HOMILY ADVENT WEEK 01 06 – Year I Wounded Healers Building Up the Kingdom of God: Memorial of St. Francis Xavier (Is 30:19-26; Ps 147; Mt 9:35 – 10:8) ************************************************* Are we seeking the God of consolation, or the consolations of God? That question, sometimes asked of those in spiritual direction, along with the readings […]

HOMILY ADVENT WEEK 01 05 – Year I Waiting for the Lord, Our Light and Salvation (Is 29:17-24; Ps 27; Mt 9:27-31) ************************************* The Responsorial psalm for today’s liturgy provides us with a clear message: Wait for the Lord, our light and salvation. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah predicts a wonderful future for […]

HOMILY ADVENT WEEK 01 04 – Year I Building Our Lives on Rock: ((Is 26:1-6; Ps 118; Mt 7:24-27) ************************************* At the Western Wall in Jerusalem, our guide pointed out that the massive stones we saw were really just a retaining wall to support the platform on which the temple was built. What a solid […]

HOMILY ADVENT 01 02 – Year II Feast of St Andrew: Kerygma and Didache (Rm 10:9-18; Ps 19; Mt 4:18-22) *************************************************** “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your hearts that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” This message of Paul to the Romans succinctly […]

HOMILY ADVENT WEEK 01 02 – Year I Jesus – Shoot from the Stump of Jesse (Is 11:1-10; Ps 72; Lk 10:21-24) ******************************************* There is a bumper sticker that reads, “If you want peace, work for justice.” The powerful readings for day two of this first week of Advent inspired me to adapt that saying […]

ADVENT YEAR A – Week 01 01 Walking in the Ways of the Lord (Is 4:2-6; Ps 122; Mt 8:5-13) *************************************** Walk a new path is the title of a book I wrote on addictions awareness and the 12 Step program. It connects with the message from Isaiah today, encouraging us to go up to […]

HOMILY ADVENT SUNDAY 01 – A Put on Christ and be Ready (Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44) ********************************************************** Perhaps you have seen a billboard that reads, complete with pointing finger “Are you ready for Jesus’ return?” This Advent, put on Christ, and be ready to meet Jesus in the most unexpected places. […]

HOMILY ADVENT DECEMBER 23 – Year II (HOMILY 01) An Infinite Horizon of Faith, Forgiveness and Healing: Optional Memorial of St. John Kanti (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 […]

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 […]