St. John the Evangelist Church Podcast: Recent Episodes
St. John the Evangelist - Severna Park, MD
National Eucharistic Pilgrimage through St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park, Md., on June 10, 2026.
My Easter Homily: "Bust Your Brackets". . .Who made a bracket this March Madness? Whose bracket got busted? Who doesn’t know what I’m talking about?I’m talking about the NCAA college basketball tournament this year in Houston. Colleges across the country compete all-season long to earn a coveted spot in the sixty-four teams for a chance to win a national title. Each round, sixty-four turns into thirty-two, then onto the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight, the Final Four, and then the National Championship. This past Sunday and Monday night, respectively, LSU and Iowa women and San Diego State and UConn men battled for the national championship.Holy Week is the Original March Madness. Let me explain. On Sunday we celebrated Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry of Jesus into the Holy City of God—not Houston—but Jerusalem. Until this point, the regular season of his ministry, Jesus has been scoring victory after victory for the Kingdom of God, performing miracles and healings, expelling demons, teaching and forgiving sins, gathering a fanbase of followers.But Jesus comes from a backwater town (“what good can come from Nazareth?”). Jesus enters the tournament as a sixteen seed. He is poised to go up against the powerhouse dynasties of the day, the number one seeds: the Roman Empire and Pilate; the Chief Priests and Pharisees who have studied his every move; the Evil One, Satan, the Father of lies and temptation. When Holy Week in Jerusalem begins, Jesus has as much chance of winning as Farleigh Dickinson had winning over Purdue.Jesus keeps advancing in this tournament, but his fans and followers keep getting knocked off. They become intimidated and afraid and start changing their picks. The sixty-four turns into thirty-two, and the thirty-two turns into the “Sweet Twelve” Apostles.But when Jesus entered Jerusalem, he did so knowing he was all-in and going all the way. After celebrating the Passover, the Sweet Twelve exit the locker room for the Garden—Gethsemane—only to end up knocked-out one-by-one.Judas betrays him.Peter denies him.Gives the choice to release Barabbas or Jesus, the crowd picks Barabbas.The soldiers mock and jeer him.The tournament comes down to the finals: Jesus versus the Cross. Everything Jesus has said and done, all of his training and preparation up to this point have led him to this moment. The cross stands for all of the forces of sin and darkness raining down fury upon the love of God. Jesus, sweating drops of blood as his foes spit in his face and trash talk him. There is no foul, no retaliation on Jesus’ part.It is easy to imagine somebody else doing that to Jesus, whether it is the politician we scorn, the authority who neglects the poor and the victim, the atheist who rejects or ignores God, or the judgmental religious hypocrite who refuses to put his money where his mouth is. And in truth, it is all those people, but not because they are somebody else, but because at times each one is me.As time winds down, in this contest, it seems his winning streak has finally come to an end.Defeated.Dead.Buried.Game over for God.Maybe this is how you feel. This God and church stuff is a losing team, an empty show.But there is a reason we are still here telling this story. The Gospel I announce to you is that death’s victory is premature, then and now. When the crowds leave Golgotha, they have failed to notice there are still three seconds on God’s clock.Three, two, one.Betray him,deny him,mock him,ignore him,discount him,bench him,walk away from him,but this same truth keeps bouncing back, that whenever we pick against Jesus, God always finds a way to bust our brackets. Whenever we pick against Jesus, God always finds a way to bust our brackets.Because Christ is truly risen, Alleluia, Alleluia! The resurrection means that Jesus Christ has busted the brackets of death and cut down the nets of sin that time and time again we think will hold God down.And this is what I pass on to you today, this good news, that there is a victor and that man is Jesus, and his win is not only for himself but for you and me. His win is for every person who has been counted out and trampled on and beaten down, abused by sin and injustice, for every person who has tasted the blood, sweat, and tears of love and left it all on the floor of life’s arena.And this is what the Church is about, the only thing it’s really ever been about. Embracing the victory of the cross and the sacrifice it entails and building one team around Jesus even out of the dust of defeat.Last night at our Easter Vigil we baptized six new Christians. As a coach receives a Gatorade bath after winning a championship, baptism is the victory bath of the children of God. Though he won for us, we become sharers in divine glory.I pass this message along to you. The ball is in your court. To win or lose your life, we’ve all been given three seconds. It’s enough, if only you choose to give God a shot.
