HOMILY LENT WEEK 01 05 – Year I (Ezk 18:21-28; Ps 130; Mt 5:20-26) ******************************************* We can gain an interesting perspective by looking at today’s readings through the lens of the 12 Step program. The message that appears is clear: repent, receive God’s forgiveness, be open to healing and seek to be reconciled with others. […]

HOMILY WEEK 01 04 – Year I (Esther 14:1-14; Ps 138; Mt 7:7-12) *************************************** Many years ago, Franciscan priest Richard Rohr was inspired to open a Centre for Action and Contemplation. While he has been prophetic throughout his long career beginning with the charismatic renewal (he founded the New Jerusalem Community in Cleveland), then become […]

HOMILY LENT WEEK 01 03 – Year I (Jonah 3:1-10; Ps 51; Luke 11:29-32) *************************************** “No sign will be given to this generation except the sign of Jonah.” These are the enigmatic words of Jesus in the gospel today. What are we to make of them? What is this sign of Jonah? What relevance does […]

HOMILY LENT WEEK 01 02 – Year I (Is 55:10-11; Ps 34; Mt 6:7-15) ****************************************** “My word shall not return empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” This phrase spoken to the world by God through the prophet Isaiah raises two questions for […]

HOMILY LENT WEEK 01 01 – Year I (Lev 191-18; Ps 19; Mt 25:31-46) ****************************************** Why is it impossible to starve in a desert? Because you can always eat the “sand-which-is” under your feet! The readings today are like a sandwich calling us to make justice our highest moral priority. They also reveal two surprising […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 08 – C (Sir 27:4-7; Ps 92; 1 Cor 15:54-58; Lk 6:39-45) ************************************************** The readings today invite us to bear fruit in the kingdom of God through greater self-awareness and living out what I call Teepee Spirituality. The wisdom sayings of Sirach in the first reading, surely distilled over the ages, pack a […]

 HOMILY – SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY Optional Memorial of St. John of God (Is 58:9b-14; Ps 86; Lk 5:27-32) ************************************************* “When we act like God, we get to feel like God.” That is one of Ron Rolheiser’s favorite expressions, which is not only cute, but also very true. When we act as God does, we […]

HOMILY – FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY Optional Memorial of Saints Perpetua and Felicity (Is 58:1-9; Ps 51; Mt 9:14-15) ********************************************** At a particular Eucharistic celebration, I could not help but notice that the members of one family very seriously knelt during the communion hymn for private devotion and also knelt during the recessional hymn for […]

HOMILY – THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY (Dt 30:15-20; Ps 1; Lk 9:22-25) ***************************************************** Sr. Elaine Biollo, in a class on Culture & Spirituality, spoke about the reality of a paradigm shift in our lives. When digital technology was developed, apparently it was offered first to the Swiss watchmakers, who refused it believing their way of […]

ASH WEDNESDAY – Year C (Joel 2:12-18; Psalm 51; 2 Cor 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18) ************************************************************* The message that emerges from the readings for today’s Ash Wednesday celebration leaps out at us from the second reading, Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. St. Paul urges his readers to be reconciled to God first, then to […]