HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 07 05 – Year II Servant Leadership Based on Love and Forgiveness: Optional Memorial of St. Paul VI (Acts 24:27, 25:13-21; Ps 103; Jn 21:15-19) ************************************************** In the early years of my ministry in northern Saskatchewan, a brother priest and I went by boat from Île-à-la Crosse to Patuanak to visit […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 07 04 – Year II Called to Faith, Unity and Reconciliation (Acts 22:30; 23:6-11; Ps 16; Jn 17:20-26) ***************************************************** “So that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me.” That statement by Jesus, again in the context of the Farewell Discourse at the Last […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 07 03 – Year II Balancing Action and Contemplation: Optional Memorial of St. Augustine of Canterbury (Acts 20:28-38; Ps 68;Jn 17:11b-19) ***************************************** Some see Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr as a modern-day prophet, whose career spans founding the New Jerusalem charismatic community, recording a ground-breaking Great Themes of Scripture, delving into Male […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 07 02 – Year II Living Lives of Love and Gratitude: Memorial of St. Philip Neri (Acts 20:17-27; Ps 68; Jn17:1-11a) ************************************************ When someone is dying, we pay special attention to his or her last words. In the readings today, both Jesus and St. Paul are saying farewell – Jesus to […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 07 01 – Year II Firing Up Our Baptism: Optional Memorial of St. Maria Magdalene de’ Pazzi (Acts 19:1-8; Ps 68; Jn 16:29-33) ******************************************************* St. Thomas Aquinas once said, “God is sheer joy, and sheer joy demands company.” That saying is appropriate for us today. The readings today invite us to […]

ASCENSION OF THE LORD – YEAR A Witnesses Uniting Heaven and Earth (Acts 1:1-11; Ps 46; Eph 1:17-23; Mt 28:16-20) *************************************************** A woman died and went to heaven. St. Peter met her at the gate, and informed her that she had to spell a word to get in. “What is the word?” she asked. “Love,” […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 06 06 – Year II On Being Joyful Missionary Disciples (Acts 18:23-28; Ps 47; Jn 16:23-28) *************************************************** God is good – all the time! All the time – God is good! That saying, popular with some people, underlines the message from today’s readings: God is good, so believe in Him, love […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 06 05 – Year II Joyful Redemptive Suffering: Optional Memorial of St. Rita of Cassia (Acts 18:9-18; Ps 47; Jn 16:20-23) ************************************************** “You will have pain, but your pain will be turned into joy.” Today’s gospel invites us into a radical stance towards suffering and pain – to see it as […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 06 04 – Year II Singing A New Song: Optional Memorial of St. Eugene de Mazenod (Acts 18:1-8; Ps 98: Jn 16:16-20) *********************************************   Are you singing a new song? The readings today invite us to sing a new song, with a chorus that could be: “Jesus is risen, the Spirit […]

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 06 03 Year II Faith: Lived Out or Just Worn? (Acts 17:15, 22-18:1; Ps 148; Jn 16:12-15) ************************************************ Are we just wearing our faith, or truly living it? The readings today invite us to have a mature, genuine faith in God as Trinitarian relationship and Jesus as Risen Lord that will […]