Reflection – May 4th, 2025 – 3rd Sunday of Easter

Reflection – May 4th, 2025 – 3rd Sunday of Easter

The 3rd Sunday of Easter, also known as Good Shepherd Sunday, emphasizes the call to serve and shepherd God’s flock. The gospel reading focuses on Jesus’ restoration of Peter and his subsequent mission to tend to the sheep. This Sunday encourages reflection on how we, too, are called to be shepherds of God’s people, offering love, care, and the word of life, just as Jesus does. By serving others, we tend and feed as Jesus instructed Peter.

 I found an interesting fact: ...

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Cathy Keirstead

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Homily – April 27th, 2025 – 2nd Sunday of Easter

Homily – April 27th, 2025 – 2nd Sunday of Easter

History hasn’t always been kind to Thomas even though he brought the gospel to India, was martyred for that stubborn faith of his, and became a saint. We tend to still call him “Doubting Thomas.” Other people’s reputations get rehabilitated in ways that Thomas’ didn’t. For instance, Peter, denied knowing Jesus not once, not twice, but three times, yet we don’t call him “Denying Peter.” We call him Prince of the Apostles. Likewise, Paul persecuted Christians and was present and ...

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Fr Phil

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Reflection – April 27th, 2025 – 2nd Sunday of Easter

Reflection – April 27th, 2025 – 2nd Sunday of Easter

A Prophet for Today

As I am sitting to write this reflection it is one day after the death of our Holy Father, Pope Francis.  Among the many things to be admired about him, the ones I appreciated the most were how consistent his message was around caring for our common home, the earth, and caring for each other.  He also gave us a new and refreshing perspective on what it meant to be a leader when he told us that ...

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Mark Mahoney

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Homily – April 20th, 2025 – Easter Sunday

Homily – April 20th, 2025 – Easter Sunday

As I get older, my appreciation for Mary Magdalene grows as well. She is the first to encounter the Risen Lord. I guess somebody had to be the first; somebody had to have that honour. It’s her struggle with faith and how she stays in the game that really impresses me. She is so genuine. I can relate to her on so many levels. My own faith journey, on a good day, is three steps forward and two steps back. ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – April 19th, 2025 – Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil)

Homily – April 19th, 2025 – Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil)

That last line of the gospel, describing the central event in our faith—the resurrection–seems a little anticlimactic. It read: “Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths (burial shroud) by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happed.” He just went home. It sounds like Peter shrugged his shoulders, and said to himself, “I guess he’s not here. I might as well just go home, have a beer and ...

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Fr Phil

Homily – April 18th, 2025 – Good Friday

Homily – April 18th, 2025 – Good Friday

Today’s passion reading is full of contrasts. I suppose if the name Good Friday is to point us ultimately to something good, there’s going to have to be a lot of contrasts to the lies, violence, betrayal, whipping, cruelty, and even murder that dominate today’s gospel reading. I have to believe that a fundamental goodness must still live in contrast to endless shouts to “Crucify him.” I have to believe that truth, as inconvenient as it is at times, is ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – April 17th, 2025 – Holy Thursday

Homily – April 17th, 2025 – Holy Thursday

This gospel story of the foot washing is like all other gospels stories—it’s full of symbolism. Once I think I’ve got its meaning, I soon realize there’s a deeper meaning that I am being called to. And if I respond to this greater calling, I usually only do it with the greatest of reluctance. Afterall, who of us, honestly, likes to be shaken out of our comfort zone? I certainly don’t. In that sense, Peter, in his reluctance to have ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – April 13th, 2025 – Passion Sunday

Homily – April 13th, 2025 – Passion Sunday

Have you ever read a really good book, a second time, and got something from that second reading that you missed on the first go? Or have you ever rewatched an engaging movie and drawn out of it a gem, that slipped by you the first time? I’m sure you have. These Passion readings do that for me. Without much effort, something different speaks to me each time I engage with them. Maybe that’s what God’s Word is supposed to ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – April 6th, 2025 – 5th Sunday of Lent

Homily – April 6th, 2025 – 5th Sunday of Lent

There is a drive in all three readings to leave the past in the past and to forge a new future. The reason this drive is in the readings is because it’s the fundamental drive in God, and since Jesus came to do God’s will, it’s the fundamental drive in Jesus as well—to make all things new. We cannot make all things new without God nor without letting go of the past. Holding onto past sins or living in a ...

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Fr Phil

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Reflection – April 6th, 2025 – 5th Sunday of Lent

Reflection – April 6th, 2025 – 5th Sunday of Lent

We have to celebrate

Next week, Holy Week, we will enter the holiest week of our lives. Passion (Palm) Sunday begins the journey. It is aptly named—”Passion Sunday”—and is a key to what is about to unfold. The words passion and patience originate from the same root word which means “to suffer” or “to endure.” Later on, the word passion took on the more informal connotation as a strong “desire.” Jesus enters his Passion with these words, “With desire have I ...

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Fr Phil

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