The story of the annunciation may be my favourite story ever – it certainly has played a major role in my own spiritual formation, serving as the basis for many a theological reflection as an expectant and then new mother in seminary and as an expectant and then new priest afterwards. So when I was […]

Sans doute avons-nous tous en tête une image de Jean-Baptiste en tant que prophète. Peut-être le voyons-nous grand, mince, poilu, recouvert de fourrures, et d’une hygiène corporelle un peu douteuse. Ce sont là, en partie, des descriptions qui nous proviennent des évangiles. Mais au-delà de cette image qui tient un peu de la caricature, je […]

ADVENT 3 HOMILY—14 December 2014 Do not quench the Spirit.  Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything…  In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, one God now and forever.  Amen. If I were to ask you to draw me a picture of John the Baptist, I suspect that many of […]

An all-ages sermon for the first Sunday in Advent It is the first Sunday in Advent – a season set aside to prepare for the fulfillment of God`s desire for creation, for the day when God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven, for the day that Christ returns. The Sunday […]

When Will and Kate came to Montreal in 2011– that’s Prince William and Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge,  I waited for three hours for just a glimpse of the royal couple.  At first the police separated the crowds into two distinct camps –  sheep and goats – as it were –  the pro-royalists to the […]

May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our all our hearts be acceptable to you, our God, that I may speak and we all may reflect in your name, one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen. Something great and terrible is about to happen. On this, the Bible passages are especially […]

One hundred years ago – almost to the month – the Princess Pats – Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry – landed in France to fight.  Other Canadian soldiers would join them in 1915.  Eventually 66,000 Canadians would die in the First World War out of a Canadian population of 8 million. On Tuesday we will […]

Today marks the last day of a very brief season – three days for contemplating that which is unseen – both the dark and the light. The season began with Hallowe’en, the eve of All Saints Day, which technically was yesterday, and ends today with All Souls Day. It’s a season for facing down fear […]

SERMON—ALL SAINTS’ SUNDAY—2 November 2014 Fear the Most High, you that are God’s saints, for those who fear God lack nothing.  In the name of the undivided Trinity, one God now and forever.  Amen. The young man stood alone in the centre of the town square.  All around him, people were gathering—jeering and mocking, unsure […]

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. May I speak in the name of God ….. Whenever the Church gets itself into heated arguments about who can get married in church, who can take communion – when, where and how, and who can be ordained, today’s Gospel is never far away: […]

“Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.” One of the things worth thinking about in the Gospel that we just heard is this dynamic of entrapment and the clever way Jesus springs the trap without getting caught. It speaks to the narrative of Jesus’ ministry and its consequences.   It […]