HOMILY WEEK 05 03 – Year II (1Kg 10:1-10; Ps 37; Mk 7:14-23) ************************************** “May the Lord let his light shine on the dark areas of your life.” Those were the words on a card a grade eleven student gave me once. I was taken aback by them at first, surprised they were coming from […]

HOMILY WEEK 05 02 – Year II Worship from the Heart: Optional Memorial of St. Josephine Bakhita (1 Kg 8:22-30; Ps 84; Mk 7:1-13) ******************************************************** Did you notice that the word “heart” is mentioned in all three readings today? “Your servants who walk before you with all their heart” in the first reading; “My heart […]

HOMILY WEEK 05 01 – Year II Living in Glorious Simplicity: (1 Kg 8:1-13; Ps 132; Mk 6:53-56) *********************************************** Perhaps you have heard the expression, “Live simply, so that others can simply live.” Today’s liturgy invites us to emulate Jesus in a simple way of life and loving service. The first reading is all about […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 5-C Call and Response (Is 6:1-2, 3-6; Psalm 138; 1 Co 15:1-11; Lk 5:1-11) ********************************************************* How often do we think of ourselves as disciples of Jesus, following him along the way to salvation? Today, we are called once again by Jesus to follow him as his faithful disciples The Gospel passage, set on […]

HOMILY WEEK 04 06 – Year II A Balanced Life of Wise Compassion and Prayerful Solitude: Memorial of St. Agatha (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 reason and emotions so that we too can have that wise mind that lives […]

HOMILY WEEK 04 05 – Year II David and John the Baptist: Models of Faith  and Repentance (Sirach 47:2-13; Ps 17; Mk 6:14-29) ******************************************************** Repent, heal and realize our dignity is a message from the readings today. Ben Sirach, in the first reading, extols and exalts David, in spite of the fact that he committed […]

HOMILY WEEK 04 04 – Year II Our Royal, Missionary Mandate: Optional Memorial of St. Blaise (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 […]

HOMILY YEARS ABC The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 24; Heb 2:10-18; Lk 2:22-24) ****************************************************** Lucie Leduc, director of the Star of the North retreat Centre, recalls with some emotion that she was held at length, and in that sense, blessed by her widowed aunt who was entering religious life as […]

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: Memorial of St. John Bosco (2 Sam 15:13 – 16:13; Ps 3; Mk 5:1-200 *********************************************** 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 […]