Homilies For This Week
Homily Archive
We Only Live When We Love
Cycle II
Wednesday of
Week 13 in Ordinary TimeAmos 5:14-15, 21-24 & Mt. 8:28-34
A story is told about a king who was making a tour of his kingdom. He came across a very old man working in his vineyard. He asked him his age. 'Your Majesty, I am four years old!' The king...
Never Judge By Appearances
Cycle II
Thursday of
Week 13 in Ordinary TimeAmos 7:10-17 & Mt. 9:1-8
Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, considered Amos obnoxious and insufferable, because he preached that everyone in the kingdom of lsrael should repent. This included the king and the priests. He...
Be Not Prejudiced
Cycle II
Friday of
Week 13 in Ordinary TimeAmos 8:4-6, 9-12 & Mt. 9:9-13
There is an obvious connection between today's two readings - they both condemn greed and injustice. Amos criticises those businessmen who exploit the poor and make huge amounts of money for...
A Message Of Hope For Us
Cycle II
Saturday of
Week 13 in Ordinary TimeAmos 9:11-15 & Mt. 9:14-17
Sometimes Amos has been referred to as a prophet of doom. Certainly his warnings about the infidelity of the people towards God were strong. But since he was truly God's prophet he had to inspire the...
Monday of
Week 14 in Ordinary TimeHosea 2:16-18, 21-22 & Mt. 9:18-26
We can never fully appreciate the depth and intensity of God's love for us. The reason is that all we can do is to compare His love with what we already know about love from human experience, and...
Being Cruel To Be Kind
Cycle II
Tuesday of
Week 14 in Ordinary TimeHos. 8:4-7, 11-13 & Mt. 9:32-38
Hosea is known as the prophet of love. It was he who gave the people God's message, “I will betroth you to myself forever.” It must have been difficult for the prophet of love to pronounce the...
The Faithfulness Of God
Cycle II
Wednesday of
Week 14 in Ordinary TimeHosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12 & Mt. 10:1-7
A bleak picture of Israel is presented in today's first reading. The more luxurious the life of the people became, the more altars and shrines they built to pagan gods. The more affluent they were,...
There Is No Limit To God's Love
Cycle II
Thursday of
Week 14 in Ordinary TimeHosea 11:1-4, 8-9 & Mt. 10:7-15
Today's reading is one of the high points of the Old Testament revelation about God. Hosea is the prophet of God's love despite the infidelity of His people. He is famous for His image of God as a...
God Is Always There To Help Us
Cycle II
Friday of
Week 14 in Ordinary TimeHos. 14:2-10 & Mt. 10:16-23
Hosea is the prophet of God's love. Yesterday we saw how His love was touching and tender. He presented God as a Father who scoops His child, Israel, into His arms and presses him against His cheek....
Saturday of
Week 14 in Ordinary TimeIs. 6:1-8 & Mt. 10:24
Isaiah had a vision of Yahweh, seated on a glorious throne and surrounded by seraphs who cried out, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, His glory fills the whole earth." Overawed by the majesty...
Monday of
Week 15 in Ordinary TimeIs. 1:11-17 & Mt. 10:34-11:1
A bribe is some kind of payment given with a view to perverting the judgement or corrupting the conduct of a person in a position of power.
It is a selfish rather than a generous act. In contrast a...
Tuesday of
Week 15 in Ordinary TimeIs. 7:1-9 & Mt. 11:20-24
We all like to hear good things about ourselves! This is especially true when we go to a doctor with the hope that there is nothing seriously wrong with us. Doctors would be doing a great disservice...
God's Special Love For The Childlike
Cycle II
Wednesday of
Week 15 in Ordinary TimeIs. 10:5-7, 13-16 & Mt. 11:25-27
Today's First Reading from the prophet Isaiah has a strange and bellicose ring to it. We must understand its background. At that time Assyria was the great military power bent on conquering all its...
Our Saviour's Love For Us
Cycle II
Thursday of
Week 15 in Ordinary TimeIs. 26:7-9, 16-19 &n Mt. 11:28-30
A loving husband and wife who really want children look forward to the birth of their first child. The thought of bringing a child into the world fills them with joy. Imagine a wife who is convinced...
God Speaks To Us In Subtle Ways
Cycle II
Friday of
Week 15 in Ordinary TimeIs. 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8 & Mt. 12:1-8
Hezekiah, king of Judah, was desperate. Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, had declared war on all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. Now he was heading towards Jerusalem, the capital and...
Saturday of
Week 15 in Ordinary TimeMicah 2:1-5 & Mt. 12:14-21
Some scholars have referred to the prophets of the Old Testament as being the conscience of the people of God. Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, was one of these men. In today's reading he attacks the...
What God Asks Of Us...
Cycle II
Monday of
Week 16 in Ordinary TimeMicah 6:1-4, 6-8 & Mt. 12:38-42
The court scene in today's reading is of cosmic dimensions. All of Nature is called upon to be a witness in this trial of the people, in which God is both prosecutor and judge. Despite all that God...
How To Be Akin To Jesus
Cycle II
Tuesday of
Week 16 in Ordinary TimeMicah 7:14-15, 18-20 & Mt. 12:46-50
Today's First Reading is a beautiful prayer asking God to shepherd His people. From an early period in the Old Testament era God as Shepherd was a warm and heartening image for the people. Jesus used...
Wednesday of
Week 16 in Ordinary TimeJer. 1:1, 4-10 & Mt. 13:1-9
A series of 15 readings from Jeremiah begins today. He was reluctant to accept the call from God in 626 BC because of his youth, but God told him, “Before l formed you in the womb I knew you … l...
We Must Never Take God For Granted
Cycle II
Thursday of
Week 16 in Ordinary TimeJer. 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 & Mt. 13:1-17
Both of today's readings, I find, are very sad. God and His Son Jesus have done so much for us and we do not return the love and adoration He is due.
It is a rare marriage indeed which does not...
How God Is With Us
Cycle II
Friday of
Week 16 in Ordinary TimeJer. 3:14-17 & Mt. 13:18-23
There are different ways to receive God's word - joyfully and fruitfully, or with indifference, resentment and frustration. Sadly we can even just reject it. That is the meaning of today's Gospel...
A Good Life Cannot Buy Heaven For Us
Cycle II
Saturday of
Week 16 in Ordinary TimeJer. 7:1-11 & Mt. 13:24-30
Jeremiah condemned the superstition of his time. Some of the people believed that simply because they possessed the temple in Jerusalem, God would favour them. Their triple invocation of 'the temple...
Most Holy Trinity |
Ordinary Time2 Cor. 13:11-13, Jn. 3:16-18
Today on Trinity Sunday we celebrate the central mystery of our faith. Although not specifically stated anywhere in the Bible, it is implicit all through the New Testament. The first Christians were...
Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord |
Ordinary TimeWhat does the feast of Corpus Christi mean to you? It tells me just one thing – how Jesus must love us. Who is Jesus? He is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity – God. He reigns supreme in...
Cost Of Commitment
Year A
Sunday of
Week 13 in Ordinary Time2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16; Rom. 6:3-4, 8-11. Mt. 10:37-42.
Is our faith too casual and easy going? Could an entire history of the Church be written in terms of the ways we have devised to make our religious commitment as easy as possible? Do many of us think...
