Posts Tagged 'Jesus'

Reflection – June 1st, 2025 – Ascension Sunday

How Hopeful are We About Heaven?

As we enter the month of June, many things in church world are slowing down, getting ready for the summer break.  Parish councils are having their last meetings, diocesan committees are wrapping up another pastoral year and even faith development gatherings such as catechism and R.C.I.A. are taking a break.  I am blessed to serve as part of the team that are facilitating the sessions entitled “Dying With Christ, Living With Hope”, and we are ...

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Homily – May 25th, 2025 – 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I realize that, for you people in the pews, it’s more difficult to recall anything you heard in the first or second reading. What’s a lot easier to remember is the Gospel reading only because it was the last reading you heard, and the “Jesus stories” seem to be simpler to get into. Personally, I’ve always preferred the gospel stories about Jesus over the stories in the Book of Revelation about dragons with seven heads and ten horns.

Having said that, ...

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Reflection – May 25th, 2025 – 6th Sunday of Easter

Rules, Rules, Everywhere a Rule

We are a world of rules: we can’t enter another country without a passport; when driving, motorcycling or biking, we must stop at a red light; should we desire something, we must provide compensation before we can take ownership of it. We are a country of rules: we are expected to file our income tax on time each year; we need to register the births of our children and the deaths of our loved ones; one ...

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Homily – May 18th, 2025 – 5th Sunday of Easter

During my almost 28 years of being a priest, although it’s rare, this has happened to me more than once. Other people, who are not priests, have told me that they have had almost identical experiences. It has to do with visiting people—either in their homes or in the hospital—who are very close to death. While still conscious and able to mumble a few words, they would, apparently see right through me and talk to a person behind me. I ...

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

If you were ever having a bad day, a bad week, a bad month, or even a bad year, read this gospel passage that we just heard, and meditate on it. It’s not long, but it offers one of the most comforting messages in the entire Bible. Jesus says that we, the sheep, will never perish. Nor will we, the sheep, ever be snatched out of his hand. And if that isn’t comforting enough, the very next line goes even ...

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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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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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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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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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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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