Posts Tagged 'Easter'

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Reflection – May 11th, 2025 – 4th Sunday of Easter

Reflection – May 11th, 2025 – 4th Sunday of Easter

…in the breaking of the bread

The Resurrection of Jesus is the central event in the life of the Church. It’s so important that we must spend 50 days celebrating it, right up until the Feast of Pentecost (June 8th this year). One of the classic “Resurrection stories” is the stories we’ve tentatively titled: The Disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Lk. 24: 13-35). In this story the resurrected Lord appeared to two dejected disciples who were on the way to ...

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Fr Phil

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

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

In the resurrection stories—and there’s a lot of them–the Risen Jesus is never recognized straight out. Something has to happen, and then the people finally get it that it’s the Risen Jesus in their midst. I doubt I would have fared any better than those people did back in Biblical times. Underneath candle sticks, incense, fancy vestments and ornate church buildings, what people are hungering for today is the same thing they were hungering for 2000 years ago—an experience of ...

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Fr Phil

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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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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 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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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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Homily – May 19th, 2024 – Pentecost Sunday

Homily – May 19th, 2024 – Pentecost Sunday

The Church’s prayer for 2, 000 years has been, “Come, Holy Spirit.” The Spirit’s answer in all that time has never changed, “I am here. I have always been here.” This story comes from an autobiographical novel by Bryce Courtenay called The Power of One. It reminds me of Pentecost.

It takes place in South Africa in the late 1930s. It starts off with an emphasis on a little boy who is 6 years old, and he is an English boy. ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – May 12th, 2024 – The Ascension of the Lord

Homily – May 12th, 2024 – The Ascension of the Lord

Twenty-one years ago, when I was young and foolish, I hopped in the car and drove 3,600 km to go to a retreat center in Tucson, Arizona. It was in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, surrounded by giant cactus plants, some with arms stretching 25 feet into the air. In each of the retreatants’ rooms was the standard bed, desk, chair and a lamp. I had been on retreats before. So, I knew there would be a piece of ...

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Fr Phil

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