HOMILY WEEK 17 03 – Year I Priceless Transformation – Memorial: St Ignatius of Loyola (Exodus 34:29-35; Ps 99; Mt 13:44-46) ************************************* The pearl is a very interesting analogy for life in the kingdom. Fred Sherrer, in a commentary on this gospel in an earlier Living with Christissue, explains: “Unlike other precious stones, the pearl […]

HOMILY WEEK 17 02 – Year I Living in the Kingdom (Ex 33:7-11; 34;4-9, 28; Ps 103; Mt 13:36-43) ********************************************* After Word Youth Days in Toronto in 2003, Ken Yasinski, a gifted young man from St. Walburg, Sask. was inspired to begin offering a series of youth retreats he called Face to Face. These retreats, […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 17 – C Lord, Teach Us to Pray (Genesis 18:20-21, 23-32; Psalm 138; Col 2:6-14; Luke 11:1-13) ************************************************************* Liturgists who choose the readings for each Sunday try to arrange a connection between the Gospel and the first reading. The second reading may also have an obvious connection, but that usually is secondary. Today’s […]

HOMILY WEEK 16 06 – Year I People of a New Covenant: Praise, Gratitude and Forgiveness (Ex 24:3-8; Ps 50; Mt 13:24-30) ****************************************************** Are you married? Committed to a life-long friendship? You are in a covenant relationship. The readings today designate us as a people of a new covenant comprised of praise, gratitude and forgiveness. […]

HOMILY – FEAST of ST JOACHIM AND ANNE (Sir 44:1, 8, 10-15; Ps 132; Mt 13:16-17) ********************************************** Today we celebrate the feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne, the parents of our mother Mary, and the grandparents of Jesus. The gospels are bereft of details regarding them – not even offering their names. What we […]

HOMILY – FEAST OF ST JAMES Life of Christ Within – Loving Service Without (2 Cor 4:7-15; Ps 126; Mt 20:20-28) ************************************** “We make living by what we get; we make a life by what we give away.” Those words by Sir Winston Churchill accompany the message of the readings today on this feast of […]

HOMILY WEEK 16 03 – Year I Life as a Wilderness Journey of Faith – Optional Memorial: St. Sharbel Makhluf (Ex 16:1-15; Ps 78; Mt 13:1-9) ******************************************* The longest journey in the world is often from our heads to our hearts. Today’s readings lead us into a wilderness journey to deeper faith and more mature […]

HOMILY WEEK 16 02 – Year I Brothers and Sisters of Jesus – Optional Memorial: St. Bridget of Sweden (Ex 14:21-15:1; Ex 15:7-17; Mt 12:46-50) ********************************************** Do you see yourself as a brother or sister of Jesus? The liturgy today invites us to appreciate our baptism which joins us to Jesus and makes us his […]

HOMILY FEAST OF MARY MAGDALENE (Song of Song 3:1-4; Ps 63; Jn 20:1-18) ********************************************** The first mission to which I was assigned as a young Oblate priest was St. Mary Magdalene in Beauval, on the picturesque banks of the Beaver River. When we built a new church in 1984, we commissioned Al Gerritsen to carve […]

HOMILY SUNDAY 16 – C Living within a Mystery (Gen 18:1-10a; Psalm 15; Col 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42) *************************************************** All three readings today provide rich food for thought and nourishment for our spirit. They do so in a way that interconnects and weaves a strong invitation to us: we are invited to live within the mystery […]