HOMILY WEEK 01 03 – Year I Faith in Jesus as One of Us: Optional Memorial of St. Hilary (Heb 2:14-18; Ps 105; Mk 1:29-39) *********************************** Some students of human behaviour strive to follow the paradigm: Who, What, Where, Why, When and How? when writing on a certain topic. These questions pretty well assure that […]
Faith-Jesus Christ-St. Marguerite Bourgeoys
HOMILY WEEKDAY 01 02 – Year I Jesus: True God and True Man Memorial of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys (Heb 2:5-12; Ps 8; Mk 1:21-28) ***************************************** Our Christian faith invites us to worship Jesus as divine, and relate to his humanity as a brother. The author of Hebrews in yesterday’s first reading seemed very intent on […]
Faith-Discipleship-St. Marguerite Bourgeoys
HOMILY WEEK 01 01 – Year I The Threefold Call to Discipleship: Believe, Repent and Follow (Heb 1:1-6; Ps 97; Mk 1:14-20) ******************************************************** Liturgists usually try to choose a reading that connects with the gospel for the day. In today’s liturgy, they succeeded quite well as the author of Hebrews neatly complements the gospel of […]
Jesus Christ-Creation-Paschal Mystery-Exodus-Baptism
BAPTISM OF THE LORD – YEAR B Jesus Christ: New Creation, New Incarnation and a New Exodus (Isaiah 55:1-11; Isaiah 12; 1 John 5:1-9; Mk 1:7-11) ************************************************************* A little boy on beach spied a matronly woman sitting under a beach umbrella on the sand. He asked, “Are you a Christian?” “Yes,” she replied. “Do you […]
Faith-Humility-Freedom
HOMILY CHRISTMAS SEASON – January 9th Lessons on Faith, Humility and Freedom (1 Jn 5:14-21; Ps 149; Jn 3:22-30) ****************************************** Have you ever felt envy at someone else’s success? One response to such a question might well be, “Who hasn’t?” as envy has surely visited all of us at one time or another. Today’s readings […]
Faith-Love-Self-awareness-St Raymond of Penyafort
HOMILY CHRISTMAS SEASON – JANUARY 08th Three That Testify: Living God’s Testimony Optional Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort (1 Jn 5:5-13; Ps 147; Lk 5:12-16) ************************************************ And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. That sentence from the first reading hints at the dynamic energy […]
Faith-Love-St. André Bessette
HOMILY CHRISTMAS SEASON – JANUARY 7th Faith Expressed Through Love: Optional Memorial of St. André Bessette (1 Jn 4:19-5:4; Ps 72; Lk 4:14-22) ******************************************* The liturgy today invites us to deepen our faith in Jesus as the Messiah, revealing a God who is love, and then express that faith by living his commandment to love. […]
Faith-Love-Jesus Christ
HOMILY CHRISTMAS SEASON – JANUARY 6th Becoming Icons of God’s Love on Earth: (1 Jn 4:11-18; Ps 72; Mk 6:45-52) ************************************************* “… because as he is, so are we in this world.” For some reason, this sentence stood out for me as a focal point for this homily, emerging as it did from the readings […]
Faith-Love-Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish
HOMILY WEEKDAYS OF CHRISTMAS – JANUARY 5th A God Who is Love, and Loving Like God (1 Jn 4:7-10; Ps 72; Mk 6:34-44) ******************************************** The readings today challenge us in two ways: how well do we really know God, and are we learning God’s language of love? John in the first reading, and Mark in […]
Jesus Christ-Kingdom of God
WEEKDAY OF CHRISTMAS – JANUARY 4th Living in the Kingdom through Faith and Love: (1 Jn 3:22-4:6; Ps 2; Mt 4:12-25) ************************************************* According to The Word Among Us, researchers interviewed American Christian youth, both Catholic and non-Catholic, for a recent study. The data indicated although they called themselves Christians, many of the young people didn’t […]
