HOMILY Week 34 04 – Year I Feast of St Andrew: Kerygma and Didache (Rm 10:9-18; Ps 19; Mt 4:18-22) *************************************************** “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your hearts that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” This message of Paul to the Romans succinctly […]

HOMILY WEEK 34 03 – Year I Bless and Praise God Forever (Dan 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28; Dan 3; Lk 21:12-19) ************************************************* There was once a great ecclesiological debate in the Vatican to decide which was the greatest male religious order in the world. They were all gathered – Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, Redemptorists, Oblates of […]

HOMILY WEEK 34 02 – Year I Temple Glory or Glorious Kingdom? (Dan 2:3, 9-30, 31-45; Dan 3; Lk 21:5-11) ******************************************* Did you know that Meghan Markle was the most googled woman in the world after her engagement to Prince Harry? Could that be because kingdoms, royalty, palaces and temples hold out the hope for […]

HOMILY WEEK 34 01 – Year I Giving God Glory and Praise at all Times (Dan 1:1-20; Dn 3:52-56; Lk 21:1-4) **************************************** When Bad Things Happen to Good People is a book written by Rabbi Kuschner, appropriate for the readings today inviting us to trust God totally in good times and bad. The psalm response […]

HOMILY WEEK 33 06 – Year I Reconciliation – Sign of the Resurrection: Optional Memorial of St. Catherine of Alexandria (1 Macc 6:1-13; Ps 9; Lk 20:27-40) ********************************************** Someone once told me his wife was like an angel. When I wondered how so, he said she was up in the air and always harping! Today’s […]

HOMILY WEEK 33 05 – Year I Living Temples of the Word: Memorial of St. Andrew Dūng-Lac and Companions (1 Macc 4:36-37; 52-59; Ps29; Luke 19:45-48) ******************************************** When was the last time you were spellbound by someone’s words? Today’s liturgy extends a double invitation to us: not just to be “spellbound” by the words of […]

HOMILY WEEK 33 04 – Year I The Many Visitations of Jesus: Optional Memorial of St. Clement I (1 Macc 2:15-29; Ps 50; Lk 19:41-44) ****************************************** When I was a young Oblate in my first mission of Beauval, Fr. Jim Fiori OMI and Sr. René Buliard SMS, drove down from Île-à-la-Crosse for a visit one […]

HOMILY WEEK 33 03 – Year I Faith, Hope and Love: Memorial of St. Cecilia (2 Macc 7:1-31; Ps 17; Lk 19:11-28) ********************************************* Some years ago, St. Albert parish celebrated their 150th anniversary with a year-long series of speakers and events. I was invited to conduct a parish mission as part of that series, and […]

  HOMILY WEEK 33 02 – Year I “Carpe Diem” – Seizing the day, like Zacchaeus: Memorial – The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (2 Mac 6:18-31; Ps 3; Lk 19:1-10 ************************************************** “Carpe Diem.” “Seize the day.” This saying, made famous by the movie Dead Poets’ Society, fits the readings today, inviting us to […]

HOMILY WEEK 33 01 – Year I Being Faithful to a Covenant Relationship: (1 Mac 1:1-64; Ps 119; Lk 18:35-43) ************************************************ We have probably all heard the saying, “There is more to this than meets the eye.” That statement applies to today’s readings with a touch of divine irony – a blind man is able […]