Teaching & Preaching: Deacon Matt's homilies & podcasts Deacon Matthew Newsome

Two of my college students received the sacrament of Confirmation on the 6th Sunday of Easter. This homily was preached at that Mass and focuses on the importance of sacraments of initiation and the role of sacramental preparation and catechesis.

In this short gospel passage, Jesus uses the word “command” or “commandment” five times and the word “love” nine times. For most of us, these two things don’t go together. We have very different reactions when we hear those words. 

When someone starts talking about “commands” we tense up. We don’t like being told what to do. We think of commands as hard, rigid things that constrict our freedom, so we resist them. 

When we hear the word “love” we have the opposite reaction. The idea of love makes us feel warm and fuzzy. It is a comforting thought. Love is not rigid, like a command. It’s soft, like a hug. We love hearing about love. 

So these two things, love and commands, are not usually associated in our minds, yet Jesus seems to think they have quite a bit to do with one another. . .



Homily preached by Deacon Matthew Newsome at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church in Sylva, NC, on Sunday, May 5, 2024.

We should honestly ask ourselves, what is the principal thing that is giving direction to my life? Whatever that is, that is your shepherd. That is your god. And if it is anything other than God our Creator, who has revealed himself to us in Christ Jesus the Good Shepherd, you have to wonder where is that false shepherd leading you? And is that really where you want to go?


Homily preached on the 4th Sunday of Easter, April 21, 2024, at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church in Sylva, NC.

God cannot spare us from death without contradicting himself. Nor can he allow death to reign without also contradicting himself. It seems like a paradox. What is God to do?

Easter homily preached by Deacon Matthew Newsome at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, March 31, 2024.

Homily preached by Deacon Matthew Newsome at St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church in Sylva, NC, on Feb. 25, 2024.






To truly understand the Mass, to understand everything that God does for us in Christ, it is so important for us to know the story of salvation history, because this is our story. It’s a story told for us and about us — about God’s eternal love for us. As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” This is why the Church continues to offer us an Old Testament reading in addition to the gospel at Mass, to underscore the connection between the two. But just listening to the readings passively once a week is not sufficient. We need to study the text, to make the story our own, for it truly is the story of God’s undying love for us, a story written in history. It is the greatest, most beautiful, and the truest story ever told.

Life is a drudgery? Days without hope? “I shall not see happiness again?” What on earth, we might wonder, is this text doing in the Bible? The Bible, as we are told, is the word of God. The Church encourages us to look to it for inspiration. We open its pages when we feel hopeless, hoping to find hope! We turn to the scripture when we are unhappy for some sense of assurance and comfort. We don’t expect to find such lamentations as we do in the Book of Job.