Radio Free St. Jude

On that day, the Widow’s gift was more valuable to the Lord than all the other contributions to the Temple.  What is the meaning of her two copper coins.  Click on the image for a homily on the Widow’s Mite

For a homily on the Gospel from the 28th Sunday Per annum, Year B, Mark 10.17-30, click on the picture.

In the Roman canon at Mass, the sacrifices of three Old Testament figures are brought to mind.  Why these three?  Click on the link below for a homily of how their sacrifices guide us in our participation at Holy Mass.

The Sacrifices of Abel, Abraham, and Melchizedek

At the Mass, after the Words of Institution and the Proclamation of the Mystery of Faith, turning to God the Father, the priest recalls the Paschal Mystery and we are invited to share in these saving deeds of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  Click the link below for an explanation of this moment during the Mass and how it can touch our lives today.

The Anamnesis

In the Faith, a mystery is not something that we cannot know about, but rather something that, in order for us to know about it, God has to reveal it to us.  There are many mysteries that God has revealed.  There is one, however, which we call THE mystery of Faith.  Click the link below for a homily on The Mystery of Faith

The Mystery of Faith

In this homily, I address the what, how and why of Our Lord’s command to his Apostles: Do this in memory of me. Click on the link.

A Memorial Where Past and Present Meet

Imagine the Apostles at the Last Supper hearing the words of Jesus for the first time whereby He changed the bread and wine into his body and blood.  By what actions and words did Jesus show his Apostles that the Mass was a commemoration, a making present, of his impending Sacrifice on the Cross.  Click on the link below for a homily:

What Was He Thinking: Mass as Sacrifice

At Holy Mass, we need to realize that the Lord himself instructs us especially during the Liturgy of the Word.  We see that after his Resurrection, Our Lord opens the scriptures to his disciples so that they may come to understand the meaning and power of his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, that is, the Paschal Mystery.  Of course, the scriptures He was explaining were from the Old Testament.  In the Liturgy of the Word, Jesus continues to open the scriptures to us, drawing from the font of both the Old and New Testaments.  Click the link below for a homily on first part of the Liturgy of the Word.

Liturgy of the Word: Old Testament – Psalm – Epistle

There has never been the Liturgy of the Eucharist without the proclamation from the Holy Scriptures preceding it. This arrangement goes back to the very earliest days of the Church. It is good to ask why this is so. What is the purpose of this? Click the link below for a homily on this topic.

Homily on the Liturgy of the Word

A blessed and happy Easter to all my readers!

After the celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday until the Easter Vigil, time seems to stand still.  The Paschal Fast, which begins with Good Friday and continues on Holy Saturday until the Vigil helps us enter into this “between time” of waiting for the Lord’s Resurrection.  Yet this “between time”  is full of meaning.  We read in the Gospel of Luke how, after Jesus was laid in the tomb and a great stone was rolled against the entrance to the tomb, and everyone went away, while Mary Magdelene and the other Mary were left sitting opposite the tomb as if keeping watch (Matthew 27.61).  Little did they know something wonderfully  mysterious was taking place.

The first meaning of this phrase from the Apostles’ Creed affirms that Jesus, like all men, truly died and his soul joined the souls of the just souls in the realm of the dead.  However, Christ descended there as the Saviour, freeing the spirits imprisoned there.  Holy Scripture tells us:  “… He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison…” (1 Peter 3.18-19).   On Holy Saturday morning, we commemorate Christ’s descent into “hell”.  This “hell” is not the hell of the damned, but the state called “Abraham’s bosom” in Scripture (Luke 16.22-26), where the souls of the just, while deprived of the vision of God, awaited to be freed so as to enter in Heaven.

In her liturgy, the Church gives us the service of Tenebrae on Holy Saturday morning, in which, like the two Mary’s, we keep watch at the tomb, lamenting the death of our Lord, who suffered so much for our sins.  But unlike those holy women at that time, we also commemorate Christ’s descent among the dead who frees the just from the chains of their “hell” so that they may enter into the glory of heaven.  As we sing the words of the tenebrae service, we enter alternately into the lamentation of the holy women, and the mind of Christ descending and raising up the just souls who awaited their liberation. (Catechism of the Catholic Church ¶¶ 632-635).

Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him – He who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . “I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.” (An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday PG 43,440A,452C)

Click here for the audio file of Tenebrae sung at St Jude’s Church, Vancouver, Holy Saturday, 2012.