Deacon Greg Kandra May 14, 2023 – Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20 I Peter 3:15-18 John 14:15-21 A few years ago, a colleague of mine made a pastoral visit to one of the forgotten corners of the world: Armenia. Here is a country suffering from devastations…
Inside the rite for Christian Baptism there’s a little ritual that is at once both touching and unrealistic. At one point in the baptismal rite the child is clothed in a white garment symbolising innocence and purity. The priest or minister officiating says these words: “Receive this baptismal garment and bring it unstained to the…
The Sunday Gospel Jem Sullivan May 7, 2023 Fifth Sunday of Easter Acts 6:1-7 Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19 1 Pt 2:4-9 Jn 14:1-12 In those early days of the global pandemic in spring 2020, our parish food pantry saw an unexpected and dramatic increase in the number of families in need of food assistance. The…
There’s a saying attributed to Attila the Hun, a fifth Century ruler infamous for his cruelty, which reads this way: For me to be happy, it’s not just important that I succeed; it’s also important that everyone else fails. I suspect that Atilla the Hun was not the author of that, but, no matter, there’s…
Deacon Greg Kandra April 30, 2023, Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Ps 23: 1-3a, 3b4, 5, 6 1 Pt 2:20b-25 Jn 10:1-10 Most of us would probably admit: we don’t know a lot of shepherds. (Where I live, in Queens, New York, they are pretty scarce.) But I met one a few…
In the musical Les Miserables, there’s a particularly haunting song, sung by a dying woman (Fontine) who has been crushed by virtually every unfairness that life can deal a person. Abandoned by her husband, sexually harassed by her employer, caught in abject poverty, physically ill and dying, even as her main anxiety is about what…
Jem Sullivan April 23, 2023 Third Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14, 22-33 Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11 I Peter 1:17-21 Luke 24:13-35 Think of a memorable meal you had recently, or in the past. Perhaps it was a casual family gathering or a formal occasion. It may have been in a secluded place…
After Jesus rose from the dead, his first appearances were to women. Why? One obvious reason might be that it was women who followed him to his death on Good Friday, while the men largely abandoned him. As well, it was women, not men, who set off for his tomb on Easter morning, hoping to…
Deacon Greg Kandra The Sunday Gospel April 16, 2023 2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) Acts 2:42-47 Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24 I Peter 1:3-9 John 20:19-31 This Sunday gives us one of my favourite Gospel readings — a story of doubt that turns into belief, of stubbornness that gives way to assent and conversion.…
The Earth was dark twice. Once at the original creation before God first created light. But later there was an even deeper darkness, on Good Friday, between the sixth and ninth hour, when we were crucifying God, and as Jesus dying on the cross cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!”.…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser