HOMILY WEEDAY 23 02 – Year II Celebrating Who We Are (1 Cor 6:1-11; Ps 149; Lk 6:12-19) ************************************ The late Anthony de Mello, in The Song of the Bird, recounts this captivating story: A boy found an eagle’s egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the […]

HOMILY WEEK 23 01 – Year II Attitudinal Healing: Optional Memorial of St. Peter Claver (1 Cor 5:1-8; Ps 5; Lk 6:6-11) ******************************* Has the cryptic statement, “Check that attitude” ever applied to you? The liturgy today invites us to be aware of and open to a transformation of attitudes, so we can help others […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 23 – B Genuine Faith Expressed through Unconditional Love (Isaiah 35:4-7; Psalm 146; James 2:1-5; Mark 7:31-17) ********************************************************** A Sunday school teacher asked her children, “Why is it necessary to be quiet in church?” One bright little girl replied, “Because people are sleeping.” Faith that expresses itself through love is true faith indeed. […]

HOMILY WEEK 22 06 – Year II Servants of Christ and Stewards of God’s Mysteries (1 Cor 4:6-15; Ps 145; Lk 6:1-5) ************************************************ “Think of us as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.”  That line, from St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, provides us with a strong message and mandate: we […]

HOMILY WEEK 22 05 – Year II New Wine, New Wineskins (1 Cor 4:1-5; Ps 37; Lk 5:33-39) *********************************************** “The new wine will burst the skins.” In ancient Israel, the juice from pressed grapes immediately went into a container to ferment into wine. If the wine was going to be transported a long distance, the […]

HOMILY WEEK 22 04 – Year II An Invasion of Grace (1 Cor 3:18-23; Ps 24; Lk 5:1-11) ************************************* Did you know that all wise people come from the East? And that the wiser they are, sooner they come! The liturgy today encourages us to be wise, put our faith in Jesus, receive his forgiveness, […]

HOMILY WEEK 22 02 – Year II Living Out Fully Our Trinitarian Faith: Memorial of St. Gregory the Great (1 Cor 2:10-16; Ps 145; Lk 4:31-37) ******************************************************* Step 3 of the A.A. program reads, “Made a decision to surrender our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.” This […]

HOMILY WEEK 21 06 – Year II Striking a Balance Between Prayer and Action (1 Cor 1:26-31; Ps 33; Mt 25:14-30) ******************************************** Is contemplation incompatible with action? The readings today invite us to find a way to balance these two important and essential elements of Christian life. On the surface, the gospel parable of talents […]

WEEK 21 – 05 HOMILY Faith expressed through Love (1 Cor 1:17-25; Ps 33; Mt 25:1-13) ********************************************* For St. Paul, in the first reading, what is more important than even baptism? The answer is proclaiming the Gospel. He says he was not sent to baptize but to preach the Gospel, to entice everyone to believe […]

HOMILY WEEK 21 04 – Year II The Passion of John the Baptist: Prophetic Consolation and Desolation (Jer 1:17-19; Ps 71; Mk 6:17-29) *********************************************** The late Fr. Andrew Britz OSB, former editor of the Prairie Messenger newspaper, was noted for his courageous editorials that addressed rather fearlessly and directly the key and often controversial issues […]