ponderings on life and faith
Here is where I have posted some of the homilies and reflections given over the years. Some also have an audio track …… I hope you find them helpful. Enjoy!
Homily for the Feast of the Ascension, year C (2025) Ascension is not about where Jesus went, but about what he asks of us as His disciples.There are two times in the Gospels when we get glimpses of God’s creation, that is so much bigger than we can imagine – glimpses of God, who is so […]
Homily for [C] 5 Easter – John 13.31-35 Sometimes the most profound truths are found in just a few words. At the end of our gospel today, we find just those words. A new commandment, direct from God. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another”. Just as I have loved […]
Homily for Palm Sunday, 2025 Palm Sunday marks our entry into Holy Week …. A time set aside to explore the mystery of God revealed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the most profound of times in our church, and a powerful opportunity to nourish our spirit. Yet, all too often, we […]
Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent 2025 (Luke 9.28b-36) There are times in our lives when the divine realm reaches into our realm and makes its presence known. I suspect that most of you are here today not because you memorized the Catechism. Or read the documents of Vatican II. Or even Vatican I. […]
homily [C]OT6 : Luke 6.20-26 Our readings today start with the Prophet Jeremiah, telling us ‘Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord’. In other words, choose the good, do the good and you will be blessed. The Prophet’s words are challenging but at least they are understandable. And […]
Homily, 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C We have now officially left the Christmas season, and have begun Ordinary Time. It’s also the year where we will hear a lot from the Gospel of Luke … my favorite Gospel. And this year is also the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of the […]
I wasn’t a cradle-Catholic. Growing up, Christmas for me was just a time to give and receive presents, and spend time with family. See my nephews play with new toys. Enjoy a family Christmas dinner. There wasn’t much of Christ or church in the day. That religious stuff was what religious folk did … and […]
homily for the second Sunday of Advent, Year C (2024). Readings Philippians 1.3-6, 8-11 ; Luke 3.1-6 Last week, the first Sunday of Advent, our Gospel told us about scary, ominous things. Signs in the skies. Roaring of thunder. Perplexity of nations. Scary. Especially given all of the wars and events unfolding in the world […]
Mark 12.38-44. 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, year B Most of you have heard today’s Gospel a number of times over the years. And so, you are probably thinking to yourselves that it is a nice lead-in for the Deacon doing a homily about giving. OK. Thats not too challenging. Perhaps a homily that contrasts […]
Mark 10.35-45 whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. What a fascinating scenario is played out before us in today’s Gospel. The two disciples James and John want to be seen as Christ’s left- and right-hand persons. Now, we […]
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, year B. Gospel -Mark 9.38-48 There is an incredible richness to the words of the scriptures we have heard today. In case you didn’t notice, this month, all of our second readings have come from the letter of James ….. one of my favourite letters ….. and one I heartily […]
John 6.60-69. Almost two months ago, we started a very special set of readings. It began with our second readings from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians about how to live as a follower of Christ, a letter we continue to hear from even this weekend. And then at the end of July, we began a […]
Homily for 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Ahhh – summer is here. A time of sunshine, sand, surf, and short homilies. And today, I thought I would chat about something that is not immediately obvious. Our second reading today was from Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. Our second reading last week […]
homily for the 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. 2024. Mark 4.26-34 We live in challenging times. Not that this is new to humanity, or even to some of us here. Indeed, I remember in elementary school sheltering below my desk as we rehearsed what to do in case of a nuclear missile attack. […]
Homily, Ascension Sunday 2024 Can you imagine being there when Jesus ascended? Can you see the look of Surprise and Shock on the apostles’ faces as Jesus ascended into heaven? It was then, and is now, a surprising event. A shocking event. The Apostles expected the Messiah to come as a mighty King. Surprise! He came […]
Luke 24.35-48 Jesus comes to you and me in ways we least expect. In the Gospel today, Cleopas and his companion are telling the other disciples how Jesus appeared to them on the road to Emmaus when Jesus shows up out of nowhere, interrupting their conversation. “Shalom!” he says. “Peace be with you,” They see him, they hear […]
Easter Sunday 2024 It is said that every generation has a defining moment. For my generation, it was likely the Cuban missile crisis and its threat of starting a global thermonuclear war. A close second was the decade of the 1960’s and the massive social changes which that decade encompassed. Those defining moments changed us. Shaped […]
4th Sunday of Lent, Year B. John 3.14-21 What an amazing set of readings we have on this fourth Sunday of Lent. It is known as Laetare Sunday ….. the second of the two times in the year that you will have to imagine that our vestments are pink …… because it is about Joy […]
Mark 1.40-45 In the 1980s, when I was doing my studies at St. Augustine Seminary, I also completed a six month Clinical Pastoral Internship at Toronto East General, now known as Michael Garron Hospital, as part of my formation in Chaplaincy. The very first patient I visited and spent time with was a young man, […]
4th Sunday Ordinary Time Year B : Gospel: Mark 1.21-28 Mark’s Gospel has a particular style.. Very action oriented. Very direct. Seems very simple, but beware- for under that simplicity lays really deep messages; every story, every event, every place, has some hidden depths. In the next few weeks, Mark will tell us stories that […]
