation. But he does not ask that his misery be taken away, only that he be taken to his ultimate goal, heaven. In this time of Advent, we turn our eyes to the ultimate end of everything.

 

3. The extreme misery of the cross might seem to manifest the impotence of Christ, but in fact it does the opposite. In this extreme situation, Jesus reveals himself as love, as humble obedience and submission to the Father. He reveals a Kingdom that is not of this world.

This Sunday we celebrate our King, the one who is generous and gives his life for us. We do not follow authorities who seek to dominate and manipulate us, but the One who has offered himself for us. On the cross we see the attitude of the Son of God, who empties himself for us even onto an ignominious death. The true nobility of the Son of God is manifested in the testing crucible of the cross, when all limits have been surpassed. It is in this extreme situation that the nature of the Son is revealed, the One who loves and who entrusts himself to the Father, consigning his spirit to God. Let us celebrate the only King who deserves our obedience, the only power before whom we should bow. Let us not bow to others who seek to exploit us. Let us bow to the one who loves us to the end, the only Lord who is capable of bestowing salvation.

 

Alternative homily

For the Feast of Christ the King, the Church presents us with the account of Jesus hanging on the cross. This prompts us to ask: what kind of king can this be, nailed to a piece of wood? The people in the Gospel scene are asking the same question in different ways! First of all the religious leaders demand that he save himself. Religion seeks a Messiah, seeks salvation, but the kind of salvation they are looking for here is an earthly kind of salvation: health, wellbeing, worldly success. Then the soldiers assail Jesus. They are looking for a king with political power. They want him to show his power by coming down off the cross. Then the “bad” thief begins to insult Jesus. He wants a Christ who will bring an end to his suffering. He represents all of suffering humanity who cannot understand the absence of God and cries out for assistance here and now. It is essential to note that Jesus does not reply to any of these. Finally the “good” thief turns to Jesus. He admits his guilt and acknowledges Jesus as a king, asking to be remembered when the Lord would come into his kingdom. Unlike all the others, he does not ask to be taken down off the cross! Now, finally, Jesus replies! “This day you will be with me in Paradise”. The good thief entered into a relationship with Jesus. So long as we are with Jesus we are in paradise. Now we see the power of Christ! Now we experience true salvation! We are saved when we enter into relationship with Jesus and remain with him. That is paradise.

“In the Stars the Glory of His Eyes – Tales from an Irish Tour Guide in Rome”

FROM IGNATIUS PRESS

Tales of unexpected blessings, hilarious true stories, unique perspectives on the lives of the saints. An original, entertaining and orthodox presentation of the Catholic faith. You won’t be able to put it down!

"Captivating."

— Elizabeth Lev, Professor of Art History, Rome.

“Entertaining.”

— Cardinal Seán Brady, Ireland.

"I laughed out loud many times, and told the stories to others who laughed just as hard."

— Sally Read, Author.

"Enchanting."

— Bishop Brendan Leahy, Diocese of Limerick.

"Unique and insightful."

— Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly, Cashel and Emly.

November 16th 2025. Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 21:5-19
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

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GOSPEL: Luke 21:5-19
When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, Jesus said, ‘All these things you are staring at now-the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another: everything will be destroyed’. And they put to him this question: ‘Master,’ they said ‘when will this happen, then, and what sign will there be that this is about to take place?’
‘Take care not to be deceived,’ he said ‘because many will come using my name and saying, “I am he” and, “The time is near at hand”. Refuse to join them. And when you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened, for this is something that must happen but the end is not so soon.’ Then he said to them, ‘Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and plagues and famines here and there; there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.
‘But before all this happens, men will seize you and persecute you; they will hand you over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and bring you before kings and governors because of my name – and that will be your opportunity to bear witness. Keep this carefully in mind: you are not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death. You will be hated by all men on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.’
The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

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SUMMARY OF HOMILY
Sunday’s Gospel highlights the fact that the things of this earth are not eternal. In response to our anxiety about the finitude of this world, many false messiahs will come, Jesus tells us in this passage. People seek out the false messiahs of pleasure, possessions, entertainment, health, wellbeing, big ambitious projects. All of these things are efforts to exorcize our feelings of emptiness. The advice that the Lord gives us in this Gospel is not to follow any of these false solutions. These solutions make things in this world into absolutes, but such earthly things can never be ultimate. Then Jesus tells us that we must expect to be rejected by others in this world. If everyone thinks well of me and applauds me, then it is clear that I am no prophet! If we are open and honest about the emptiness and vainglory of this world, then we can expect the world to reject us! We must expect tribulation in the world because our priorities lie elsewhere. Where does a Christian normally manifest his Christianity? Upon the cross. True generosity is demonstrated in the midst of famine. Peacefulness is manifested best when a person is subjected to violence. Peacefulness at times of peace may be nothing more than wellbeing. Difficult situations are opportunities for great and sincere witness. At the end of the passage, Jesus tells us that we must not prepare our defence when we are handed over for persecution because he himself will give us his eloquence and wisdom. What is the point here? The point is that it is in our relationship with Jesus that things find their joy, meaning, peace. It is in relationship with Jesus that things go beyond tribulation, and endure beyond death, This world ends, and may bring about our end in a violent way, but if we are in the hands of God then we attain true freedom from these things that are passing.

