Category: Sunday and Holyday Homily

Homily, 4-28-24; 5th Sunday of Easter: Many of you know that I make wine as a hobby. It started way back in 1989. For most of those 35 years, I have purchased grapes grown in California and shipped into a little store down in Detroit across from the Produce Terminal. It is always a fun… Continue reading Pruning the Vine

Homily, 4-8-24; Feast of the Annunciation: “‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.” And so it begins. With Mary’s fiat we begin the journey from Jesus’ human conception to his Passion, to his Resurrection, and to His Ascension… Continue reading A Spiral of Time

Homily, 2-25-24; Sunday of the 2nd Week in Lent, Cycle B:  “Today if you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts.” This is one of the antiphons we use during Lent to start our Liturgy of the Hours, our daily Christian prayer. It’s taken from the psalms and I think it sums… Continue reading The Faith of Abraham

Homily, 1-21-24; Sunday of the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle B: I’m pretty sure most of you are aware of the little Magnificat booklets. The website describes it this way: “Magnificat is a spiritual guide to help you develop your prayer life, grow in your spiritual life, find a way to a more profound… Continue reading Word of God Sunday

Homily, 1-8-24; Feast of the Baptism of the Lord: Merry Christmas! This is the last time I will be able to say this for awhile. Many have already taken down their Christmas trees and decorations. Some held off putting away their nativity sets until a few days ago, on January 6th, the traditional day for… Continue reading Baptism of the Lord

Homily, 1-1-24; Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God: Our gospel just concluded with these words: “When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” When I was a boy, we celebrated the Feast of the… Continue reading Perfect Humanity

Homily, 12-10-23; Sunday of the 2nd Week in Advent, Cycle B: St. Peter, our first pope, tells us in our second reading today that we are to conduct ourselves in holiness and devotion, to be eager to be found without spot or blemish before God, at peace. Holy, devote, obedient, at peace. This is really… Continue reading Are the Labor Pains Beginning?

Homily, 11-19-23; Sunday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle A: Almost ten years ago, I accepted a three-month contract assignment working as an engineer at a manufacturing facility in Detroit. The company had ties to a French company, and so there were two young French men on two-year development assignments who were stationed… Continue reading Called to be the Worthy Wife

Homily, 7-16-23; 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A: A couple of weeks ago, I attended a one-day Archdiocesan event hosted by Archbishop Vigneron. It was called a Missionary Renewal Assembly, We heard a variety of speakers give testimonies regarding their Family of Parish activities and successes and stressing the need for new evangelization efforts.… Continue reading Maintenance and Mission

Homily, 4-16-23; Divine Mercy Sunday, Cycle A: A couple of weeks ago, someone at St. Cornelius asked me to answer the question: “What is solidarity?” My response to that question is in my Ask the Deacon column in this week’s bulletin. At the time I prepared the response, I didn’t know I would be preaching… Continue reading Mercy through Solidarity