HOMILY WEEK 06 05 – Year II Taking up Our Cross: Radical Discipleship and Redemptive Suffering (James 2:14-24, 46; Ps 112; Mk 8:34-9:1) *********************************************** A man, tired of the cross he was given to carry, went into a cross shop to get another one. All the ones he tried were either too heavy or too […]

HOMILY WEEK 06 04 – Year II Faith in a Revolutionary Messiah: Optional Memorial of the Seven Founders of the Servite Order (James 2:1-9; Ps 34; Mark 8:27-33) **************************************************** Every year, it seems, the perennial question about the identity of Jesus, “Who do people say I am?” surfaces in magazines, on talk shows, etc. How […]

HOMILY WEEKDAY 06 03 – Year II The Word of God: A Healing Power and a Power to be Lived (Jm 1:19-27; Ps 15; Mk 8:22-26) ******************************************************  “Be doers of the Word” and “he saw everything clearly.” These two sentences capture the essence of the message from today’s readings – we are to live the […]

HOMILY WEEK 06 02 – Year II Resist Temptation through Faith and Experience Joy (James 1:12-18; Ps 94; Mk 8:14-21) **************************************************** A lady who had promised her husband she was going window shopping and would not buy anything came back with an expensive dress. When he asked why she broke her promise, she replied the […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 06 – C On Being Beatitude People (Jeremiah 17:5-8; Psalm 1; 1 Cor 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:20-26) *********************************************************** There is a saying that life is a journey more than a destination. To become Beatitude People, we must make the Beatitudes our way of life today. At the beginning of his ministry, immediately after […]

HOMILY WEEK 05 06 – Year II Jesus – Bread of Life: Faith Versus Faithlessness (1 Kg 12:26-34; Ps 106; Mk 8:1-10) ******************************************** A new waitress was told by a customer he wanted two headlights and four hubcaps, without any explanation. The kitchen staff, who knew the customer as a joker, told her he wanted […]

HOMILY WEEK 05 05 – Year II Healing Touch and Joyful Proclamation: Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes (1 Kg 11:29-32; Ps 81; Mk 7:31-37) ********************************************** “We are not punished for our sins – we are punished by them.” This cryptic saying, coming out of the 12 Step program of A.A., invites us to […]

HOMILY WEEK 05 04 – Year II Humble Faith in Action: Memorial of St. Scholastica (1 Kg 11:4-13; Ps 106; Mk 7:24-30) ************************************************* In today’s first reading, the famous King Solomon lost his mind in old age and fell into idolatry in an attempt to please his wives, even though God had appeared to him […]

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 […]