Fr. Paul Castelli (Episcopal Campus Ministry at West Virginia University)

“God, have mercy on me a sinner.” A sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost 2025

A sermon preached on the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost at the student service for the St. Thomas Aquinas Episcopal Campus Ministry at West Virginia University Focus Texts: Luke 18:9-14 There are basically two kinds of people: those who know they’re dead and those who don’t. Today’s parable shows us this dichotomy illustrated by the Pharisee, a man who does not know he is dead, and the tax collector, a man who knows that he is. Many will assume that Jesus came to make the bad good and the good better when, in fact, Jesus came to bring the (spiritually) dead to life (bringing the physically dead to life comes later!) Bottom line: we can’t impress God. We can either do what is required of us—and essentially acknowledge that we’ve done nothing but what we were supposed to do in the first place—or acknowledge our failings. That’s it. There’s nothing we can bring to God that will fill him with awe. All we can do is bring empty hands ready to receive grace, broken hearts ready to be mended, and trust in God’s promises For centuries, saints and sinners (they’re the same, by the way) have been spiritually nourished by a prayer based on the words of the tax collector: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. Said repeatedly, slowly, and deliberately, this prayer can have a powerful affect on our lives. It draws us deeper into the presence of God, calling to the forefront of our minds our deep need for God’s mercy, filling us with gratitude for his boundless grace

“You’re not too much for God.” A Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost 2025

A sermon preached in the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost at the student service for the St. Thomas Aquinas Episcopal Campus Ministry at West Virginia University Focus Texts: Genesis 32:22-31; Luke 18:1-8 Many people get this idea in their heads that they shouldn’t bother God with their problems or that other people’s prayer needs are more important than their own. But this scarcity mindset doesn’t accurately reflect the creator of the universe who seeks nothing more or less than to be your closest and dearest friend. God seeks an intimate relationship with all of us, and nothing is too little or too big to share with Him. There is no “too much” when it comes to the prayers that we lift up to the Lord. You’re not a burden and you’re not too much — You are God’s beloved. Jesus teaches us not to hold back, but to persevere in prayer

“Wait…Fr. Paul is a Leper?” A Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost 2025

A sermon preached for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost preached at the campus ministry service for the St. Thomas Aquinas Episcopal Campus Ministry at West Virginia University Focus Texts: 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c; Luke 17:11-19 “Your faith has made you well." What does it mean to be made well by faith in Jesus Christ? Our readings included two different stories of Lepers being miraculously healed. But faith gives us a healing that is more than skin deep.

“Of Mustard and Mulberries”: A Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost 2025

A sermon preached at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in St. Alban’s, West Virginia on the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost Focus Text: Luke 17:5-10 (specifically vv. 5-6) Just before this passage, Jesus is instructing his apostles on sin, faith, and duty. Particularly important is what Jesus says about offering forgiveness to those who repent of their sin against you: as many as seven times in a day if they sin against you and repent seven times in a day (don’t take the number in a woodenly literal sense - forgive as many times as someone repents). It is in response to this that the apostles cry out to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” Jesus’ response? Mustard seeds and mulberry bushes… WHAT?! We need to always remember the sever ways of reading scripture. Here it is crucial to read the text in the allegorical sense — a spiritual way of reading focused on symbolic connections — and also the anagogical sense — spiritual or mystic reading of scripture. The Church Fathers help us to better understand the symbolic meaning of the mustard seeds and mulberry tree in a way that may surprise us. This sermon draws on sermons and commentaries by St. Augustine of Hippo, St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria, and even rabbinic Jewish tradition to understand the symbolic meaning of these plants — what it means to have mustard seed faith and the meaning of uprooting a mulberry tree and planting it into the sea. This helps us to better understand how Jesus is responding to the apostles’ cry to increase their faith. A little faith is all it takes to do incredible things, even uproot the mulberry trees (the temptations of the devil, the passions, vices, and habitual sins) and cast them into the abyss. And when we cry to God for help in faith, God will always increase our faith. Grace always precedes and follows us as we walk in faith as disciples of Jesus Christ. Divine Grace makes it possible for us to do what we cannot do on our own — but for God all things are possible. God adds to our faith when we cry out for strength, for aid, for faith. This helps us to do the impossible, even to forgive those we wish not to forgive; to root out evil from within us; to face our fears; to heal from grief; to face terminal illness with dignity, grace, and unwavering faith; to release control and trust in the Lord. Cry out to God to increase your faith. He’ll do it every time.

“Let’s Break the Rules and Talk About Money.” A Sermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost

A sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost preached at the campus ministry service for the St. Thomas Aquinas Episcopal Campus Ministry at West Virginia University Focus Text: Luke 16:19-31; 1 Timothy 6:6-19 “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40) “If you cannot recognize Christ in the beggar, you will not find Him in the Chalice.” (St. John Chrysostom) “You don’t see many hearses pulling Uhauls.” (Liz LaMoreaux) “He who dies with the most toys doesn’t win, he dies.” (Unknown) All of these quotes have something to say about the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in conjunction with St. Paul’s oft misquoted statement, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Take it all together, and it has a whole lot to say about each of us and how we choose to live our lives, how we set priorities, and who to what we ultimately devote ourselves to — God or some other alternative. There’s not much to say here. Just listen.