EASTER SUNDAY HOMILY – YEAR A Repent, Believe, Grieve and Experience Easter (Acts 10:34, 36-43; Psalm 118; Col 3:1-4; John 20:1-18) **************************************************** The feelings most often associated with Easter morning would be peace and joy. Hopefully, as we woke up this Easter morning, we were experiencing at least to some degree, those Easter emotions. Whether […]

HOMILY EASTER VIGIL – YEAR A Living As Easter People (Romans 6:3-11; Mt 28:1-10) ******************************************** This holy night, this Easter Vigil, opens wide the very heart of our Christian faith. This is the night of nights, of storytelling, remembering, ritual and feasting. The goal of this night is to renew our heart-felt faith and to […]

GOOD FRIDAY HOMILY Choose Jesus’ New Way of Life (Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Ps 31; Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9; Jn 18:1-19:42) ******************************************************* In the movie The Passion of Christ, Jesus, beaten, bloodied and half dead, meets his mother and tells her simply, “Behold, I am making all things new.” This is the shocking reality of faith – it […]

HOLY THURSDAY – Year A Freedom to Love and Serve (Ex 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Jn 13:1-15) ******************************************* This celebration tonight begins the three great liturgical days of the year – what we call the Easter Triduum. The feast tonight, Holy Thursday, and indeed every Eucharist, has one message – love one another as […]

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 […]