The hardest part of Advent is trusting and accepting Jesus as he is when he doesn't meet our expectations, especially when we are facing particularly painful struggles. My children's homily for the Third Sunday of Advent with a message for adults at the end.
Homily for Ascension- "Together We Rise" . . . .
There is a sign on the front of Robb Elementary School, “Together we rise.” Ordinary, uplifting, students and teachers must have passed by it hundreds of times coming in and out of school. This week it stands for the Ascension. Ascension means “together we rise.”
In completion of his mission, the gospels witness how Jesus travelled up to Jerusalem where he was lifted up on a cross before he was raised up from the dead. He raises his hands and blesses the Apostles, before he is lifted up to the heavenly sanctuary, the altar on high at the right hand of God. As any Jewish listener of the day would understand, to be “lifted up” was the language of making an offering to God.
The Gospel and our reading from the Letter to the Hebrews presents the Ascension as a new covenant liturgy of the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the once yearly ritual purification of the Temple and the People of Israel from sin. As prescribed in the Book of Leviticus, first, Israel’s High Priest would offer an animal sacrifice before all the People gathered outside of the temple. Next, the high priest would ascend the temple steps in a cloud of incense, enter the temple, and pass through a curtain veil into the Holy of Holies, the inner room, to sprinkle the sacrificial blood onto what’s called the “mercy seat” in atonement for their sins. Finally, the priest would return once more to the People greeted with shouts of joy announcing forgiveness.
The Paschal mystery, Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, form one continuous liturgy of forgiveness and reconciliation, where Jesus serves as both the sacrifice and the great high priest. At the Cross, Christ offers himself as the sacrificial offering. Risen from the dead, Christ the eternal High Priest blesses the apostles and is taken up in a cloud, ascending into a temple not made by hands, but a sanctuary in heaven to present the sacrificial offering to God, his own blood shed for our sins. Finally, we hear that he will return, come down to us announcing his time of salvation and judgment.
The Ascension reveals what a true act of worship looks like, in a word, true sacrifice. True worship is not an argument over traditional or contemporary hymns, English or Latin prayers. True worship is measure by the quality of the sacrifice we offer of ourselves. In the heavenly sanctuary, Christ intercedes for us not by offering his “thoughts and prayers,” but his own self, body and spirit. This kind of worship has the power to transform every aspect of our lives. Together we rise. That is what the Ascension is all about.
True worship of God is lifting up our hearts, our selves, as a sacrificial offering to God as an act of participation in Christ’s eternal offering of himself before the Father in heaven in atonement for our sins and of the whole world. The remedy to gun violence will take true sacrifice, sacrificial love. Until then, until our worship rises to the challenge before us, we will be left with only a copy of the real thing. Fake, phony worship looks like the lives of children sacrificed on that altar of the right to own a semi-automatic assault rifle.
Whenever an organization or individual uses the “existence of evil” as an argument in favor of arming more teachers, pastors, or asserts gun control makes one “less free,” I feel as if I am reading a page out of The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis). What else could Satan’s solution to gun violence be than more guns?
Jesus “did not carry a gun. He carried a cross” (Claiborne/Martin, “Beating Guns”). In this way only did Christ disarm the power of evil and sin. If more guns means more peace, more freedom, then Caesar was right, and Christ died for nothing. The Cross was the single greatest gun-buyback program in history.
The Ascension is the beginning of the Church on mission. The disciples may have been left looking up to heaven, but they soon got to work here on earth. And so, along with our hearts, let’s lift up our minds and voices.
To offer our thoughts and prayers only counts if by that we mean we offer hope and solutions. Let’s lift up our brains to the task at hand. We have the spiritual, material, and theological resources to make a difference; we just have to want to.
