240908 Pentecost 16 year B – Welcome Sunday Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 – PSALM 125 – James 2:1-17 – Mark 7:24-37 (check against delivery) Students are back in town for a new year of learning, children have gone back to school. Some people have got new jobs and have just moved to Montreal. For others, […]

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost Song of Songs 2:8-13; Ps 45:1-2, 7-10; James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 The Rev’d Dr. Deborah Meister, ODM When I was studying to be a priest, my roommate was the daughter, grand-daughter, and great-grand-daughter of pastors in the Evangelical Free Church, a conservative denomination prevalent in the American West. […]

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost 2 Sam 18:5-9, 15, 31-33; Ps 130; Eph 4:25–5:2; Jn 6:35, 41-51 Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister I spent most of the 1990s living unhappily in Los Angeles, slogging away at a dissertation. LA is a city known for its nightlife, but I’m a morning person, so what used to fascinate me […]

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost Readings: 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13 • Psalm 51:1-12 • Ephesians 4:1-16 • John 6:24-35 Michel Gagnon, Lay Reader “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. This is a phrase that the former U.S. President John F. Kennedy used in his […]

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost John 6: 1-21 The Venerable Ralph Leavitt, Honorary Associate Priest What an excellent week it has been. For a lot of reasons. One of my disciplines is to read the Sunday’s scriptures on Monday before, I choose one to concentrate on, and then have it in my mind throughout the […]

The Very Rev’d Bertrand Oliver, Dean and Rector Jesus said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. Good morning, everyone! In the last few days, there’s been a palpable sense of excitement in […]

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost 2 Sam 6:1-5, 12b-19; Ps 24; Eph 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29 Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister, ODM The word “Gospel” means “good news,” but today’s Gospel sheds more darkness than light. It is a story that is not bearable. A corrupt tyrant holds a feast; a beautiful girl dances; a malicious woman sells […]

I have watched a lot of films in my time and one of the familiar motifs involves a protagonist who is having a bad time – one thing after another has gone wrong – they are in unfamiliar territory, maybe on a journey and now they have arrived somewhere – they need help, and we […]

The Lord cares for the stranger; * he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked. (Psalm 146) Today is a day that might make a significant difference in the history of Europe as the French go to the polls in the second round of elections for members of parliament called […]

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost 6 2 Sam 1:1, 17-27; Ps 130; 2 Cor 8: 7-15; Mark 5: 21-43 The Rev’d Dr. Deborah Meister, ODM The poet Mary Oliver wrote, Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift. (“The Uses of […]

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal “O God our Defender, storms rage around us and cause us to be afraid. Rescue thy people from despair, deliver thy sons and daughters from fear and preserve us from unbelief; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [from the Collect of the Day] […]