SUNDAY EASTER 06 – B The Commandments to Love (Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; 1 Jn 4:7-10; Jn 15:9-17) ******************************************************** In one community where I was for Holy Week, I worked with one of the local catechists preparing a group of seven young couples for the baptism of their children that Easter. In the course of […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 05 06 – Year I Participating in a Divine Paradigm Shift: Optional Memorial of Blessed Catherine of St. Augustine (Acts 16:1-10; Ps 100; Jn 15:18-21) ************************************************* Have you ever experienced a paradigm shift? The readings today invite us to join the early disciples in their paradigm shift from a monotheistic to […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 05 05 – Year I About Our Identity and Activity (Acts 15:22-31; Ps 57; Jn 15:12-17) ************************************************ Have you ever heard people say they believed in God but not in an institution? That they believed in Jesus but did not want to have anything to do with the church? That they […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 05 04 – Year I Be Proclaimers and Evangelizers: Memorial of St.  Francois de Laval (2 Tim 4.1-5; Ps 96; Jn 10.11-16) ****************************************** “Evangelizare pauperibus misit me – Pauperes evangelizantur.” This phrase (“He has sent me to evangelize the poor – the poor are evangelized”) is the motto of the Oblates […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 05 03 – Year I The True Vine and Fruitful Branches (Acts 15:1-6; Ps 122; Jn 15:1-8) ******************************************** When I began my strawberry patch, I bought two kinds of strawberry plants with some berries on them and planted them with great expectation. The berries that were on the plants grew, matured, […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 05 02 – Year I Being Missionary Disciples Optional Memorial of Blessed Marie-Leonie Paradis (Acts 14.19-28; Ps 145; Jn 14.27-31) ************************************************ To announce the release of a new movie, a trailer is often produced giving the viewer an idea of what the movie will be like, enticing viewers to go see […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 05 01 – Year I Living and Praying the Paschal Mystery: Feast of Saints Philip and James (1 Cor 15:1-8; Ps 19; Jn 14:6-14) ***************************************************************************************** Today’s first reading begins with St. Paul reminding his readers of the Good News that he proclaimed to them in which they were “standing,” and by […]

EASTER SEASON SUNDAY 05 B Believe and Love; Faith and Fellowship (Acts 9:26-31; Psalm 22; 1 John 3:18-24; Jn 15:1-8) ************************************************************ On the wall of the chapel at the Domano Retreat Centre in Prince George, there is an impressive vine with a strong stem reaching up to the ceiling, and numerous branches reaching out in […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 04 06 – Year I This Is Exciting! Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker (Acts 13:44-52; Ps 98; Jn 14.7-14) **************************************** When was that last time that you really got excited? The readings today us to pray for faith that will excite us – faith in Jesus arisen from the dead, […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 04 05 – Year I A Home for Us All: Memorial of St. Marie of the Incarnation (Acts 13:26-33; Ps 2; Jn 14.1-6) ***********************************************   The late Oblate missionary, René Fumoleau, recounts the story of a house that burned down to the ground in one of the Indigenous communities he served […]