If you were to wake me up at 3 o’clock in the morning by shining a flashlight in my eyes and asking me to name the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, I would probably only come up with one—courage (sometimes called fortitude). It’s the only gift I’ve ever wanted, but it seems to be the one that has eluded me the most.
I think of courage when I think of the three Scripture readings that we just heard proclaimed. To ...
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I recently had the opportunity to see the musical, The Lion King, in New York City. The animated movie came out 30 years ago in 1994, while the Broadway musical came out three years later in 1997 and has been playing there ever since. Like Cats and Les Misérables, The Lion King is more than just entertainment; it has deep spiritual themes running through it. In the first act, the lion king, Mufasa, sing to his young son, Simba, a ...
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The gospel ends with, “Jesus explained everything in private to his disciples.” Oh, great. We’re going to get it all explained to us as well. No! Mark, the gospel writer tells us that Jesus explained everything to them, but he doesn’t tell us what Jesus told them. Thank you very much. Maybe some of us, who have to put homilies together, would like an explanation, a bone thrown in our direction once in a while.
This is not the only ...
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A couple of weeks ago, our bishop, Archbishop Guy Desrochers, granted permission for us to reinstate sharing in the Blood of Christ at Mass. That was welcomed news to many who have been longing to drink from the Cup for the past four years, but because of Covid-19 were not able to. Through nobody’s fault, but through an abundance of caution, we were not able to fulfill Jesus’ command at the Last Supper when he said, “Do this in memory ...
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Satan, or whatever you consider the demonic to be, gets significant air time in today’s first reading and in the gospel. Satan, or the devil, is known by many evil traits, but the two most prominent are “liar” and “accuser.” Contrast that with the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth (not lies) and who is your Advocate, your defense lawyer (not your accuser). To the degree we have allowed ourselves to be loved by the Truth, then we ...
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I realize, that by the time we get to proclaiming the Gospel, it’s already the fourth piece of Scripture we’ve heard, and we don’t always remember what we heard in the first reading, the second reading, or the psalm. So, let me refresh your minds by taking you back to that first reading from the Book of Exodus.
The Book of Exodus gets its name from that great departure, that great “exodus” of the Hebrew people from the land of slavery ...
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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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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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This gospel reading is a continuation of the gospel reading from last Sunday. Last Sunday, Jesus told us to abide in him, to remain in him, so that our lives would bear fruit. In today’s reading, Jesus is putting a little different spin on things. He’s telling us to abide in his love so that his joy may be in us and that our new-found joy will be complete. Complete joy is not a joy that is fleeting. Rather, complete ...
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When we experience the best things in life, we don’t have words to describe those things. We stand there with our mouths open, and we are at a loss for words; it’s just that good. Equally true, when we experience the worst things in life, we go numb. We lose words. All we can do is weep. Tears replace words.
When it comes to our faith, especially in our feeble attempts to describe what God is like, we just know our ...
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