HOMILY WEEK 17 05 – Year II Called to do Metanoia: Memorial of St. Peter Chrysologus (Jer 26:11-16, 24; Ps 69; Mt 14:1-12) ***************************************************** “Now therefore, amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God…” Today’s liturgy invites us be prophetic – to speak the truth of repentance, to […]

HOMILY WEEK 17 05 – Year II Hospitality, Contemplation, and the Transformative Healing Journey: Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus (Jer 26:1-9; Ps 69; Jn 11:17-27) ***************************************** This memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus was just recently added to the liturgical calendar by Pope Francis.  St. Martha was already celebrated on Jan. 29 […]

HOMILY WEEK 17 04 – Year II Choosing Light and Life (Jer 18:1-6; Ps 146; Mt 13:47-52) ******************************************** “He tried again, making of the clay another object.” Israel had wandered from the Lord – not once, but multiple times, over many years. The people were worshipping false gods of money, fame and power, breaking the […]

HOMILY – FEAST of ST JOACHIM AND ANNE (Sir 44:1, 8, 10-15; Ps 132; Mt 13:16-17) ********************************************** Today we celebrate the feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne, the parents of our mother Mary, and the grandparents of Jesus. The gospels are bereft of details regarding them – not even offering their names. What we […]

HOMILY WEEK 16 05 – Year II Feast of St. James: Life of Christ Within – Loving Service Without (2 Cor 4:7-15; Ps 126; Mt 20:20-28) ****************************************** “We make living by what we get; we make a life by what we give away.” Those words by Sir Winston Churchill accompany the message of the readings […]

HOMILY WEEK 16 06 – Year II Our Sin Never Confessed: Optional Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden (Jer 7:1-11; Ps 84; Mt 13:24-30) ******************************************** What sins do you think are never or rarely confessed? Pray we might be aware of our complicity in social structural sin. On Saturday, June 17, 2022, the Aurora Living […]

  FEAST OF MARY MAGDALENE From Stuck in Grief to Good Grieving (Song of Song 3:1-4; Ps 63; Jn 20:1-18) ************************************** The first mission to which I was assigned as a young Oblate priest was St. Mary Magdalene in Beauval, on the picturesque banks of the Beaver River. When we built a new church in […]

HOMILY WEEK 16 04 – Year II Humble Faith – Secret to the Kingdom: Optional Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi (Jer 2:1-13; Ps 36; Mt 13:10-17) ******************************************** Are you trying to get to heaven, or already living in the kingdom of God? The readings today invite us to have a humble faith in Jesus […]

WEEK 16 03 – Year II The Parable of the Sower: Optional Memorial of St. Appollinaris (Jer 1:1-10; Ps 71; Mat 13:1-9) *********************************** Each year, when presiding at the Lac St Anne pilgrimage, I would ask the pilgrims in the shrine how many had brought a bible with them. And each year the response is […]

HOMILY WEEK 16 02 – Year II Doing the Will of God: (Micah 7:14-20; Ps 85; Mt 12:46-50) *********************************************** “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” The message for us today could not be clearer: to be close to Jesus, we must do the will […]