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 […]
Category: Homilies
BAPTISM AND TEMPTATIONS OF JESUS
HOMILY LENT SUNDAY 01 – B Living in the Kingdom (Genesis 9:8-15; Psalm 25; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15 ) ********************************************************** Why is it impossible to starve in a desert? The answer is because you can always eat the sand which is under your feet! The gospel today reminds me of my motto as an […]
Founders of the Servite Order
HOMILY SATURDAY AFTER ASH WED Called to Loving Obedience and Holiness: Optional Memorial of the Founders of the Servite Order (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, […]
Fasting
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 […]
Cross and Blessing
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 […]
Ash Wednesday
ASH WEDNESDAY Be the Righteousness of God (Joel 2:12-18; Psalm 51; 2 Cor 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18) ************************************************************* The message that emerges from the readings for today’s Ash Wednesday celebration leaps out at us from the second reading, Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. St. Paul urges his readers to be reconciled to God first, […]
Temptations
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 […]
Humility, Wisdom and Joy
HOMILY WEEK 06 01 – Year II Humility, Wisdom and Joy (James 1:1-11; Ps 119; Mk 8:11-13) *********************************************************** Humility, Wisdom, Joy. Those three words can be a profound seven-syllable mantra for contemplative prayer emerging from today’s readings. They provide us with a compelling message: Be humble, pray for wisdom and we will experience joy. Psalm […]
Holistic Healing
HOMILY SUNDAY 06 – B Holistic Healing (Leviticus 13:1-2, 45-46; Psalm 32; 1 Cor 10:23-11.1; Mark 1:40-45) **************************************************************** Fr. Lucien Larré, founder of Bosco homes for delinquent teenagers and well-known speaker and presenter of parish missions, shares an experience he had of a healing. A sister who had worked for him developed MS to the […]
St. Scholastica
HOMILY WEEK 05 06 – Year II Jesus – Bread of Life: Faith Versus Faithlessness Memorial of St. Scholastica (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, […]
