SOLEMNITY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS – Year B Seeing Into the Heart of God Hosea 11:1-9; Is 12; Eph 3:8-19; Jn 19:31-37) **************************************************** Today, we celebrate the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a devotion rooted in John’s Gospel, where blood and water flowed from Jesus’ side at his crucifixion. Gazing at […]

HOMILY WEEK 09 04 – Year II Love and Do What You Will: Optional Memorial of St. Norbert (2 Tim 2:8-15; Ps 25; Mk 12:28-34) ****************************************** How well are you able to love yourself? Are you struggling with low self-worth? Do you realize you might daily be breaking one of the commandments of Jesus? The […]

HOMILY WEEK 09 03 – Year II Rekindling the Flame of the Holy Spirit: Memorial of St. Boniface (2 Tim 1:1-12; Ps 123; Mk 12:18-27) *********************************** Most of us, I would think, have had the experience of sitting by a campfire until it burned down to some glowing embers. We then got up to fan […]

HOMILY WEEK 09 02 – Year II Growing in Grace and Knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Pt 3:12-18; Ps 90; Mk 12:13-17) ******************************************* St. Peter, in the first reading, recognizes that we are all keeping vigil – all waiting for the final coming of Jesus Christ to bring all of creation to fulfillment. In this […]

HOMILY WEEK 09 01 – Year II Faith, Trust and Participate: St. Charles Lwanga and Companions (2 Pt 1:1-7; Ps 91; Mk 12:1-12) ************************************* “The last act is the greatest treason. To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”  That statement by  T.S. Eliot, in his play “Murder in the Cathedral” fits today’s liturgy […]

HOMILY WEEK 09 01 – Year II Faith, Trust and Participate: Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions (2 Pt 1:1-7; Ps 91; Mk 12:1-12) ************************************* “The last act is the greatest treason. To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”  That statement by  T.S. Eliot, in his play “Murder in the Cathedral” fits […]

HOMILY CORPUS CHRISTI – B The Eucharist – Sacrament of Reconciliation (Ex 24:3-8; Heb 9:11-15; Mk 14:1-16, 22-26) *********************************************** Three sentences provide a background for today’s liturgy of Corpus Christi or Body and Blood of Christ: Richard Rohr states “Transformed people transform people” and “We transmit the pain we don’t transform.”  St. Thomas Aquinas wrote […]

WEEK 08 06 – Year II Know the Way, Go the Way, Show the Way (Jude 17-25; Ps 63; Mk 11:27-33) ************************************** The Christopher Leadership Course for youth includes the saying, “Know the Way, Go the Way and Show the Way” in one of its warm-ups. In a way, that saying could be seen as […]

HOMILY – FEAST OF THE VISITATION (Zeph 3:14-18/Rm 12:9-16; Is 12; Lk 1:39-56) *************************************************** In his book, Mary – Mirror of the Church, former papal preacher Ranaiero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., offers beautiful insights into role of Mary in the Church. In his writings, Cantalamessa invites us to make imitation of Mary our priority. He calls […]

HOMILY WEEK 08 04 – Year II Living in and Proclaiming the Light of Christ (1 Pt 2:2-5,9-12; Ps 100; Mk 10:46-52) ************************************** Close your eyes and keep them closed for a minute – and imagine staying like that for the rest of your life – blind and unable to see. The powerful readings today […]