In our first reading this Sunday, from the Book of Deuteronomy, we hear the people of Israel asking what other nation has a god who lives so closely with them as the God of Israel dwells with them. They believed that by observing the commandments, they were God’s people and God dwelt with them. As the psalmist proclaims: “The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” As a sign that the Lord lived with them, the people of Israel kept the Ark of the Covenant, containing the Ten Commandments given them by God, in the Temple in Jerusalem.

For us as Christians, the idea that God dwells with us actually takes on a much greater significance. We believe that God sends His Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts. We no longer have the idea that God dwells in a building. For the Christian, each human being is called to be a Temple of the Holy Spirit. This reality, that God desires to come and dwell within us, is why Jesus places such a significance on the interior life. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus draws our attention to the reality that it is what is in a person’s heart that determines whether the Lord Himself is able to dwell within that heart. As many of the great spiritual writers of our tradition have written, God cannot dwell in a heart that is full of hatred, envy, pride and greed. The heart must be a place that is open and free to contain the Lord. Continue reading →

This Sunday, after six weeks of reading it at the Sunday Masses, we conclude the Bread of Life discourse from the Gospel of John. As it comes to a close, we hear the reaction of those who have heard Jesus say: “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” For many of Jesus’ contemporary listeners, the idea of eating His flesh and drinking His blood is incomprehensible and they reject the idea completely. And yet, while in many other cases when He is misunderstood, He explains himself more clearly, on this matter Jesus does not back away from his insistence that those who wish to have eternal life must consume His Body and drink His Blood. Unable to accept this idea, many of His followers state that it is a teaching that it is difficult to accept. We are told at this point, that many of Jesus’ followers turned away and no longer followed Him. When He asks the twelve if they also wish to leave, they do not indicate that they understand, they simply state that they have nowhere else to go because in faith they affirm that He has the words of eternal life and they have “come to believe and know that [Jesus] is the Holy one of God.” Continue reading →

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for He has looked with favor on His Lowly servant” (Luke 1:46) 

For many people, when they hear of the way in which the Church honors Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in the liturgy, they wonder why so much attention is paid to Mary by Catholics. From a theological point of view, I think the best explanation of this is found in the Constitution for the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum concilium), from the Second Vatican Council. In this document, paragraph 103, we read: “In celebrating the annual cycle of Christ’s mysteries, holy Church honours with especial love the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, who is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving work of her Son. In her (Mary), the Church holds up and admires the most excellent fruit of the redemption, and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless mirror, that which she desires and hopes wholly to be.” Or in much more simple words, the Church celebrates Mary because in her we see what we too hope to be and attain. It is important to note that Catholics do not worship Mary; they venerate her as one they hope to follow. Continue reading →

I always like it when I can start a homily with a good story. I like it even more when I can start a homily with a really good Bible story; and when it comes to Bible stories, they do not get much better than the story about the prophet Elijah.

At a very difficult time in the history of Israel, Elijah was called by God to be a profit and bring God’s message to the people. At the time Elijah was called, the nation was being ruled by an evil King and Queen by the name of Ahab and Jezebel. They had brought false gods into the worship of the country and had taken to worshiping the false god Baal, who was thought to be the god of rain, thunder, lightening, and dew. Elijah was called to tell the people of Israel that there would be a drought for as long as they were unfaithful to the true and living God. Because Baal was thought to be in charge of the rain, for Elijah to claim that the true God had power over it, was a direct challenge to Baal’s authority. Continue reading →

To begin, I would like to thank Fr. Seamus Hogan and the parish staff for giving me a vacation and allowing me a break. It had been almost two years since I had a vacation and a chance to be away for more than a day or two.

It had also been about two years since I was able to be with my parents. Happily, as vaccinated Canadians were allowed to enter the country, they were able to travel once again and return to their Canadian home near Parry Sound. Since I had not seen my mother in two years, I was a little surprised in the changes that had occurred in her since our last visit. She now uses a walker to walk further than a few steps. My father does everything for her. I am reminded by them of the same faithful witness that I have often seen in many of our older parishioners as they care for one another, or their parents or, their family. Continue reading →

We celebrate this weekend our parish’s titular feast day, the Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. This feast takes place on June 29th, but over the last few years we have switched its celebration to the nearest Sunday so that it may be celebrated more solemnly at our Sunday Masses. It is obvious why we call Saint Peter our titular saint— the parish being named St. Peter’s; but perhaps the connection to St. Paul is not so clear. It is because of the many years of faithful service that the Paulist Fathers rendered to this parish that we also honour Saint Paul as our parish’s other titular saint.

We are fortunate to have two such amazing saints as our parish’s titular patrons. Both St. Peter and St. Paul have so much to teach us. I believe these two great saints teach us by their lives both who we are and what we are called to become. Their lives show us the power of God’s grace to transform our lives and the way in which we are called to witness to what that grace is capable of doing in each of us. Continue reading →

There is a wonderful television show out called “The Chosen.” It must be good, because all of my religious friends are talking about it. They all tell me that it is wonderful. It is a crowd funded television series on the life of Jesus. “Crowd funded” means that it has been produced dependent on the donations that have been given by others who have watched it and want other people to see it. it is available for free to anyone who might wish to watch it on the internet. My priest friends are telling me how good it is; many of the religious sisters that I know are telling me how good it is; and many of my lay friends are telling me how good it is. As I tell you about it now, I am going to make a commitment to watch it myself so that I may come back to you at some time in the future with a homily based on my having watched this wonderful series about Jesus’ life. I promise that I will watch this series and I invite you to do the same. Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, I was called by some old family friends to the hospital in Markham, Ontario to anoint one of their relatives who was dying. As it had been several years since I had last visited my old home town, I decided to drive by the home that I had grown up in and where my family had lived from 1972 to 1992. I could not help but notice in front of the home a beautiful huge Maple tree that was starting to get all its leaves as Spring was advancing. The tree was a huge, beautiful healthy tree that cast shade over the entire front yard of the house. I remembered that tree because I had planted it there with my father almost fifty years ago. It had been my job to water that tree and to help it take root. There were actually a few weeks when it was first planted that I was not convinced that it was going to survive; partially because I may not have watered it as regularly as I should have and the hot summer weather threatened not to allow it to take root properly. The tree had obviously survived those early challenges and was now a thriving and well rooted tree, like one of those that we hear Jesus speaking of in today’s Gospel. Continue reading →

These days, during the COVID 19 pandemic, and the state of emergency that is now in existence in our province, many of us have gotten used to doing things “virtually.” We meet with people from work virtually, attend Bible studies and have virtual family celebrations. There is a certain ease to doing things virtually. There is no need to really show up for a virtual encounter. These kinds of meetings are convenient and don’t call for the same kind of commitment and sacrifice that really showing up for an event can require. Continue reading →