HOMILY WEEK 10 01 – Year I Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church (Gen 3:9-15,20; Judith 13:18-20; Jn 19:25-27) *********************************************************** Take a moment to think of your mother. What thoughts come to mind, and what feelings flood your heart? Hopefully gratitude, warmth, tenderness, affection for her virtues, and compassion for her […]

HOMILY WEEK 08 02 – Year II Setting All Our Hope on the Grace of Christ (1 Pt 1:10-16; Ps 98; Mk 10:28-31) ********************************************** One Sunday at the scholasticate at Battleford where I began the study of theology, Fr. Kedl, one of our professors, gave an eloquent homily. Fr. Huber, one of the elder Oblate […]

HOMILY WEEK 08 01 – Year II Humble Faith, Living Hope and Eternal Joy (1 Pt 1:3-9; Ps 111; Mk 10:17-27) ********************************************** Have you ever seen yourself as the rich young man in today’s gospel? The readings today invite us to grow in humble faith leading us to greater hope and the enjoyment of eternal […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 08 – C The Importance of Humble Self-Awareness (Sir 27:4-7; Ps 92; 1 Cor 15:54-58; Lk 6:39-45) ************************************************** The readings today invite us to bear fruit in the kingdom of God through greater self-awareness and living out what I call Teepee Spirituality. The wisdom sayings of Sirach in the first reading, surely distilled […]

HOMILY WEEK 07 06 – Year II The Virtue of Childlikeness (Jm 5:13-20; Ps 141; Mk 10:13-16) ***************************************************** A set of parents finally managed to convince their precocious son that Jesus was really risen from the dead. As that truth settled on him, a gleam appeared in his eye and he headed straight for the […]

HOMILY WEEK 07 05 – Year II Faith, Healing and Intimacy (James 5:9-12; Ps 103; Mk 10:1-12) ******************************** A Sunday school teacher said to her children, “We have been learning how powerful kings and queens were in Bible times. But there is a higher power. Can anybody tell me what it is?” A small hand […]

HOMILY WEEK 07 04 – Year II Faith, Love and Justice (James 5:1-6; Ps 49; Mk 9:41-50) *********************************** Today’s readings present a challenge to us with their harsh language, both by James in the first reading and Jesus in the gospel. Combined with the psalm, however, they invite us to be grounded in God’s forgiveness […]

HOMILY WEEK 07 03 – Week II Being Open to God’s Will – Adapted from The Word Among Us Memorial of St. Polycarp (James 4:13-17; Ps 49; Mk 9:38-40) **************************************************** We can all vividly remember how quickly our lives changed two years ago at the onset of the global pandemic. As we lived through months […]

Peter’s Amazing Faith (1 Pt 5:1-4; Ps 23; Mt 16:13-19) ****************************************** This feast invites us to emulate Peter’s faith, fidelity and ministry. According to the Living With Christ commentary on this feast, early Roman Christians celebrated a feast in honour of their departed loved ones on this day, including their predecessors in the faith, Peter […]

HOMILY WEEK 07 01 – Year II The Healing Power of Faith, Prayer and Fasting (James 3:13-18; Ps 19: Mk 9:14-29) ********************************************** “This kind can be driven out only through prayer and fasting.” This comment, and today’s readings, invite us to deepen our faith through prayer, and consider making fasting part of following Jesus as […]