Message in a Bottle #3

It is still hard for me to believe that we will not be assembling for Holy Week, the holiest week of the liturgical year for us Christians. Holy Week begins with the blessing of the palms on Passion/Palm Sunday, but it is the last three days, the Triduum, the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord that is the liturgical and spiritual pinnacle for believers.

The Triduum begins at sunset on Holy Thursday, the day we commemorate the Last Supper and, consequently, the First Eucharist. ...

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Reflection – Imagine

Imagine what it must have felt like for the apostles to follow behind Jesus entering Jerusalem as King David did, to the shouts and cheers of the crowds.  Finally He (and they) were being awarded the recognition and praise that the Christ deserved. HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST!  What was their understanding of the Christ?  I imagine that the picture most people had, and have, was much like this:  a triumphant conqueror who will put everything in the world to right.  He will get rid of the Romans.  ...

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Homily – March 29th – 5th Sunday of Lent

Before you read any further, take out your Bible and read John 11:1-45. (The Bible is that thick book covered in dust that you may be using as a coaster!). Read it? Good. It is this Sunday’s gospel reading of the raising of Lazarus. One question arising from that story that still prompts much debate is: Was Lazarus resuscitated or resurrected by Jesus?

Some say he was clearly resuscitated, not resurrected. His physical life was restored, but he would die again just like everyone else. Jesus, on ...

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Message in a Bottle #2

In 1624, English poet and clergyman, John Donne (1572-1631) coined the expression, “no man is an island.” Yet, as we sequester ourselves in our homes and remain two metres apart in public, many of us are beginning to feel like little, isolated islands.  I happened to cough in the grocery store the other day, and five people gave me dirty looks. (I’m used to dirty looks but not that many at the one time!)  It was a little taste of what lepers would have experienced in ...

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Reflection – God Promises to Bring New Life!


“I will… bring you up from your graves, O my people.
I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live…”

Outside my window, birds are singing and tulips are poking through a small patch of warmed soil in my flowerbed. How can nature seem so predictably normal, while in our human reality nothing feels normal or solid? It’s been said that humanity’s true character is often exposed when confronted with great upheaval and uncertainty.  I suspect the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will prove no different ...

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Homily – March 22nd – 4th Sunday of Lent

Last Sunday we reflected on the wonderful story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, and today we have the equally compelling story of a man born blind and his journey to faith in Jesus. That fact that both these events are real, about real people interacting with Jesus, and are not just stories made up to illustrate a point, makes them even more compelling. Today’s event begins simply enough; Jesus and his disciples are passing by a blind man and his presence causes ...

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Message in a Bottle #1

Ahoy, dear parishioners, we are living in a very different and almost surreal moment of history.  So much of our personal and collective routines, both as Church and within the greater society, have been upended by something that cannot be seen with the naked eye. How could something so small cause such catastrophic effects throughout the entire world?  I do not know. But what I am reminded of, as we all hunker down, is how fragile and vulnerable and interconnected we all are. This is not ...

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Time Outside Time

Where does one begin, as we sit where we sit right now?  Two weeks ago, we watched with interest as Covid-19 continued to spread.  I, ashamed as I am to admit it today, was one of the naysayers – ‘the media is blowing this out of proportion.’  Yet, now here we are, a country – nay a world as there seems not to be one country in the world that has not been affected – watching, waiting, hoping, despairing, anxious.  We are a world in angst.

On this coming ...

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That Thirst

Have you ever been so caught up in your routine daily activities, or the busyness of life that you have forgotten to drink enough water, and suddenly you realize your throat is hot, crackling dry, and maybe slightly swollen and not only are you are developing a headache, but start to feel surly?  You feel like you have crossed a desert. Then you realize your body is telling you it needs hydration, so you obey and drink the water, and when you drink the water ...

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The Transfiguration

Each year on the first Sunday of Lent, our Gospel tells the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert.  On the second Sunday of Lent each year, we hear the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration.  The word transfiguration is defined as “a complete change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state”.  In this case, Jesus leads Peter, James and John up a high mountain and appears to them in radiant glory.  The Gospel states that, “his face shone like the sun and his ...

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