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Each of us has a cross to carry. We must all identify our crosses and carry them with patience, joy and love. Why complain about something which is our means to gain eternal life?

Each year on the First Sunday of Lent, we consider the first Lent when Jesus was in the desert for 40 days, where he was tempted by Satan. The spiritual life will always be an intense interior battle between good and evil. In today's homily, Father James explains to us the nature of temptation and how to be faithful when temptation comes our way.

What is it that keeps many people from returning to the Sacrament of Confession? In an inspirational Ash Wednesday homily, Father James directs our attention to the gift of the Sacrament of Confession and what it does for our soul.

Surprisingly, Jesus did not come into this world to take away our suffering. Instead, he came to it meaning. In another inspirational homily, Father James urges us to embrace our suffering, rather than complain about it.

Father James continues to explain the fundamentals of Christianity.

In a dynamic and passionate homily, Father James explains what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

The Magi receive the gift of faith because they were open. Their search for the transcendent and for meaning was like the journey of Augustine who famously wrote: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in You, O Lord." The secularism of our contemporary society locks man up into the here, the now and the superficial. Sunday breakfast and football become the priority of Sunday, rather than the worship of the God who came to save us.

On the Feast of the Holy Family, Father James explores the nature of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony and practical ways to keep your family together.

It is precisely in difficult and challenging times that we must look to the witnesses of faith. Mary is the greatest of them all.

Joy is a great gift, not a momentary condition. It is cleaning the Venetian blinds while listening to an aria, or spending a pleasant hour organizing your closet. Joy is your family assembled at dinner. It is in the present, not in the distant promise of a "someday when..." How much luckier we are -- and how much more joy we experience -- if we can fall in love with the life we're living.

John the Baptist is a difficult figure of the Bible to relate to, but he is very important for the times that we live in. He challenges us to be real disciples of Jesus. In another inspirational Sunday homily, Father James offers us practical ways to prepare well for Christmas.

In this Sunday’s gospel passage, Jesus tells us exactly what we need to do to enter into the glory of heaven: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit those who are in prison. Christianity is very practical and it is to be lived within the ordinary circumstances of every day life.

The Catholic liturgical year is coming to an end, so the Church, through the liturgy, contemplates the end. Someday, as yet unknown to us, this life will come to an end and God will judge us according to our deeds. Father James, in another inspirational homily, challenges us to use our talents and not to bury them.

Today is All Souls Day. It is a profound act of love to pray for the dead. Let us remember that Purgatory does exist. Our yearly consideration of death, judgment, heaven, purgatory and hell should inspire us to conversion and spiritual progress.

The Sabbath is the Lord's Day. By the living the Sabbath the way we should, we show God that we love him above all things. To live the Sabbath the way we should means that we must live out the Sabbath counter-culturally. This means that we are the new radicals, the new revolutionaries. We need to live our Catholic Faith filled with joy, and live it in a culture that is no longer a Christian culture.

In another inspirational homily, Father James explains the words of Jesus from this Sunday's Gospel passage: “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God," and how these words of Jesus apply to today's hot button issues.

This past Monday, the United States Supreme Court decided to reject appeals from five states that sought to prohibit same-sex marriage. Father James provides a clear look at the issue according to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Clear Catholic teaching on marriage is urgently needed so that the levels of confusion do not reach apocalyptical proportions. If we destroy marriage, we destroy the family. If we destroy the family, we destroy the world.

What's it going to be? Yes or no? Fidelity or lip service? The real deal or the usual mediocre, zombie approach? You decide.

Father James, commenting on this Sunday's Gospel, points out three practical applications for our daily lives: 1) the compassion of God; 2) the need to cultivate our spiritual life because getting to heaven is not a guaranteed reality; and 3) the universal call to holiness and the lay apostolate.