HOMILY SUNDAY 23 – A Forgiveness and Love – Heart of the Church (Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95; Romans 13:8-10; Mt 18:15-20) ************************************************************* Can you sum up the Bible in one sentence? St. Paul, in the second reading, does it for us. The commandments, he tells us, are summed up in this one word: “Love your […]

HOMILY WEEK 23 A – Year II What Would Jesus Do? (1 Cor 4:6-15; Ps 145; Lk 6:1-5) ***************************************** “Think of us as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.” That line, from St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, provides us with a strong message and mandate: we are to be servants […]

HOMILY WEEK 22 05 – Year II New Wine, New Wineskins: Optional Memorial of Blessed Dina Bélanger (1 Cor 4:1-5; Ps 37; Lk 5:33-39) *********************************************** “The new wine will burst the skins.” In ancient Israel, the juice from pressed grapes immediately went into a container to ferment into wine. If the wine was going to […]

HOMILY WEEK 22 04 – Year II An Invasion of Grace: Memorial of St. Gregory the Great (1 Cor 3:18-23; Ps 24; Lk 5:1-11) ************************************* Did you know that all wise people come from the East? And that the wiser they are, sooner they come! The liturgy today encourages us to be wise, put our […]

HOMILY WEEK 22 03 – Year II Co-workers Building the Kingdom of God: Optional Memorial of Blessed André Grasset (1 Cor 3:1-9; Ps 33; Lk 4:38-44) ******************************************* A key feature of my first year of ministry in northern Saskatchewan was introducing the Christopher Leadership Course to the north, which in turn convinced me of the […]

HOMILY WEEK 22 02 – Year II Living Out Our Trinitarian Faith: World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (1 Cor 2:10-16; Ps 145; Lk 4:31-37) ******************************************************* Step 3 of the A.A. program reads, “Made a decision to surrender our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood […]

HOMILY WEEK 22 01 – Year II The Dark Side of Belief (1 Cor 2:1-5; Ps 119; Lk 4:16-30) ********************************************************* Today’s gospel ends in a brutal, shocking manner, as the religious townsfolk of Nazareth are suddenly enraged and want to kill Jesus! What are we to make of this? The readings today challenge us to […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 22 – A The Cross is a Blessing (Jeremiah 20:7-9; Psalm 63; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27) ********************************************************** “If anyone wants to become my follower, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” The message to us from today’s Gospel is crystal clear: being a believer, a follower of Jesus, […]

HOMILY WEEK 21 06 – Year II The Passion of John the Baptist: Prophetic Consolation and Desolation (Jer 1:17-19; Ps 71; Mk 6:17-29) *********************************************** The late Fr. Andrew Britz OSB, former editor of the Prairie Messenger newspaper, was noted for his courageous editorials that addressed rather fearlessly and directly the key and often controversial issues […]

HOMILY WEEK 21 05 – Year II Faith expressed through Love: Memorial of St. Augustine (1 Cor 1:17-25; Ps 33; Mt 25:1-13) ********************************************* For St. Paul, in the first reading, what is more important than even baptism? The answer is proclaiming the Gospel. He says he was not sent to baptize but to preach the […]