The Feast of the Epiphany is the oldest feast in the Liturgical Calendar after Easter and Pentecost. Epiphany was celebrated long before even Christmas itself came to be regarded as a feast. The word Epiphany literally means “manifestation” and refers to the appearance or making known of Christ. In...
What is a good homily? You’ve listened to hundreds, maybe thousands, of them; what is a good homily? Here are some answers I imagine you might give. A good homily is: short, interesting, instructive, entertaining, relevant to life, based on scripture, helpful…all of the above. From my perspective a good...
What is a good homily? You’ve listened to hundreds, maybe thousands, of them; what is a good homily? Here are some answers I imagine you might give. A good homily is: short, interesting, instructive, entertaining, relevant to life, based on scripture, helpful…all of the above. From my perspective a good...
Tonight we join with Christians of all denominations in celebrating the extraordinary event, which happened over 2000 years ago – the entry of God himself into human history in the person of the Infant Jesus. For a Christian there is tonight no tinsel, no glitter; there are no fairy lights...
This 4th Sunday of Advent is symbolic. Today’s liturgy looks toward the coming of Christ at Christmas. We see the fulfillment of God’s unfolding plan of redemption in the events leading up to the Incarnation, the birth of the Messiah King. Today we celebrate the new era of salvation which begins...
All three readings today are about the coming of the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah announces that he will come; the evangelist Matthew tells us he has come; the apostle James tells us that he will come again. John the Baptist still occupies centre stage in the gospel today but now,...
What kind of Messiah did God promise to send to his people and how would he bring God’s kingdom to them? The prophet Isaiah foresaw the day when God would raise up a Messianic King long after King David’s throne had been overthrown and vacant for centuries. God promised that...
Happy Church New Year! As we begin a new Church Year, we begin a cycle of readings from the Gospel of St. Matthew. This means that all year we will read through the Gospel of Matthew, though sometimes we will also read some of John’s Gospel. Since there are three...
Today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday. Before I speak about our readings today I need to reemphasize one of the fundamental truths of the Christian faith. That is, that the Sacred Scriptures are the Holy and Infallible word of God. They are not simply a collection of moral writings....
A mother says to her ten years old son, “If you study hard all year and you get passing grades, next summer, I will buy you a new bicycle.” In other words, if her son does not study hard all year and he does not get passing grades, he will...