Be a Miracle Worker through Faith and Love (Isaiah 35:4-7; Psalm 146; James 2:1-5; Mark 7:31-17) ********************************************************** Do you really believe in our glorious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? That is the question St. James puts to us in the second reading? Be a miracle worker: believe in Jesus and love unconditionally. The Old Testament […]

Trust and Transformation (Rm 8:28-30; Ps 13; Mt 1:1-23) ************************************* Have you had to make a difficult decision lately and felt very alone? Have you ever wondered where was God in a particular painful situation? The readings on this feast of the Nativity of Mary invite us to trust in how God is working in […]

New Wine, New Wineskins (! Cor 4:1-5; Ps 37; Lk 5:33-39) ************************************** “The new wine will burst the skins.” In ancient Israel, the juice from pressed grapes immediately went into a container to ferment into wine. If the wine was going to be transported a long distance, the container was often a goatskin sewn into […]

Co-workers Building the Kingdom of God (1 Cor 3:1-9; Ps 33; Lk 4:38-44) ******************************************* A key feature of my first year of ministry in northern Saskatchewan was introducing the Christopher Leadership Course to the north, which in turn convinced me of the importance of team ministry. As instrumental as that course was in the personal […]

Living Our Trinitarian Faith – Optional Memorial Dina Bélanger (1 Cor 2:10-16; Ps 145; Lk 4:31-37) ******************************************************* Step 3 of the A.A. program reads, “Made a decision to surrender our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.” This step, and today’s readings, invite us to celebrate and live […]

The Dark Side of Belief – Memorial: St. Gregory the Great (1 Cor 2:1-5; Ps 119; Lk 4:16-30) ********************************************************* Today’s gospel ends in a brutal, shocking manner, as the religious townsfolk of Nazareth are suddenly enraged and want to kill Jesus! What are we to make of this? The readings today challenge us to look […]

Compassion Trumps Law (Dt 4:1-2, 6-8; Ps 15; James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27; Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23) ************************************************************* After I was ordained a priest in 1974, I did a pastoral year out of Edmonton. Towards the end of that year, while I was waiting for my obedience from Rome, I applied to go to the Holy […]

Striking a Balance Between Prayer and Action (1 Cor 1:26-31; Ps 33; Mt 25:14-30) ******************************************** Is contemplation incompatible with action? The readings today invite us to find a way to balance these two important and essential elements of Christian life. On the surface, the gospel parable of talents seems to be a call to action, […]

Prophetic Consolation and Desolation (Jer 1:17-19; Ps 71; Mk 6:17-29) *********************************************** The late Fr. Andrew Britz OSB, former editor of the Prairie Messenger newspaper, was noted for his courageous editorials that addressed rather fearlessly and directly the key and often controversial issues of the day. After his death, a selection of his editorials was compiled […]