“For many years, the USCCB has supported a number of reasonable measures to address the problem of gun violence. These include:
• A total ban on assault weapons, which the USCCB supported when the ban passed in 1994 and when Congress failed to renew it in 2004. [If you own an assault weapon, turn it in to a buyback program. If assault weapons are your hobby, find a new hobby.] • Measures that control the sale and use of firearms, such as universal background checks for all gun purchases; • Limitations on civilian access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines; • A federal law to criminalize gun trafficking • Improved access to and increased resources for mental health care and earlier interventions • Regulations and limitations on the purchasing of handguns; • Measures that make guns safer, such as locks that prevent children and anyone other than the owner from using the gun without permission and supervision; and • An honest assessment of the toll of violent images and experiences which inundate people, particularly our youth.
These are statistically-proven policies that have stopped gun deaths in other countries. I would add, and this is just me, let’s make a grade “F” rating from the N.R.A. the standard for the Catholic vote. Do not support politicians who receive endorsements from the NRA or money from their Political Victory Fund. Those politicians aren't on the ballot? Lift them up. Let’s decide to raise them.
We cannot lift our hands in worship unless and until we first put down our weapons. Lift up your heart. Lift up your voice. Lift up your hands. Let us offer to God, the almighty Father, a true, acceptable, and living sacrifice. Together we rise.
We are constantly told that more options equals more happiness. But study after study shows that the opposite is actually true. The more options we have in life, the more anxiety, exhaustion, fear, and regret we experience. In the face of a multitude of options the world puts before us, the Lord offers us a way out: an incredibly simple, freeing command that brings us to the heart of why we exist: love one another. From the simple command in today's Gospel flows three rules for living a genuinely happier, purpose-filled, and peaceful life.
My homily (video) for the 5th Sunday of Easter --> https://boxcast.tv/.../tak2c89ti33yd.../wudsrm8d6blclfdknfwd
"This Is My Friend" - Robert Hugh Benson cited in his work The Friendship of Christ, 1912 (Oak & Linden Classics 2020)
THIS IS MY FRIEND
Let me tell you how I made His acquaintance.
I had heard much of Him, but took no heed.
He sent daily gifts and presents, but I never thanked Him.
He often seemed to want my friendship, but I remained cold.
I was homeless, and wretched, and starving and in peril every hour; and He offered me shelter and comfort and food and safety; but I was ungrateful still.
At last He crossed my path and with tears in His eyes He besought me saying, Come and abide with me.
Let me tell you how he treats me now.
He supplies all my wants.
He gives me more than I dare ask.
He anticipates my every need.
He begs me to ask for more.
He never reminds me of my past ingratitude.
He never rebukes me for my past follies.
Let me tell you further what I think of Him.
He is as good as He is great.
His love is as ardent as it is true.
He is as lavish of His promises as He is faithful in keeping them.
He is as jealous of my love as He is deserving of it.
I am in all things His debtor, but He bids me call Him Friend.
Confirmation Mass St. John the Evangelist Church March 26, 2022
Most Reverend Adam J. Parker Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore
We had the blessing of praying with our pastoral year seminarian, John Bilenki, Sunday, March 27 at the 9a.m. Mass as Archbishop Lori received John’s Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity. The solemn Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity is an important and necessary step prior to the ordination to the Diaconate. By signing these oaths before God, our Archbishop, and the parish community, John is making a public declaration of his faith and belief in all that the Catholic Church teaches. John promises to be faithful to that teaching in his ministry as a deacon. It is a great blessing to witness this and share in it this Sunday. We are grateful to Archbishop Lori for blessing us with his presence this Sunday at the 9a.m. Mass!
"Healthy Things Grow." Fr. Erik Arnold's homily for the Third Sunday in Lent, March 20, 2022.
There's a beautiful backstory to Advent, the story of God's good work in you. It's his work of love. He started it. He remembers it. He will complete it. Everything we do is a response to that good work. And that changes everything.