HOMILY WEEK 25 05 – Year I Living Out Our Identity in Christ: Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul (Haggai 2:1-9; Ps 43; Lk 9:18-22) ********************************************** Jesus and Moses were golfing one day, and it turns out Jesus was a great fan of Tiger Woods. If he hit a great shot, he would exclaim, “Yes […]

HOMILY WEEK 25 05 – Year I Taking up the Cross and Living Calvary in Slow Motion: Feast – Saints Jean Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues (Rev 7:9-17; Ps 124; 2 Cor 4:7-15; Lk 9:23-26) ********************************************************* The feast we celebrate today is a significant feast for the Canadian Church, evidenced by two readings plus the Gospel. […]

HOMILY WEEK 25 03 – Year I Missioned to Proclaim and to Heal: Optional Memorial of Saints Cosmas and Damian (Ezra 9:5-9; Tob 13:3-6; Lk 9:1-6) ***************************************************** Just recently I discovered a brother Oblate, the late Fr. John Monbourquette, had written a book entitled How to Discover Your Personal Mission – the Search for Meaning. […]

HOMILY WEEK 25 01 – Year A Builders of a New Temple: Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) (Ezra 1:1-6;Ps 126; Lk 8:16-18) ********************************************* Do you see yourself as a builder? We are about rebuilding the reign of God. The first reading is all about the return of the exiles to their homeland […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 25-C Living the Gospel Shrewdly (Amos 8:4-7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13) ******************************************************* A young man found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, and decided he needed someone to enjoy it with. So, one evening he went to a single’s bar where he spotted the […]

HOMILY – FEAST OF ST MATTHEW Unity, Community and a Spirituality of Letting Go (Eph 4:1-7, 11-13; Ps 19; Mt 9:9-13) ***************************************** How have you responded to the words of Jesus, “Come, follow me,” addressed to you? The readings today, on this feast of St. Matthew, offers us three interrelated suggestions on how to follow […]

HOMILY WEEK 24 05 – Year I Birthing the Kingdom: Memorial of the Korean Martyrs (1 Tim 6:2-12; Ps 49; Lk 8:1-3) *************************************** Have you ever had the experience of a line of scripture you have read many times before, suddenly take on a whole new meaning? That was my experience with today’s readings and […]

HOMILY WEEK 24 04 – Year I Love, Faith, Purity, Repentance and Forgiveness: Optional Memorial of St. Januarius (1 Tm 4:12-16; Ps 111; Lk 7:36-50) ************************************ Five key words describe and sum up the readings today: love, faith, purity, repentance and forgiveness. In the first reading, St. Paul provides interesting advice to a young bishop, […]

HOMILY WEEK 24 03 – Year I Revelation, Resistance and Vindication (1 Tm 3:14-16; Ps 111; Lk 7:31-35) ******************************************** Three words capture the essence of today’s readings: revelation, resistance and vindication. These three words also offer us a clear message: we are to place our complete faith in Jesus Christ and express that faith by […]

HOMILY WEEK 24 02 – Year I Holy Compassion: Optional Memorial of St. Robert Bellarmine (1 Tm 3:1-13; Ps 101; Lk 7:11-17) ******************************************* Today’s readings, present us with a miracle to ponder and appreciate, and a clear, simple double message to absorb and live: be holy and compassionate, or in the words of the psalm, […]