ponderings on life and faith
Often, things slip by, unnoticed, in the background. I guess that is why it is called the background. This month, there has been something playing out in the background of our Masses. It is hidden in the Second Readings, where throughout the course of this month we have heard parts of the Letter of James to […]
Who are you? Better yet, Who am I? Do you know? If you do, could you please see me after Mass and tell me? I have been trying to figure it out for 65 years. I have the sense that if I asked 20 of you who am I, apart from some obvious answers (Deacon, […]
The Nativity of John the Baptist is a fascinating Feast. It is one of only three Church feasts that celebrate a birthday …. The others are the births of Jesus, and of his Mother, Mary. John the Baptist is well known to Catholics, and yet we too often underestimate his importance to us as Christians. […]
Gospel (Luke 24.35-48). The two disciples told the eleven and their companions what had happened on the road to Emmaus, and how Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled […]
Holy Thursday 2018 Alice, a dear friend of mine, passed away a few days ago. After getting the news, I spent some quiet time looking through the pictures I had on my computer of Alice and her family, and the memories of our journey through life together. Memories. As humans, we want something of the person […]
This is not just another Sunday: Palm Sunday is the beginning of what the Church calls “Holy Week. It is the beginning of a week with Christ that culminates next Sunday at Easter. It is a profoundly symbolic week, for by participating in the liturgies, we are not just on-lookers engaged in a pageant; rather, we are uniting ourselves with […]
Shepherd me, O God, Beyond my wants, Beyond my fears, From death into life. What follows is the majority of the text that made up a Lenten Mission given in 2015 at St. John Chrysostom parish in Newmarket, and in 2018 at Saint Aidan parish in Toronto. The three presentations that were delivered have been compiled into one document. […]
Lent comes early this year, and over the next 40 days, you will be hearing a lot about the Three Pillars of Lent – Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. So today, on this first Sunday of Lent, lets touch on just one of the three pillars – Prayer, and perhaps explore this pillar just a bit. Prayer […]
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, year B I shall resist all temptations to tell a mother-in-law joke. Pray for me … it will be hard… What an interesting set of readings we have today. It starts off with Job …. that insightful and powerful story about the person who has everything, then has nothing, then […]
Hidden under one form or another , there is always a star glittering out there in the darkness to lead us to God. The Feast of the Epiphany achieved great importance early on in the history of the Church. It was celebrated long before even Christmas itself came to be regarded as a feast. I think it was […]
Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle B It’s easy to build a house. It’s much harder to build a home. David found that out a long time ago, as we heard in our first reading. He felt guilty that he should have so much around him, while the Ark of God lived in a tent. […]
Today we reach the end of the Church’s liturgical year … the Feast of Christ the King. It is an opportunity for us to take a few minutes to reflect on just what kind of King Jesus was. Often, when we think of the word King, it brings up certain images … Images of Rulers with power […]
Once more Jesus spoke to the chief priests and Pharisees in parables: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, […]
Matthew 20.1-16 Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples. “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw […]
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A It is summer now, and besides a short homily, you no doubt are looking forward to sitting outside, relaxing and catching a few rays, and perhaps do some reading. Our readings today touch on a profound theme …. Isaiah today tells us about the life-giving rain, that comes from […]
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before humans, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven” … from the Gospel, 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A) At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus gathered the disciples together and gave them what is often called “the great commission,” to go into the whole world and make […]
at times our life is like this picture. when we look back, it seems like we carry along with us so many rocks .. the events in our life that have weighed us down. hard times. unforgiving places. sometimes it seems that these events are ready to overtake us, and we can feel overwhelmed.weighted down. […]
6th Sunday of Easter (A) In our first reading we hear the story of the Deacon Philip announcing Christ to the Samaritans. They were freed from unclean spirits, paralysis and various diseases. And they were filled with great joy. Joy It’s not a word we hear very much. And we don’t seem to use the word […]
Gospel – Second Sunday of Easter (John 20.19-31) Seeing is Believing ….. How often have we heard that phrase “Seeing is believing”? When we think about it, it seems that concept is woven into our everyday life. If we visit the bank – they need to see proof we have an account. If we go to a hospital or […]
I wasn’t a cradle-Catholic. I discovered God when I was a teenager. Back in the 1960’s, when I was a long haired hippie motorcyclist. I had an old Volkswagen Beetle too. It was purple with flowers painted all over it. Ahh, the sixties. And to be honest, I didn’t really discover God – it was more like I […]
