HOMILY WEEK 04 06 – Year II A Balanced Life of Wise Compassion and Prayerful Solitude: Optional Memorial of St. Blaise (1Kg 3:4-13; Ps 118; Mk 6:30-34) ***************************************************** Solomon’s prayer in the first reading today is a reminder to us of balancing the rational and emotional mind so that we too can have that wise […]

HOMILY – PRESENTATION OF THE LORD Year B (Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 24; Heb 2:10-18; Lk 2:22-24) ****************************************************** A traveller in Africa tells this story of passing through a drought-stricken area and being followed by a small, emaciated, hungry, shy boy who came out of the bush. Whenever the traveller stopped, the boy stopped also. Finally […]

HOMILY WEEK 04 04 – Year II Our Royal, Missionary Mandate: (1 Kg 2:1-12; 1 Chron 29; Mk 6:7-13 ******************************************** While travelling as a university student with Cast C of the international singing group Up With People in 1969, we performed for King Beaudoin and Queen Fabiola of Belgium in their jungle garden. I was […]

HOMILY WEEK 04 03 – Year II Truly Trusting or Taking Offence? Memorial of St. John Bosco (2 Sam 24:2-17; Ps 32; Mk 6:1-6) ************************************** “They took offence at him.” (Mark 6:3) Today’s readings present us with a choice – to truly trust in Jesus or to end up, in one form or another, taking […]

HOMILY WEEK 04 02 – Year II On Faith, Compassion, Grieving and Healing (2 Sam 18:9-19:3; Ps 86; Mk 5:21-43) ******************************************** “Believe, have compassion, heal and grieve.” These words capture the essence of the readings today and provide us with this message: Come to Jesus with faith, have compassion, experience healing, and be empowered to […]

HOMILY WEEK 04 01 – Year II On Not Throwing Stones: (2 Sam 15:13 – 16:13; Ps 3; Mk 5:1-20 *********************************************** A vain king who lived in a glass palace and loved hoarding, kept on buying more and more thrones and storing them in his attic. Finally, one day they all came crashing down. The […]

SUNDAY 04-B ORDINARY TIME Sharing in the Power and Authority of Jesus (Dt 18:15-20; Psalm 95; 1 Cor 7:17, 32-35; Mk 1:21-28) ************************************************************ Are you familiar with the expression to “Walk the talk? Live your faith and share in the power and authority of Jesus. The great American lecturer, essayist and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, […]

HOMILY WEEK 03 06 – Year II With Jesus in our Boat (2 Samuel 12:1-17; Ps 51; Mk 4:35-41) ************************************** Are there any storms in your life at this moment? The readings today invite us to deepen our faith and trust in the presence of Jesus in our lives, especially during times of trial and […]

HOMILY WEEK 03 04 – Year I The Reign of God, Radical Discipleship and Redemptive Suffering: Memorial – Saints Timothy and Titus (2 Tim 1:1-8; Ps 96; Lk 10:1-9) ********************************************************* Two sentences connect the readings today on this memorial of Timothy and Titus. Paul, in the first reading to Timothy, invites him to join in […]

FEAST – THE TRANSFORMATION OF ST PAUL (Acts 22:3-16/Acts 9:1-22; Psalm 117; Mark 16:15-18) ********************************************************** The readings for today’s feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, including both versions from Acts, focus on his encounter with Jesus and the Great Commission Jesus gave to his disciples. The message for us is to encounter Jesus as […]