WHY no “Gloria” song in Advent? Do you know that we don’t sing or read Gloria (Glory be to God on high) during the Mass in Advent? Do you know why? Just as the Church refrains from the Gloria during Lent, she does the same during Advent, which is another great season of preparation for  Read more …

Come O Lord in my life. With this Sunday’s celebration the Lord gives us the grace and joy of opening the new Liturgical Year, starting with its first season of Advent, the period that commemorates the coming of God among us. In this season of Advent, we shall be granted, once again, to experience the  Read more …

It’s normal to worry from time to time. Given life’s many unknowns and challenges, worry could be considered a natural response to many situations. But chronic and all-consuming worry can be troublesome and interfere with our ability to function freely and calmly in our daily lives. More importantly, problem worry can make faith in God  Read more …

Only Five Loaves and Two Small Fishes? But what are they among so many? Today’s Gospel exposes the conflict between the immensity of the problem and the insignificance of the means. We all have been there. Jesus feeding of the multitudes could serve as a metaphor for our great hunger. We languish for the Living  Read more …

Why faith and culture? Do they go together? Can they be separated? Can faith exist without culture? Can culture exist without faith? These questions are at the heart of today’s readings. In the broadest sense of the word, faith and culture are inextricably connected because a culture is always an expression of the faith which  Read more …

In the valley… of the darkness….of loss…fear not. Today’s gospel tells two heartbreaking stories, of a man losing a loved one (his daughter), and of a woman losing her health. These are two terrible losses, the most feared by humans. But the gospel does not stop there; it also tells us how their willingness to  Read more …

One of the bigger issues that we have in churches today is the giving tithes and offerings. However if people really knew and could grasp the concept of how powerful giving tithes and offerings is, not only would everybody start giving, they would also do so with a heart of joy and thanksgiving. Today I  Read more …

Our citizenship is in heaven. Remembering Robert Osburn On Wednesday November 1, we celebrated the Feast of All Saints. Saints are in heaven with God. On Thursday, November 2, we commemorated All Souls, a day when we remember all the faithful departed. “All Souls” is a day focused on the Church in Heaven, an opportunity  Read more …

Why give back to God? When? How much? I’m sure you’ve heard and read about how we are supposed to be giving people. While we may accept and agree with that, many of us have an inner dialogue that occurs when God asks us to give something. We wonder why God is asking us to  Read more …

A FORGIVING SPIRIT This Sunday’s gospel talks about the need for forgiveness, it talks about the reward of forgiveness, about the consequences of the lack of forgiveness. Forgiveness is something we all struggle with, have struggled with or will deal with at some point in our life. The difficulty lies in the understanding or the  Read more …