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1. Everything in this world will come to an end. Our ultimate destination is beyond these earthly things.
“Be careful not to be deceived”, says Jesus to his disciples, while he announces that history is heading towards a dramatic climax. In fact, we can be misled when we hear that "the time will come when not a stone will be left on a stone". The first misunderstanding is to think that this concerns only the moment of the end of the world. Not so: everything we see will come to an end. All things must end, and this is not some kind of injustice: rather it is to be expected given what we know of the world and of salvation. Our final destination is not in this world, it is not something that is based on our hypotheses, our idolatries; our goal is ahead.

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2. All the tribulations we experience can become the road to salvation if we remain with Christ
But it is easy for us to be deceived about the end things. Jesus says: "When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, because these things must happen first, but it is not the end immediately." And when is the end, if it is not in the revolutions and great events of the world? That is not the issue. "By your perseverance you will save your life." Salvation, this is the goal. And human history is the story of salvation. Whatever happens - earthquakes, famines, pestilences, persecutions and betrayals – they are never what they seem. If we remain on the side of Christ, these events are nothing more than the prelude to one of his works. They become, by faith, the road to salvation.

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3. We were not born for comfort or pleasure, but for love, and love involves sacrifice and the cross. That is why tribulations are necessary if we are to live the life of love.
Of course, it is natural to be perplexed and it is completely normal to ask oneself: but why must this be the way? Why is it necessary to go through these tribulations? If we were born for comfort, for fulfilment, for the pleasure of understanding everything and possessing everything we desire, all these discourses would be absurd. But we are born for love, and that is another thing altogether. The cross of Christ is not an accident along the way, but the true face of God. In order for God to reveal himself as a Father of mercy, His blessed Son had to show the nature of their mercy and reveal himself as our Lord, suffering for love in his own body all the evil that man can produce. But this was not the end. It was the road to Heaven. Don Tonino Bello said that the cross is only a temporary location. The end of things, from Christ onwards, is not pain. The tribulation of the world is, to be precise, a labour pain, a giving birth.

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4. We seek salvation without pain, but we cannot grow without the growing pains; we cannot give birth without the pains of labour. If I seek God without the cross then I risk finding a cross without God.
We often deceive ourselves by seeking a salvation that involves no pain, but there is no birth without blood. There is no new life without the loss of the old one. "Many in fact will come in my name saying, ‘It is I’, or ‘The time is near’. Don't follow them!" The comfortable messianic promises are all traps. A young person does not become an adult without going through a purification, a marriage does not become authentic without going through tribulation, a friendship does not become real without forgiveness. It takes these things to recognize what is valid and what can be trusted. If I seek God without the cross then I run the risk finding a cross without God. This Gospel passage leads us to authentic life, a life that is beautiful precisely because it is not simple, a life that is nourished by authentic challenges. This life experiences salvation over and over again, between consolations and tribulations. This Gospel is preparing us for the time of Advent that is coming. And how does the Lord come? He comes with the style of nobility, love and self-giving, not according to what is convenient or comfortable or trivial.

“In the Stars the Glory of His Eyes – Tales from an Irish Tour Guide in Rome”

FROM IGNATIUS PRESS

Tales of unexpected blessings, hilarious true stories, unique perspectives on the lives of the saints. An original, entertaining and orthodox presentation of the Catholic faith. You won’t be able to put it down!

"Captivating."

— Elizabeth Lev, Professor of Art History, Rome.

“Entertaining.”

— Cardinal Seán Brady, 

Ireland.

November 9th 2014. THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF ST JOHN LATERAN

Gospel: John 2:13-22

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

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GOSPEL:                                  John 2:13-22

Just before the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market’. Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up’. The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

 

SUMMARY

This Sunday we celebrate the dedication of St John Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome. The cathedra represents the teaching authority of the bishop, and the Bishop of Rome presides over all the Catholic Church. It is important that each of us play our particular role in the ecclesial body that is the Church. The first reading speaks of a fountain of water that comes out of the Temple and gives life to the entire world, animals, plants and fish. We, as the Church, are also called to give life to the world. The feast this week highlights the unique position of the Cathedral of Rome at the heart of the Church, and the readings focus very appropriately on the zeal of Jesus to purify the Church. Whatever our role may be, the Church will not function well as a stream of life-giving water for the world unless the water that issues from her is clean. Jesus drives the money changers and sellers out of the Temple because the house of God must not be compromised with worldly things. There is always a temptation to make mundane things central and to marginalize the sacred things that ought to be our absolute priority! We also are temples of God. We must allow Jesus to enter our hearts and purify us so that we will becomes springs of water for the world. The money changers and sellers that exist in our hearts, the constant tendencies to make worldly things central, these must be driven out of us by Jesus. We must be constantly purified so that we become worthy temples of the Holy Spirit, carrying life-giving water to the world.

