Homilies For This Week
Homily Archive
The Mass Is A Dynamic Reality
Cycle II
Monday of
Week 5 in Ordinary TimeKings 8:1-7, 9-13. & Mk. 6:53-56.
There is a jubilant scene in today's first reading. King Solomon offered sacrifices before the Ark of the Covenant which the priests had placed in the new temple. It represented the presence of God...
Finding God In The Commonplace
Cycle II
Tuesday of
Week 5 in Ordinary Time1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30 & Mk. 7:1-13
King Solomon's temple was said to be one of the wonders of the ancient world. This was not because of the wealth of materials and craftsmanship that went into the making of it but was a reflection of...
Thursday of
Week After Ash Wednesday in LentDeut. 30:15-20 & Lk. 9:22-25
We have the same definite choice that Moses gave to his people. If they loved God and followed His commandments they would have life; if they turned their back on Him the result would be death. The...
Friday of
Week After Ash Wednesday in LentIs. 58:1-9 & Mt. 9:14-15
The disciples of John were anxious to know why Jesus' followers did not fast as the Pharisees did. Fasting played a large part in Jewish tradition and it seemed strange that the disciples of a...
Saturday of
Week After Ash Wednesday in LentIs. 58:9-14 & Lk 5:27-32
Once again Jesus was in trouble with the Pharisees and scribes. They objected to His eating and drinking with people generally regarded as sinners. Jesus replied that He was like a doctor who had...
Sunday of
Week 1 in LentGen. 9:8-15; 1 Pet. 3:18-22 & Mk 1:12-15.
There are two simple but powerful sentences in today's Gospel reading. But they are stated so casually that their significance could easily be overlooked. The sentences are, “After John had been...
Monday of
Week 1 in LentLev. 19:1-2, 11-18 & Mt. 25:31-46
We shall all have to face the final judgement. On what will we be judged? Both today's readings make it clear that we must love our neighbour as we love ourselves, and at our trial we shall have to...
Tuesday of
Week 1 in LentIs. 55:10-11 & Mt. 6:7-15
God speaks to us through the readings of the Mass. Today's passage from Isaiah points out the importance and usefulness of His word that comes down like the rain and the snow from the heavens, and...
Wednesday of
Week 1 in LentJonah 3:1-10 & Lk. 11:29-32
Crowds were following Jesus and listening to His preaching but He seemed to be having no effect on them because they insisted on asking for some sign as proof of His identity. They had seen the...
Thursday of
Week 1 in LentEsther 14:1, 3-5, 12-14 & Mt. 7:7-12.
Is your Christian faith a means of escape from the hard realities of life? Our critics often argue that people who cannot face unpleasant facts run away and hide in a make-believe world of pleasant...
Friday of
Week 1 in LentEz. 1 8:21-28 & Mt. 5:20-26
"If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven." What did Jesus mean in these words to His disciples? He was talking about those...
Saturday of
Week 1 in LentDeut. 26:16-19 & Mt. 5:43-48
We must love our enemies. Jesus makes this unmistakably clear to His followers. Among His many teachings this is perhaps the most difficult to understand and obey. At first glance it seems more like...
Sunday of
Week 2 in LentLuke 9:28-36
Are you afraid of the future? Then let the story of the Transfiguration give you courage.
Jesus climbed Mount Tabor when His life was in danger to spend time in prayer, quietness and solitude. On...
Monday of
Week 2 in LentDan. 9:4-10 & Lk. 6: 31-38
Our first reading contains a most comprehensive national act of contrition which we can all make our own. It is the people who agreed to the covenant God proposed to them through Moses on Mount Sinai...
Tuesday of
Week 2 in LentIs. 1:10, 18-20 & Mt. 23:1-12
Repentance and conversion have to involve more than a mere verbal admission of guilt. They must show in actions as Isaiah points out in today's first reading, in a new way of living, in a change of...
Wednesday of
Week 2 in LentJer. 18:18-2- & Mt. 20:17-28
'It's not fair!' Haven’t we all said this at some point of our lives? We’ve done our best and instead of being appreciated we are attacked and criticised. This is how Jeremiah felt because God...
Thursday of
Week 2 in LentJer. 17:5-10 & Lk. 16:19-31
The fact that the rich man in today's Gospel ended his days in Hell indicates he led an evil life. And the fact that Lazarus ended his days in Heaven shows that despite his poverty he led a good...
Friday of
Week 2 in LentGen. 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28 & Mt. 21:33-43, 45-46
A lack of respect is the theme in both today's readings. In one a young man is rejected and ill-treated by his own brothers; in the other servants turn against their landlord.
It was jealousy on the...
Saturday of
Week 2 in LentMicah 7:14-15, 18-20 & Lk. 156:1-3, 11-32
“The Lord is compassion and love.” Those words of the responsorial psalm summarise both today's readings. The first is an appeal to God to be merciful. “Once more have pity on us, tread down...
Sunday of
Week 3 in LentLuke 13:1-9
A tragic story about a group of believers who were slaughtered by Roman soldiers begins today's Gospel reading. It appears that the people who reported this story to Jesus believed that the victims...
Monday of
Week 3 in Lent2 Kings 5:1-15 & Lk. 4:24-30
Naaman the Syrian was a general in the king's army but he became a leper. The biblical term "leprosy" covers a wide range of skin diseases but it was a sickness that could attack anyone, anywhere....
Tuesday of
Week 3 in LentDan. 3:25, 34-43 & Mt. 18: 21-35.
With two companions Azariah was thrown into a fiery furnace, and unharmed by the flames he prayed on behalf of his people, “We are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere...
Wednesday of
Week 3 in LentDeut. 4:1,5-9 & Mt. 5:17-19
It appeared to the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus had come to abolish the Law, but Jesus assured His disciples that this was not the case. For Him the Law was the Ten Commandments given to Moses,...
Thursday of
Week 3 in LentJer. 7:23-28 & Lk. 11:14-23
Ever since Satan first appeared in the Garden of Eden his favourite weapon has been disunity. Where God had planted harmony, love and wholeness, Satan sowed dissatisfaction, envy and division. He...
Friday of
Week 3 in LentHosea 14:2-10 & Mark 12:28-34
Return to the Lord who will heal people's wounds and recreate them as new beings. This is the plea of Hosea in the first reading. The result of our returning to God will bring about the flowering of...
