Homilies For This Week
Homily Archive
Wednesday of
Week 5 in EastertideActs. 15:1-6 & Jn. 15:1-8
When Jesus tried to explain to His disciples Who He was, He used several different images … the Good Shepherd leading them, the Bread of Life feeding them, the Gateway to the Father and, in today's...
Thursday of
Week 5 in EastertideActs. 15:7-21 & Jn. 15:9-11
Jesus commands His disciples to love one another, but He first says that He loves them as the Father loves Him. The Father loves the Son with perfect and infinite love and this same love is shown by...
Friday of
Week 5 in EastertideActs. 15:22-31 & Jn. 15:12-17
When the pagans converted to Christianity there was bound to be a difficult period of adjustment. They needed guidance but they were receiving conflicting advice from leading Jewish converts and even...
Saturday of
Week 5 in EastertideActs. 16:1-10 & Jn.15:18-21
Saint Paul had drawn up his itinerary. But there had to be changes “when they reached the frontier of Mysia they thought to cross it into Bithynia, but as the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them,...
Monday of
Week 6 in EastertideActs. 16:11-15 & Jn. 15:26-16:4
Some you win, some you lose. As the apostles went out preaching the good news they must have had a mixed reception. Today's story from the Acts of the Apostles is a celebration of success. Paul was...
Tuesday of
Week 6 in EastertideActs. 16:22-34 & Jn. 16:5-11
The response to the psalm, "You stretch out Your hand and save me, O Lord” sums up the theme of today's readings. God reaches out to save each one of us, and they show how His Spirit acts in...
Wednesday of
Week 6 in EastertideActs. 17:15-18:1 & Jn. 16:12-15
Standing before the Council of Athens Paul used all his powers of persuasion, knowing the Greeks loved debate end argument. He sought to convince them by careful reasoning, beginning with what they...
Thursday of
Week 6 in EastertideActs. 18:1-8 & Jn. 16:16-20
"When You walked at the head of Your people, O God, and lived with them on their journey, the earth shook at Your presence." These words from the Entrance Antiphon set the theme of today's Mass,...
Friday of
Week 6 in EastertideActs. 18:9-18 & Jn. 16:20-23
The disciples were clearly forewarned of the sufferings they were to face. They could expect no better treatment than Jesus had received at the hands of the world. Those who had persecuted the Son of...
Saturday of
Week 6 in EastertideActs. 18:23-28 & Jn. 16:23-28
Jesus came to redeem humanity and to teach us about His Father and how we might come to live with Him in Heaven. But what He has to say can only be revealed gradually. He speaks to each of us in a...
Monday of
Week 7 in EastertideActs. 19:1-8 & Jn. 16:29-33
The key word in today's two readings is belief. In the first Paul travelled to Ephesus and found there a number of believers. They had been baptised by John and repented of their sins but when Paul...
Tuesday of
Week 7 in EastertideActs. 20:17-27 & Jn. 17:1-11
There is a sense of sadness in today's readings as both Paul and Jesus reach the end of their mission on Earth and are bidding farewell to their friends and followers. Yet there is also a feeling of...
Wednesday of
Week 7 in EastertideActs. 20:28-38 & Jn. 17:11-19
St. Paul was aware that there is no more deadly obstacle to the spread of the Gospel than divisiveness among those who claim to be Christian. So he warns his hearers to be on their guard remembering...
Thursday of
Week 7 in EastertideActs. 22:30, 23:6-11 & Jn. 17:20-26
The event described in today's first reading takes place in Jerusalem when the Sanhedrin put Paul on trial. He acts very cleverly to take the pressure off himself by professing his belief in the...
Friday of
Week 7 in EastertideActs. 25:13-21 & Jn. 21:15-19
Paul is now in Caesaria; he is a Roman citizen and has appealed his case to the emperor, and now he awaits the royal decision.
Why did Jesus question Peter's love and fidelity three times in front...
Jesus Faces His Opponents Firmly
Cycle I
Saturday of
Week 8 in Ordinary TimeEcclus. 51:12-20 & Mk 11:27-33
The first reading beautifully describes Sirach’s love affair with Wisdom. “When I was still a youth, before I went travelling in my prayers I asked outright for wisdom” (v.13). “I have been...
Sunday of
Week 2 in EastertideJn. 20:19-31
After the Crucifixion the Apostles were huddled together behind closed doors. It is not certain where but most likely they were in the Upper Room in which the Last Supper had been held. The doors...
Pentecost |
EastertideActs. 2:1-11, Rom. 8:8-17 & Jn. 14:15-16, 23-26
Our Lord Jesus Christ completed His saving work when, after His death and resurrection, He ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit into the world. This is how God recreated a fallen world,...
Sunday of
Week 3 in EastertideActs. 3:13-15, 17-19; 1 Jn. 2:1-5 & Lk. 24:35-48
In celebrating the Resurrection we marvel, not only at the fact of the event, but also at the transforming effect it had on the disciples. Each time the risen Jesus appeared to His disciples, there...
Beyond The Call Of Duty
Year A
Sunday of
Week 4 in EastertideJohn 10:11-18
This is Good Shepherd Sunday and Vocation Sunday. A little thought can help us to see the connection between the two titles. In today’s Gospel Jesus compares a “hired man” a “good shepherd”...
Sunday of
Week 5 in EastertideJn. 15:1-8
All of us have but one life to live and we would all like to make a success of it. This is the message of today's Gospel reading. Jesus compared Himself and His disciples to a grapevine. Within a...
What Is True Friendship?
Year A
Sunday of
Week 6 in EastertideJohn 15:9-17
The word 'friend' is one of the most beautiful in human language. None of us is so strong and self-sufficient that we can live life at its best without the strength of friendship. And in today's...
Ascension of the Lord |
EastertideMt. 28:16-20
Let us begin by asking two questions. What did the Ascension mean for Jesus? And what does it mean to us?
When we think of the Ascension of Jesus we picture Him disappearing in the clouds as He...
Sunday of
Week 7 in EastertideJn. 17:1-11
In today's Gospel reading we encounter Jesus meeting with His disciples for the last time. The Cross was only hours away, and He knew it. Here He was, a young man, very much in love with life and He...
Are We Testing The Patience Of God
Cycle II
Monday of
Week 9 in Ordinary Time2 Peter 1:2-7 & Mk. 12:1-12
We were lost in obscurity and poverty and God searched us out, united us to Himself and in a relationship, not unlike marriage, elevates us to His own dignity. This is what Saint Peter tells us in...
