HOMILY ADVENT WEEK 01 02 – Year II The Healing Power of Advent: (Is 11:1-10; Ps 72; Lk 10:21-24) ********************************************** Have you ever compared your spiritual growth to the process of raising poinsettias? The readings today invite us to slow down this Advent, enter more deeply into contemplative silence, become more aware of our inner […]

HOMILY ADVENT SUNDAY 01 – B Waiting with Faith (Isaiah 63:16-17, 64:1, 3-8; Psalm 80; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37) ***************************************************************** Two young boys were praying their night prayers, one silently and one very loud, shouting what he wanted for Christmas. The quiet child rebuked him, telling him that God was not deaf. The second […]

HOMILY ADVENT DECEMBER 23 – Year I An Infinite Horizon of Faith, Forgiveness and Healing: Optional Memorial of St. John Kanty (Mal 3:1-4; 4:5-6; Ps 25; Lk 1:57-66) ******************************************************** Bishop Olivier Tremblay, an Oblate who previously worked with university students in Eastern Canada, spoke at an Oblate symposium once. He noted that youth today lack […]

HOMILY ADVENT DECEMBER 22 Profound Faith and Grateful Praise (1 Sam 1:24-28; 1 Sam 2; Lk 1:46-56) ********************************************** The readings today, as we approach Christmas, invite us to cultivate a profound faith in God’s love, as well as an attitude of grateful praise like Hannah and Mary. The first reading about the fidelity and gratitude […]

HOMILY ADVENT DECEMBER 21 – Year II Faith, Forgiveness, Healing and Joy: Optional Memorial of St. Peter Canisius (Zeph 3:14-18; Ps 33; Lk 1:39-45) ******************************************* “The Lord has taken away the judgements against you, he has turned away your enemies.” Those words, a repeat of the first reading from the third Sunday of Advent, along […]

ADVENT HOMILY DECEMBER 20 – Year I Prophecy Fulfilled – Mary’s Fiat – God is With Us (Is 7:10-8:10; Ps 24; Lk 1:26-38) ************************************************ How accurate do you think you would be in predicting events seven hundred years into the future? The readings today, about prophecy fulfilled in Mary, encourage us to be like her […]

ADVENT HOMILY DECEMBER 19th Humble Faith, Barrenness, Hope and Relational Justice (Jdgs 13:2-25; Ps 71; Lk 1:5-25) *********************************************** Have you ever experienced a time in your life when you were powerless, came up empty, felt like your hands were tied behind your back? The readings today give us hope that God can work marvels of […]

HOMILY SUNDAY ADVENT 4-A Opening up to Newness and Our True Identity (Isaiah 7:10-14; Psalm 24; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24) ************************************************************** Are you afraid of the unknown? Today, the Word of God invites us to have faith of St. Joseph, let go of sin and open ourselves to the newness of life with God. The […]

HOMILY ADVENT DEC 17th The Blessing of Our Genealogies (Gen 49:2,8-10; Ps 72; Mt 1:1-17) *************************************** Are there any skeletons in your family’s closet? Today’s readings can help us relax and trust that God can work marvels even with a less than holy family tree. Today we read the opening lines of Matthew’s Gospel—the first […]

ADVENT WEEK 03 05 – Year I Letting Our Light Shine (Is 56:1-8; Ps 67; Jn 5:16-36) ********************************* “It is better to light one candle, than to curse the darkness.” That motto of the Christopher Leadership Course fits today’s liturgy, which invites us to let our faith be a light shining in the darkness of […]