WEEKDAY 26 04 – Year I A Six-Pack for Discipleship: Optional Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska (Nehemiah 8:1-12; Ps 19; Lk 10:1-12) **************************************************** Was there ever a moment when a passage of scripture brought tears to your eyes? That was the experience of the exiles who returned to Jerusalem and assembled around the priest Ezra […]

WEEK 26 03 – Year I Lessons Learned on the Way: Memorial – St Francis of Assisi (Neh 2:1-8; Ps 137; Lk 9:57-62) ****************************************** Have you ever been on a pilgrimage, or walked the El Camino de Santiago trail in France and Spain? If so, you will find it easy to identify with today’s gospel. […]

HOMILY WEEKDAY 26 02 – Year I Attraction, Not Promotion (Zech 8:20-23; Ps 87; Lk 9:51-56) ****************************************** While I was in the Holy Land taking a course at Tantur Ecumenical Institute, we were privileged to visit a Samaritan community and a Samaritan priest. He was adamant they were the real Jews; that Abraham had come […]

HOMILY WEEK 26 01 – Year I Believing in Angels: Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Exodus 23:20-23; Ps 91; Mt 18:1-5, 10) ****************************************** A young boy asked his parents to be alone with his newly born baby sister. The parents listened in and heard him say to his little sister, “Quick, tell me what […]

  HOMILY SUNDAY 26 – A Faith, Repentance and God’s Will (Ezekiel 18:25-28; Psalm 25; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32) ************************************************************* At the age of twelve, Frank was sent by his hard-driving workaholic father to pick wild oats out of a quarter section of land sowed to oats. While his father probably thought it was a […]

HOMILY WEEK 25 06 – Year I The Paradox of Presence, Suffering and Persecution: Memorial of Saint Jerome (Zech 2:1-11; Jer 31; Lk 9:43-45) **************************************************** Have you ever heard of a chancel lamp? It is that lantern or candle in a church that tells us that Jesus is present in the tabernacle. You might think […]

HOMILY WEEK 26 05 – Year I Known and Loved – Like Nathanael: Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (Rev 12:7-12; Ps 138; Jn 1:47-51) ******************************************************* One person once said his wife was like an angel. When asked how so, he replied, “Up in the air and always harping!” Have you ever wondered what […]

HOMILY WEEK 25 04 – Year I God at Work in our World: Optional Memorial of St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions (Haggai 1:1-8; Ps 149; Lk 9:7-9) *************************************** “The Lord takes delight in God’s people.” What a wonderful Responsorial psalm antiphon! But do we really believe that God takes delight in us? There is an […]

HOMILY WEEK 25 03 – Year I Temple and Second Chance, or Kingdom of God and New Creation? Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul and World Tourism Day (Ezra 9:5-9; Tob 13:3-6; Lk 9:1-6) ********************************************************* There is a difference between a honeymoon that is time limited, and intimacy that is a choice over a life-time. […]

HOMILY WEEK 25 02 – Year I Taking up the Cross and Living Calvary in Slow Motion: Feast of Saints Jean de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues and Companions (Rev 7:9-17; Ps 124; 2 Cor 4:7-15; Lk 9:23-26) ********************************************************* This day honours the eight martyrs of North America – six Jesuit priests and two assistants – who […]