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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Said He Would Calm the Raging Sea
As a resident of Halifax in 2003 I had the dubious privilege of living through Hurricane Juan, a Category 2 hurricane which tore through parts of the Maritimes just after midnight on September 29th. Those of us living on the Atlantic Coast are familiar with hurricane warnings, but the severity of Juan was unusual and unexpected. Eight Nova Scotians lost their lives in the worst storm to hit Halifax since 1893. Even though I ...
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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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How Do We View Dying
“Even though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4: 16)
I feel very confident in saying that almost everyone who reads this has journeyed with someone, or has known someone, who has had or has a debilitating disease that just eats away at them until they are a shell of who they used to be physically. When journeying with someone who is going through this, or ...
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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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Today’s reflections focus on the Gospel about the significance of the Passover Meal when Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it He broke it, gave it to them and said, ” Take; this is my Body.” Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks He gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, ” This is my Blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” These words ...
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Today is the feast of the Holy Trinity, the feast that marks one of the most unique beliefs of Christian faith, separating Christianity from other world religions. We believe in one God in three persons. We believe in a God who is defined by relationship. 1 John states that “God is love.” God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the perfect love that unites them in such a way that nothing is done by one person of the Trinity ...
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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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