Posts Tagged 'Fr. Phil'

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Homily – February 14th, 2024 – Ash Wednesday

Homily – February 14th, 2024 – Ash Wednesday

Almost all the Scripture readings we hear at liturgy, we hear only once every three years. One of the exceptions to this pattern is the Ash Wednesday readings; we get them every year. From it, we hear that Jesus is all for prayer, fasting, and almsgiving and thinks we should be, too. However, he warns against parading these classic Lenten disciplines before others. Perhaps he saw too much of this in the Pharisees of his time and how far their ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – February 11th, 2024 – Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily – February 11th, 2024 – Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In both the first reading and the gospel, we have references to leprosy. That first reading, from the book of Leviticus, speaks about the consequences of being diagnosed with leprosy. The consequence is that lepers had to wear torn clothes, had to let their hair become disheveled, had to live outside the camp, and had to announce in a loud voice when approaching others, “Unclean, unclean!” Those where some of the consequences of living with leprosy, but the deep pain ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – February 4, 2024 – Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily – February 4, 2024 – Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

As always, a little bit of context might help us enter into these Scripture readings. In the Mediterranean world, the world where Jesus walked the earth, the world where all our books of the Bible emerged from—in that world every gift carried the expectation of a gift in return. However, don’t think of it as a tit-for-tat world where you only return a favor to those who have shown you favor, or where you only love those who have shown ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – January 21st, 2024 – Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily – January 21st, 2024 – Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

A common thread from the three Scripture readings we just heard from, is that they are all “call stories”; someone is being called by God. And, like all Scripture stories, they are not just stories about people during Biblical times, but they are speaking to us here and now. In the first story, God calls Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and preach repentance to them. In the second reading, Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians says ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – January 14th, 2024 – 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily – January 14th, 2024 – 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily – January 14, 2024 – 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

I’m going to make a generalization which I think is true. It is that everyone, who has ever come into our lives—even for the shortest amount of time—has made a contribution to who we have become. Even someone who was a bad example, indirectly, set us on a path to become the opposite of what they are. So, there is learning in the negative. There is much to be learned ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily ~ Christmas Eve – December 24th, 2023

Homily ~ Christmas Eve – December 24th, 2023

While baby showers have been around for a long time, gender reveal parties have only existed for less than 20 years. If you don’t already know, a gender reveal party is a party held during pregnancy to reveal the baby’s sex to the expectant parents’ family and friend, and sometimes to the parents themselves. To me, the real excitement is looking into the face of the newborn child…that’s the real reveal. There’s nothing more beautiful and nothing more  mesmerizing than ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – December 17th, 2023 – Third Sunday of Advent

Homily – December 17th, 2023 – Third Sunday of Advent

John the Baptist, to put it mildly, is an interesting character. He was a prophet, and according to Jesus, the greatest of all the prophets (Lk. 7:28). Prophets have always, and still do, want more for us than what we want for ourselves. Once I get comfortable in my little kingdom, my little control tower, I really don’t want anyone else rattling my little world even if the rattling come with a promise of a bigger and better world, like ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – December 10th, 2023 – Second Sunday of Advent

Homily – December 10th, 2023 – Second Sunday of Advent

Two of my favorite books of all time, The Shack (William Paul Young) and The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) were both turned into movies. I don’t find this very often, but I did find these two movies were every bit as good as the books that spawned them. While they are both pure fiction, they nevertheless include deep truths about life, faith, forgiveness, and love that give you reason to do some self-reflection before moving on ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – December 3rd, 2023 – First Sunday of Advent

Homily – December 3rd, 2023 – First Sunday of Advent

I remember being at a talk 30 years ago, given by John Shea, who was invited to speak at St. Paul’s University in Ottawa. John Shea is a theologian from Chicago, and the best storyteller I have ever heard. One of the things he said–and for some reason I remembered it 30 years later–was, “The key to gospel spirituality is not to look at Jesus but to look with Jesus. You’ll learn very little, if anything at all, by looking ...

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Fr Phil

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Reflection – December 3, 2023 – First Sunday of Advent

Reflection – December 3, 2023 – First Sunday of Advent

LET US OFFER EACH OTHER A SIGN OF PEACE

Offering each other the “sign of peace” is something you have done countless times, if you are a regular participant at Mass (unfortunately, this gesture is non-existent in the French-speaking churches in our diocese). Just prior to reaching our hand out for the hands of our neighbours at Mass, we hear the priest say this: Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your Apostles: “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you”; ...

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Fr Phil

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