HOMILY WEEK 01 02 – YEAR II God’s Will and the Power of God’s Word (Is 55:10-11; Ps 34; Mt 6:7-15) *************************************************** Will of God and Word of God – two expressions that capture the essence of today’s readings. They present us with a clear message: listen to God’s Word and strive to do God’s […]
Category: Homilies
Faith-Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy
HOMILY LENT WEEK 01 01 – Year II Doing the Works of Mercy (Lev 19:1-18; Ps 19; Mt 25:31-46) ************************************* Did you know that today’s first reading contains the one sentence Jesus used to give us a new commandment? The two readings combine to flesh out that command: be holy, love and care. In the […]
Faith-Lent-Temptations
SUNDAY LENT 01 YEAR A Two Kinds of Sin (Genesis 2:7-9, 16-18, 25, 3:1-7; Psalm 51; Rom 5:12-19; Mt 4:1-11) ************************************************************** A woman who told her husband she was just going window shopping and promised not to buy anything, came back with an expensive dress. When he asked her why she bought a dress she […]
Faith-Conversion-Call
HOMILY SATURDAY AFTER ASH WED Called to Loving Obedience and Holiness (Is 58:9-14; Ps 86; Lk 5:27-32) ********************************************** Have you ever felt a call from God to do something more with your life? The call of Levi today invites us to reconsider God’s call to us, our deeper purpose in life, and how we can […]
Faith-Fasting-Justice
FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY Towards More Mature Fasting (Is 58:1-9; Ps 51; Mt 9:14-15) *********************************************** Does it strike you as rather curious that on this Friday after Ash Wednesday, when the gospel was all about the three disciplines of Lent – prayer, almsgiving and fasting – Matthew has Jesus explaining to the Pharisees why he […]
Faith-the Cross-Redemptive suffering
THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY Seeing the Cross as a Blessing (Dt 30:15-20; Ps 1; Lk 9:22-25) ****************************************** The late Fr. Mathieu OMI, a veteran missionary who spoke Dené fluently, was a boxer in his youth, ran a dog team, and ingeniously extracted a caterpillar half-submerged on a frozen lake with a winch and horses, used […]
Prayer-Almsgiving-Fasting-Ash Wednesday
HOMILY ASH WEDNESDAY – Year A Ambassadors of Reconciliation (Joel 2:12-18; Psalm 51; 2Cor 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18) ********************************************************* When former premier of Manitoba, Gary Doer, retired from provincial politics, he had another more prestigious role waiting for him. He accepted to become the Canadian ambassador to the United States. He moved from being a […]
Faith-Humility-Childlikeness
HOMILY WEEK 07 02 – Year II Humble, Childlike, Trusting Faith (James 4:1-10; Ps 55; Mk 9:30-37) ************************************** “Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” This admonition from St. James in the first reading is the key to understanding the readings of today’s liturgy, and a strong invitation for us to pray […]
Faith-Prayer-Fasting-Healing
HOMILY WEEK 07 01 – Year II The Healing Power of Faith, Prayer and Fasting (James 3:13-18; Ps 19: Mk 9:14-29) ********************************************** “This kind can be driven out only through prayer and fasting.” This comment, and today’s readings, invite us to deepen our faith through prayer, and consider making fasting part of following Jesus as […]
Faith-Holiness-Compassion
HOMILY SUNDAY 7 – A Be Holy as God is Holy (Lev 19:1-2, 17-18; Ps 103; 1 Cor 3:16-23; Mt 5:38-48) ******************************************************** A priest and a cowboy were riding along. The cowboy was not only talking incessantly, he did not listen to a thing the priest was trying to say. Finally, in desperation the priest […]
