HOMILY – PENTECOST SUNDAY YEAR C 2022 Pentecost: Participation in a New Creation (Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104; Romans 8:8-17; John 20:19-23) **************************************************************** Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Alleluia! My brothers and sisters, Pentecost is all about participating in God’s new creation […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 07 06 – Year II Following Jesus into the Kingdom of God (Acts 28:16-20,30-31; Ps11; Jn 21:20-25) **************************************************** Imagine spending years in prison or under house arrest, as Paul did. Or imagine languishing in harsh conditions – including nine years in solitary confinement – as did Vietnam Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 07 05 – Year II Servant Leadership Based on Love and Forgiveness:  Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions   (Acts 24:27, 25:13-21; Ps 103; Jn 21:15-19) ************************************************** In the early years of my ministry in northern Saskatchewan, a brother priest and I went by boat from Île-à-la Crosse to Patuanak […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 07 04 – Year II Unity in Christ: Optional Memorial of Saints Marcellinus and Peter (Acts 22:30; 23:6-11; Ps 16; Jn 17:20-26) ************************************************* “So that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me.” That statement by Jesus, again in the context of the Farewell […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 07 03 – Year II Balancing Action and Contemplation: Memorial of St. Justin Martyr (Acts 20:28-38; Ps 68;Jn 17:11b-19) ***************************************** Some see Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr as a modern-day prophet, whose career spans founding the New Jerusalem charismatic community, recording a ground-breaking Great Themes of Scripture, delving into Male and Female […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 07 01 – Year II Firing Up Our Baptism (Acts 19:1-8; Ps 68; Jn 16:29-33) **************************************************** St. Thomas Aquinas once said, “God is sheer joy, and sheer joy demands company.” That saying is appropriate for us today. The readings, and this mission, invite us to put the fire back into our […]

HOMILY ASCENSION SUNDAY – C Redeemed and Sanctified into New Life (Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47; Heb 9:24-28, 10:19-23; Luke 24:46-53) ******************************************************* The readings today call us to be witnesses to a new and living way. In the Gospel, we see that we can now enter the sanctuary by a new and living way, through the […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 06 06 – Year II On Being Joyful Missionary Disciples (Acts 18:23-28; Ps 47; Jn 16:23-28) *************************************************** God is good – all the time! All the time – God is good! That saying, popular with some people, underlines the message from today’s readings: God is good, so believe in Him, love […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 06 05 – Year II Joyful Redemptive Suffering: Optional Memorial of St. Augustine of Canterbury (Acts 18:9-18; Ps 47; Jn 16:20-23) ************************************************** “You will have pain, but your pain will be turned into joy.” Today’s gospel invites us into a radical stance towards suffering and pain – to see it as […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 06 04 – Year II Singing A New Song: Optional Memorial of St. Philip Neri (Acts 18:1-8; Ps 98: Jn 16:16-20) ********************************************* Are you singing a new song? The readings today invite us to sing a new song, with a chorus that could be: “Jesus is risen, the Spirit is given, […]