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At Easter, we proclaim the great good news not only vocally by singing Exultet or reading God’s Word, but also visually. We literally see this message in the Paschal Candle here beside me in church. The candle itself is designed to portray the Good News of Easter. And so our theme this night is: “UnderstandingContinue reading ““Christ is risen! Alleluia!””

We heard in today’s gospel that Gabriel said to Mary: Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. And what I like the most in today’s gospel is her answer. Mary’s response is not toContinue reading “Mary was full of grace…”

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. And as you probably know, the presentation of Jesus in the temple served two purposes: the first is the dedication or consecration of the first-born son to God; AND the second is the purification of the mother of that boy – so we areContinue reading “There are a number of lessons we can learn from the feast of the Presentation of the Lord…”

I do love Epiphany – it is a very ancient feast, and its celebration is even older in the life of the Church than Christmas! I do love Epiphany because if the meaning of Christmas is about what God gives us – then Epiphany is about what we give God. It’s about our response toContinue reading “I do love Epiphany…”

In today’s gospel we can read this sentence: When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment, and said to him: “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?”, and the man was silent. Have you ever thought thatContinue reading “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?”

Paul makes a very strong statement in today’s first reading, he said: ‘by God’s grace, this is what I am’, namely an apostle. He was very aware that his transformation from a persecutor of the Church to the primary apostle to the Gentiles was not his own doing. It was the risen Lord’s gracious initiativeContinue reading “By God’s grace, this is what I am”

In today’s first reading, the prophet Jeremiah is almost put to death because he spoke God’s Word to the people, a word they didn’t want to hear because it required them to change their ways. In today’s gospel reading, John the Baptist, another prophet, is put to death because he spoke God’s Word to Herod,Continue reading “When Herod had heard John speak he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him”

As with many saints, the life of St James is a mixture of facts and fiction, the untangling of which requires painstaking scholarship. Today, I want to investigate the life of St James using three simple questions: Who was St James? What was James’ response to Jesus? – and, perhaps most importantly – What doesContinue reading “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?”

Blood ties are very important to us. Aren’t they? Of course they are. We greatly appreciate the members of our family, our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, our other relatives. And in today’s gospel, Jesus was speaking to a group of His disciples when someone said that His mother and brothers were outsideContinue reading “Here are my mother and my brothers and my sisters…”