HOMILY WEEK 01 03 – Year I Faith in Jesus as One of Us: Optional Memorial of St. Hilary (Heb 2:14-18; Ps 105; Mk 1:29-39) *********************************** Some students of human behaviour strive to follow the paradigm: Who, What, Where, Why, When and How? when writing on a certain topic. These questions pretty well assure that […]

HOMILY WEEKDAY 01 02 – Year I Jesus: True God and True Man Memorial of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys (Heb 2:5-12; Ps 8; Mk 1:21-28) ***************************************** Our Christian faith invites us to worship Jesus as divine, and relate to his humanity as a brother. The author of Hebrews in yesterday’s first reading seemed very intent on […]

HOMILY WEEK 34 06 – Year II On Being Alert and Ready through Prayer, Hope and Trust (Rev 22:1-7; Ps 95; Lk 21:34-36) ******************************************************* Stop, drop and roll! Over the years, children were taught these three words to help them remember what to do in the event of a fire. They were to stop running […]

HOMILY WEEK 34 05 – Year II Experiencing the Newness of the Kingdom of God (Rev 20:1-21:2; Ps 84; Lk 21:29-33) ********************************************** There is a scene in Mel Gibson’s movie Passion of the Christ in which Jesus, bloodied and battered from his torture and carrying the cross, meets his mother Mary and, to the viewer’s […]

HOMILY WEEK 34 04 – Year II Invited to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb (Rev 18:1-23, 19:1-3; Ps 100; Lk 21:20-28) *********************************************** On the last day of our stay in Jerusalem, our group of pilgrims went to the Western Wall. It happened to be a Thursday when Bar-mitzvahs are celebrated. Even before reaching the […]

HOMILY WEEK 34 03 – Year II Joyful Worship and Courageous Witness: Optional Memorial of St. Catherine of Alexandria (Rev 15:1-4; Ps 98; Lk 21:12-19) ********************************************** During this last week of the liturgical year, the readings continue an apocalyptic theme, and present us with two scenes – a heavenly one and an earthly one and […]

HOMILY WEEK 34 02 – Year II Carpe Diem: Optional Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions (Rev 14:14-19; Ps 96; Lk 21:5-11) **************************************************** A message offered us by the movie Dead Poet’s Society is Carpe Diem – to grasp the day, to make the most of our time each day. Our liturgy today in […]

HOMILY WEEK 34 01 – Year II Giving All to Christ: Optional Memorial of St. Clement I (Rev 14:1-5; Ps 24; Lk 21:1-4) ************************************** The message of the gospel today is to put our complete faith in Christ; to surrender to him totally. It is interesting that in one translation, Jesus looked up and saw […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 34 – YEAR A Christ the King (Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; Psalm 23; 1 Cor 15:20-26, 28; Matthew 25:31-46) ****************************************************************** Rev. Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers once wrote a reflection on today’s gospel in the Living With Christ. In it she asked an interesting question: “What would our communities look like if we let the ones most […]

HOMILY WEEK 33 06 – Year II The Transfiguration and Resurrection Memorial: The Presentation of Mary (Rev 11:4-12; Ps 144; Lk 20:27-40) ********************************************** During a course on addiction’s awareness, I found out only one other participant and I, out of a group of twenty-three, actually believed in the resurrection. All the others were into reincarnation. […]