HOMILY WEEK 31 03 – Year II Disciples as Taking Up and Letting Go: Optional Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo (Phil 2:12-18; Ps 27; Lk 14:25-33) *********************************************** While in Newfoundland conducting a retreat for priests in the Diocese of Corner Brook-Labrador, this prairie boy enjoyed observing the tide come in and go out. It was […]

HOMILY WEEK 31 02 – Year II Humble Praise and Worship – a Fitting Response Optional Memorial of St. Martin de Porres (Phil 2:5-11; Ps 22; Lk 14:15-24) ****************************************************** Have you been invited to an important event recently? The liturgy today both extends an invitation to participate more fully in the Kingdom of God, and […]

HOMILY – ALL SOUL’S DAY Living the Paschal Mystery (Job 19:1, 23-27; Ps 103; 1Cor 15:20-23; Jn 12:23-26) ***************************************************** “Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved.” Both the readings and today’s commemoration of All Soul’s Day invite us to follow Jesus in living the Paschal Mystery. Jesus, in the […]

HOMILY – ALL SAINTS DAY – YEAR A Helping Others Become Saints (Rev 7:2-4, 9-14; Psalm 24; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12) ****************************************************** Help people be fully human, then help them become Christian, and finally help them to become saints. These words are from St. Eugene de Mazenod, founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. […]

HOMILY WEEK 30 05 – Year II Checking our Attitudes: Legalistic or Loving? (Phil 1:1-11; Ps 111; Lk 14:1-6) ******************************************** “How we do anything is how we do everything!” That intriguing statement by Fr. Richard Rohr OFM touches on the message from today’s readings inviting us to check our attitudes around the way we live […]

HOMILY WEEK 30 04 – Year II Putting on the Armour of God (Eph 6:10-21; Ps 144; Lk 13:31-35) ************************************ “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you!” According to the New Interpreter’s Bible, these are fateful words. Even though Luke here puzzlingly paints a more positive picture of the Pharisees than the […]

HOMILY WEEK 30 03 – Year II Our Identity and Life in Christ: Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude (Eph 2:19-22; Ps 19; Lk 6:12-19) ***************************************** A bartender told two strings who went into a bar for a drink the bar did not serve strings and kicked them out. One of the strings asked […]

HOMILY WEEK 30 02 – Year II Marriage and the Kingdom of God (Eph 5:21-33; Ps 128; Lk 13:18-21) ******************************************* It has been said that the marriage bed is comparable to an altar for a married couple. That statement, and the readings today, present us with the message that marital commitment and achieving intimacy are […]

HOMILY WEEK 30 01 – Year II Living as Children of Light (Eph 4:32-5:8; Ps 1; Lk 13:10-17) *************************************** “… but now in the Lord you are light.” That sentence by St Paul leads right into the message of today’s liturgy – an invitation to live as children of light. In his letter to the […]