 

The cathedra represents the teaching mission of the bishop of the diocese

This Sunday we celebrate the dedication of a church, the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of Rome. St Peter’s might appear to be more important, but the cathedral of a diocese is the place of the cathedra or seat of the bishop of the diocese. When the bishop sits in his chair, this act symbolizes his fundamental teaching role. In the apse of St John Lateran there is a marble chair on which no one else can sit except the Holy Father, the Bishop of Rome. A chair can symbolize the office of master or judge, and in the case of the cathedra of every diocese, it symbolizes the magisterium or teaching authority of the bishop. A bishop, of course, doesn’t just exercise his magisterium whilst sitting on that chair. He does so wherever he goes and in various different ways.

 

Every part of a body has is particular role, and the role of the Bishop of Rome is to preside in charity over the rest of the body

The Church is not an abstract entity but the communion of all the faithful, the body of Christ. The parts of a body have different functions, but they all operate together for the good of a single person. There is also the role of government. If the body is not united under a single decision making component - the mind - and if the various parts do not operate according to their particular design, then problems result. A cell that does not develop in the way that respects its role in the overall plan is called cancerous. The role of the bishop is the teaching of the faith, and he is assisted in this by priests. It is important that there be unity in the teaching of the faith. The Church of Rome presides in charity over the magisterium of the Church. The Catholic Church recognizes in the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, this special and unique role as successor of Peter.

 

The Church is a fountain of water that gives life to the world, but the waters must be purified.

With all of this we are already very familiar. The dedication of the Lateran Basilica, insofar as it is the dedication of the cathedra of the Bishop of Rome, the bishop who presides over the entire Catholic Church, involves the consecration of a physical place. Through these concrete objects - this Chair, this basilica - we grow in awareness of who we are ourselves. The Church is a temple that is purified by Jesus. The first reading speaks of a stream that issues from the Temple. It becomes a marvellous river giving life to all of creation, animals, plants and fish. In the same way, the Church gives life to the world. At the heart of the Church, the body of Christ, is the assembly of the people of God, a concrete entity that gives life to others. It is not a self-sufficient entity that exists for its own sake. It is something, rather, from which abundant waters flow for the benefit of the entire world. But in order for abundant waters to flow, it is essential that the Church be built upon a pure source. A stream can be polluted in the valley or in the mountains through which it flows. For this reason Jesus goes to the heart of the Temple to purify it.

 

There is a constant temptation to make the temple impure by allowing worldly things to take pride of place

The Temple of the Old Testament is symbolic of the Church, and it is also symbolic of every individual Christian. The Temple is the holy place of God, where God speaks to his people and where people make contact with God. In this place sacrifices and liturgies made heaven and earth touch each other. The transformation of the Temple into a market place represented an abuse of sacred things. The money changers and the sellers of doves were not completely alien to the place, but they were an abuse of the necessities of the cult. The maintenance of the Temple as a place worthy of the cult required the offering of a very particular coin. The Jews that came from various parts of the world to worship in Jerusalem had need of the money changers in order to be able to offer that coin, but the problem was that this secondary kind of activity had taken central place. There is a constant temptation with the sacred to allow secondary things to dominate our attention. That which should be at the heart of our worship becomes a servant of these secondary things. The purification of the Temple is Jesus’ priority. In the Gospel we are told that he is filled with zeal for his Father’s house.

 

This Sunday let us renew our commitment to drive the money changers and sellers from our hearts, to cease to make worldly things our priority, to allow ourselves to become pure temples of the Spirit, places where the loving paternity of God is contemplated constantly,

We, as an ecclesial community and as individuals, as temples of the Spirit of God, have need of order and purification. We are not purified once and for all. We exist in a perpetual state of being purified. Our houses don’t get cleaned just once a year, they are in need of regular cleaning. Our bodies need constant cleaning and care, and in the same way our souls need constant care. Our souls must cease to be a market place, where our overriding preoccupation is with acquisition, gain, the satisfaction of what we can attain. We must allow our souls to be transformed by Jesus into the house of the Father, the place where we cultivate always the memory of the loving paternity of God. This Sunday presents a wonderful opportunity to restore our discipline, to tenaciously focus only on that which is necessary so that the fountain within us becomes pure and clean

“In the Stars the Glory of His Eyes – Tales from an Irish Tour Guide in Rome”

FROM IGNATIUS PRESS

Tales of unexpected blessings, hilarious true stories, unique perspectives on the lives of the saints. An original, entertaining and orthodox presentation of the Catholic faith. You won’t be able to put it down!

"Captivating."

— Elizabeth Lev, Professor of Art History, Rome.

“Entertaining.”

— Cardinal Seán Brady, 

Ireland.