HOMILY WEEK 30 02 – Year I Groaning with Transformative Hope (Rm 8:18-25; Ps 126; Lk 13:18-21) ************************************ A woman, who had lost her wedding ring while gardening, found it decades later encircling a carrot that she pulled up. Apparently, the tiny carrot seed that she planted grew through the ring that fit snugly around […]

HOMILY WEEK 30 01 – Year I Living in the Spirit and Loving Like Jesus (Rm 8:11-17; Ps 68; Lk 13:10-17) ********************************************** Which rings true for you: Law over love, or love over law? As adopted children of God, we are to die to sin, live in the Spirit, and make loving others our highest […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 30 – B Seeing With the Eyes of Faith (Jeremiah 31:7-9; Psalm 126; Hebrews 5:1-6; Mark 10:46-52) *********************************************************** Fr. Pat Martin is a legally blind priest who gave a retreat in Pine House, Saskatchewan some years back. He thanked God for his blindness because it brought him closer to God and helped him […]

HOMILY WEEK 29 06 – Year I Repent, and Live in the Spirit: Optional Memorial of St. John of Capistrano (Rm 8:1-11; Ps 24; Lk 13:1-9) ************************************8**** The readings today invite us to repent and live in the Spirit. Jesus in the gospel stresses our need to repent if we are to live a new […]

HOMILY WEEK 29 05 – Year I Gratitude for Salvation (Rm 7:18-25a; Ps 119; Lk 12:54-59) ********************************** Have you ever wished you were further along your spiritual path than you are, still struggling with some sin and sinfulness in your life? If so, you are in good company. St. Paul in his letter to the […]

HOMILY WEEK 29 04 – Year I Word on Fire: (Rm 6:19-23; Ps 1; Lk 12:49-53) ********************************************* Word on Fire is what Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, calls his social media ministry. That title was probably inspired by the gospel of today, in which Jesus exclaims that he came to […]

HOMILY WEEK 29 03 – Year I Instruments of Righteousness: Optional Memorial of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (Rm 6:12-18; Ps 124; Lk 12:39-48) ********************************************* “Present yourselves to God as instruments of righteousness.” That sentence from the first reading to the Romans, the reading itself and the gospel combine to offer us a clear two-pronged message: […]

HOMILY WEEK 29 02 – Year I On Being Good and Ready: Optional Memorial of St. Paul of the Cross (Rm 5:12-21; Ps 40; Lk 12:35-38) *************************************** In the words of Bishop Robert Barron, in today’s Gospel Jesus urges us to be ready for his second coming, similar to John the Baptist preparing us: “Make […]

HOMILY WEEK 28 03 – Year I Disciples of Mercy: Feast of St Luke (2 Tim 4:9-17; Ps 145; Lk 10:1-9) **************************************** “From among his disciples Jesus appointed seventy and sent them on ahead of him in pairs.” The feast of St. Luke, and the readings we hear, invite us to be missionary disciples, building […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 29 – B Give Your Life Away (Isaiah 53:4, 10-11; Ps 33; Heb 4:14-16; Mk 10:39-45) ************************************************** “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” That statement of Jesus from the gospel captures the essence of the readings […]