Aura of Gold
Written after the death of the author’s closest friend: on grief and the theories that try to map it, and on the companion whose listening made a hopeful life possible again.
A guest series
Homilies by Stephen A. Privett, S.J.
Stephen “Steve” Privett, S.J., is a Jesuit priest and president emeritus of the University of San Francisco — and a friend of our founder, Sonny Manuel, S.J., for more than fifty years. His homilies circulate among friends by email each week; we gather them here, newest first.
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time · August 23, 2026
We Are the Keys
Shebna loses the key of the House of David; Peter is handed the keys of the kingdom. A homily on who holds the keys — and on becoming them: flawed and afraid, but faithful anyway.
Mass of the Holy Spirit, St. Mary’s Academy · August 11, 2026
Persist in Love
For the young women of St. Mary’s Academy at their opening Mass of the Holy Spirit — on the voice already inside each of us, and the one assignment that matters more than any other this school year.
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time · June 14, 2026
Closer Than You Think
Jesus’ compassion was not pity at a distance — his gut turned. A homily on presence, on listening, and on the lost sheep who are nearer than we think.
Corpus Christi · June 7, 2026
Become What You Receive
Every dinner invitation risks refusal. A homily on the Eucharist as God’s own invitation — come, sit, eat with me — and on the communion we are asked to become.
Pentecost · May 24, 2026
Already on Fire
No wind, no flames, no rattling windows — a Pentecost homily on noticing the Spirit already at work in the most unremarkable-looking people we know.
Fifth Sunday of Easter · May 3, 2026
We Know the Way
“Lord, we don’t know where we’re going.” A homily for everyone standing at a crossroads — on the Way that is not a map, but a manner of walking.
Fifth Sunday of Lent · March 22, 2026
Out of Our Tombs
On the raising of Lazarus: a God who does not explain suffering away but weeps — and whose call out of the tomb is addressed to the living as much as to the dead.
Third Sunday of Lent · March 8, 2026
The Well
The Samaritan woman comes to the well at noon to avoid being seen — and leaves proclaiming. A homily on Dorothy Day, on emptiness, and on the places where God fills the heart again.
Second Sunday of Lent · March 1, 2026
Down the Mountain
On the Transfiguration — why faith is not about staying where we feel good, and why the mountaintop’s real gift is the word that holds in the lowlands: you are my beloved.
Ash Wednesday · February 18, 2026
Who Is Our Neighbor?
An Ash Wednesday homily for a nation in the midst of mass deportations: Lent as the season to ask whether we shape our politics by the Gospel, or distort the Gospel to fit our politics.
Second Sunday of Advent · December 7, 2025
Prepare the Way
Beginning with the opening scene of Godspell, a homily on Advent as the season of making room — not for a memory, but for a God present among us now.
Solemnity of Christ the King · November 23, 2025
Where Jesus Reigns
Kings rule by borders and decree; Jesus reigns only where he is welcomed. A homily on the question this feast actually asks — who, or what, rules my life?
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time · November 16, 2025
Points of Light
On W. H. Auden’s “ironic points of light” — and the small, stubborn acts of kindness by which faith answers a violent and despairing time.