HOMILY LENT WEEK 01 02 – Year I The Word That Transforms (Is 55:10-11; Ps 34; Mt 6:7-15) ****************************************** “My word shall not return empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” This phrase spoken to the world by God through the prophet Isaiah […]

HOMILY LENT WEEK 01 01 – Year I Jesus, Justice, Love and Morality: Optional Memorial of Gregory of Narek (Lev 19:1-18; Ps 19; Mt 25:31-46) ****************************************** Why is it impossible to starve in a desert? Because you can always eat the “sand-which-is” under your feet! The readings today are like a sandwich calling us to […]

HOMILY LENT SUNDAY 01 – Year A Two Kinds of Sin Only (Genesis 2:7-9, 16-18, 25, 3:1-7; Psalm 51; Rom 5:12-19; Mt 4:1-11) ************************************************************** A woman back from shopping was showing her husband the expensive dress she had purchased. When he asked her why she bought a dress she did not really need, she replied […]

HOMILY – SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY Acting and Feeling Like God (Is 58:9b-14; Ps 86; Lk 5:27-32) ************************************************* “When we act like God, we get to feel like God.” That is one of Ron Rolheiser’s favourite expressions, which is not only cute, but also very true. When we act as God does, we do get […]

HOMILY – FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY Genuine Faith and Sincere Fasting (Is 58:1-9; Ps 51; Mt 9:14-15) ********************************************** At a particular Eucharistic celebration, I could not help but notice that the members of one family very seriously knelt during the communion hymn for private devotion, and also knelt during the recessional hymn for another time […]

HOMILY THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY Making a Divine Paradigm Shift: Optional Memorial of St. Polycarp (Dt 30:15-20; Ps 1; Lk 9:22-25) ***************************************************** Sr. Elaine Biollo, in a class on Culture & Spirituality, spoke about the reality of a paradigm shift in our lives. When digital technology was developed, apparently it was offered first to the […]

ASH WEDNESDAY – Year A Lent – a Time of Repentance and Healing (Joel 2:12-18; Psalm 51; 2Cor 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18) ********************************************************* A dishonest painter hired to paint a church building thinned his paint with water. As long as it didn’t rain, he thought he would be okay. That night there was a rainstorm. […]

HOMILY TUESDAY of HOLY WEEK Redemptive Suffering and Brokenness (Is 49:1-6; Ps 71; Jn 13:21-33. 36-38) ****************************************** As a young seminarian, my spiritual director was Fr. Adam Exner, who eventually became an archbishop. After hearing my story (the first one to ever do so), Exner asked me to pray with Is 43:1-4, and that passage […]

HOMILY – MONDAY OF HOLY WEEK Being Present to the Lord with Loving Palliative Care (Isaiah 42:1-7; Ps 27; Jn 12:1-11) ************************************************ Monday of Holy Week, the readings increase in intensity, preparing us to celebrate the Great Triduum. They invite us to deepen our faith in Jesus as the Messiah, Son of God and Suffering […]

Palm Sunday – Feast of Selfless Love (Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22; Phil 2:6-11; Lk 22:14-23:56) ************************************************** Do you have a favourite coat? What would it take to motivate you to give it away? The Palm Sunday and the Sunday of the Lord’s Passion is all about emptying one’s self in order to be filled with […]