Posts Tagged 'Jesus'

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Homily – March 5th, 2025 – Ash Wednesday

Homily – March 5th, 2025 – Ash Wednesday

At the Sunday Mass, 6 ½ weeks ago at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, we celebrated a special ritual within the R.C.I.A. process with seven wonderful people who will be joining the Church at the upcoming Easter Vigil. Perhaps the most powerful part of this ritual came when their sponsors, with obvious gestures, made the sign of the cross over various parts of the candidates’ bodies, beginning with the head and ending the candidates’ feet. From their heads to the ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – March 2nd, 2025 – 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily – March 2nd, 2025 – 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

When Jesus commanded us, in last Sunday’s gospel, to “love our enemies,” it was probably the most challenging thing he could have said. Most days, loving my enemy takes more courage than I think I have. Today, in the gospel, he commands us to take the “log out of our own eye” before we even attempt to take the sliver out of our neighbour’s eye. Again, most days, removing the log from my own eye takes more honesty than I ...

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Fr Phil

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Reflection – March 2nd, 2025 – 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reflection – March 2nd, 2025 – 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Church. Why bother?

Back in the 1st century when the Church was just getting going, St. Paul wrote, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you with a part to play in the whole” (1 Cor. 12:27). The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as the Church. Every part of our physical body is dependent on every other part. You are part of Christ’s body—that’s who you are. Only as ...

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Fr Phil

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Homily – February 23rd, 2025 – 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily – February 23rd, 2025 – 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our starting point in anything, especially in life, is so important. Experts say that 80% of our personality is formed by the time we are five years old. That’s probably why therapists are so interested in our childhood or the household we grew up in. That was our starting point, and it was so formative. Coincidentally, 80% of your image of God has to do with parental imagery. If your parents were punitive, cold, distant, and just waiting for you ...

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Fr Phil

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Reflection – February 23rd – 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reflection – February 23rd – 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s reading and Gospel focus heavily on the theme of radical love and forgiveness, particularly the call to “love your enemies” as Jesus teaches in the Gospel reading urging us to do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who persecute us, essentially challenging us to extend mercy even to those who may not deserve it, mirroring God’s own boundless love. Jesus encourages us to give without expecting anything in return and ...

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Cathy Keirstead

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Homily – February 16th, 2025 – 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily – February 16th, 2025 – 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

You’ve probably heard about the “Sermon on the Mount” in the Gospel of Matthew.  Well, this version is from the Gospel of Luke and doesn’t happen on a mountain. It happens after Jesus comes down the mountain and stood on a level place, a plateau perhaps. That’s the opening line of today’s gospel reading, “Jesus came down the mountain with the twelve and stood on a level place.” Luke tells us that Jesus spent the entire night on a mountain ...

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Fr Phil

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Reflection – February 16th, 2025 – 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reflection – February 16th, 2025 – 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

You Are So Worth It

I have been blessed to be part of the team that writes these bulletin reflections for almost 20 years and while most of the time I stay focused on the readings of the current week or speak about something liturgical, sometimes recent events and encounters in my life compel me to share with you these experiences.

Recently I was present for a presentation by four women from “Naomi and Ruth” (they are presenting at Immaculate Heart of ...

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Mark Mahoney

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Homily – February 9th, 2025 – 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily – February 9th, 2025 – 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I don’t know if you guys know this, but my late mother wrote the entire Bible. That’s not true, but when I read the Word of God, it often feels like it’s absolutely true. It’s programmed into mothers all over the world and from the beginning of time to say, “If I told you once, I told you a thousand times.” Similarly, Scripture repeats itself in the hopes that if we didn’t get it the first 99 times, maybe a ...

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Fr Phil

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Reflection – February 9th, 2025 – 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Reflection – February 9th, 2025 – 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Ordinary Miracles

A scant four weeks ago the Church returned to Ordinary Time, by far its longest liturgical season, making up two thirds of the Church year.  Ordinary Time … one would think nothing significant happens when we are in the midst of the ordinary.  We think of ordinary as drab, boring, mundane. Yet most of us live in primarily ordinary, humdrum ways. And too often, we waste those days anticipating our next big adventure.  Have we missed something, I wonder? 

After ...

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Ellen Bennett

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Homily – February 2nd, 2025 – Presentation of the Lord

Homily – February 2nd, 2025 – Presentation of the Lord

On the last Sunday of the Christmas Season we had a story about the adult Jesus being baptized. Today, three weeks after the Christmas Season, we are back to the baby Jesus. Go figure.

Today’s feast, traditionally called the Feast of the Presentation was also called the Feast of the Encounter. Simeon and Anna, in their old age, have a powerful encounter with Jesus, a baby who is anything but powerful. Yet, isn’t that what everyone of us wants, not an ...

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Fr Phil

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