HOMILY WEEKDAY 19 02 – Year II Becoming Like a Child: Optional Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) (Ezk 2:8-3:4; Ps 119; Mt 18:1-5,10,12-14) ********************************************************** A little trust game I like to play with children is to invite them to stand straight and stiff, arms at their side, and fall back […]

HOMILY WEEK 19 01 – Year II Learning to Listen – Lavishing Praise: Memorial of St. Dominic de Guzman (Ezk 1:2-5,24-28; Ps 148; Mt 17:22-27) ************************************** Have you ever heard God speak to you? Was your response one of praise? Today’s liturgy invites us to hone our ability to listen to God’s voice, and to […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 19 – C Be Ready – Live In The Kingdom (Wisdom 18:6-9; Psalm 33; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:32-48) ************************************************************* How free a person are you? Personal freedom, readiness and generosity are signs of a lively faith. Corbin Eddy had just finished a talk when an aboriginal elder offered him a beautiful beaded […]

FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD Being Attentive to the Mystery (Dan 7:9-10/2 Pt 1:16-19, 13-14; Ps 97; Lk 9:28-36) ********************************************** “You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place.” Those words in the optional reading from St. Peter, a witness to the transfiguration, invite […]

HOMILY WEEK 18 05 – Year II Radical Discipleship and Redemptive Suffering: Optional Memorial of Blessed Frédéric Jansoone (Nahum 1:15, 2:2, 3:1-7; Dt 32:35-41; Mt 16:24-28) ******************************************************* When asked to address a Christian Business Men’s Association breakfast just before Holy Week one year, I decided to speak about Radical Discipleship and Redemptive Suffering. While the […]

HOMILY WEEK 18 04 – Year II Covenant Love: Memorial of St. Jean Mary Vianney (Jer 31:31-34; Ps 51; Mt 16:13-23) ************************************* Yearning for intimacy is one thing that God and humans have in common. For God, that was always expressed through covenant relationships. The liturgy today invites us into an ever-deepening covenant relationship with […]

HOMILY WEEK 18 03 – Year II Persistent Faith (Jer 31:1-7; Jer 31:10-13; Mt 15:21-28) ******************************************************** There is a very significant faith process at work in the readings today, calling us to have humble and persistent faith in Jesus; to come to him for forgiveness and healing, and to respond with joyful worship and a […]

HOMILY WEEK 18 02 – Year II Prayer of the Anawim: Optional Memorial of St. Eusebius of Vercelli (Jer 30:1-2,12-15; Ps 102; Mt 14:22-36) ********************************************** Are you familiar with the prayer of the Anawim? Today’s gospel challenges us to deepen our faith in Jesus and his power to work in our lives, especially when we […]

HOMILY WEEK 18 01 – Year II Multiplication of the Loaves: Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguroi (Jer 28:1-17; Psalm 119; Mat 14:13-21) *************************************** Give them some food yourselves (Mt 14:16) Forty-two years ago, the Holy Spirit brought these words alive for Joe Difato and his colleagues, who founded the magazine The Word Among Us. This […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 18 – C A New Life of Joy (Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23; Psalm 90; Col 3:1-5; 9-11; Luke 12:13-21) ************************************************************* A Jewish lady was selling bagels for 25 cents on a street corner in New York City. One day a businessman took a bagel and gave her 50 cents without any comment. He continued […]