HOMILY WEEK 33 06 – Year I Reconciliation – Sign of the Resurrection: (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 an always harping! Today’s gospel invites us to be like the […]

HOMILY WEEK 33 05 – Year I Living Temples of the Word: (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 Jesus, but to actually be a temple […]

HOMILY WEEK 33 04 – Year I The Many Visitations of Jesus: Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul (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 […]

HOMILY WEEK 33 03 – Year I Faith, Hope and Love: Optional Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (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 […]

  HOMILY WEEK 33 02 – Year I “Carpe Diem” – Seizing the day, like Zacchaeus: Optional Memorial of St. Margaret of Scotland (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 SUNDAY 33 – B The End of The World: Discerning Lasting Things (Daniel 12:1-3; Ps 16; Hebrews 10:11-14, 18; Mk 13:24-32) ************************************************************ Are you in a rut, or in a groove? Some people are in a rut so long they think it’s a groove. Today’s readings are designed to jar us out of any […]

HOMILY WEEK 32 06 – Year I Faith Expressed through Justice: (Wis 18:14-16; 19:6-9; PS 105; LK 18:1-8) ******************************************** What are you praying for? Today’s readings invite us into a stronger, trusting faith in Jesus, and to persevere in prayer. Bishop Robert Barron stresses that today’s Gospel exhorts us to pray with persistence. This command […]

HOMILY WEEK 32 05 – Year I Faith and Readiness; Believe and Love: Optional Memorial of St. Josaphat (Wis 13:1-9; Ps 19; Lk 17:26-37) ********************************************* A nervous lector at the Sunday Eucharist ended her reading one day with the words, “This is the end of the world.” To which the congregation dutifully responded. “Thanks be […]

HOMILY WEEK 32 04 – Year I Living in the Reign: Memorial of St. Martin of Tours (Wis 7:22-8:1; Ps 119; Lk 17:20-28) ****************************************************** Living in the Reign is the title of a retreat that I love to offer. It of course, alludes to living in the Kingdom of God here and now, the message […]

HOMILY WEEK 32 03 – Year I Grateful Servants of the Kingdom: Memorial of St. Leo the Great (Wis 6:1-11; Ps 82; Lk 17:11-19) ************************************************** “Because as servants of the kingdom you did not rule rightly.” That quote from the first reading caught my attention for two reasons: one, it is the first time that […]