Lent

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COVID: 3 YEARS LATER – The “Lazarus Bookends”

Homily – 5th Sunday of Lent (A)
John 11:1-45 – The Raising of Lazarus

The last time the “Raising of Lazarus” was read at Sunday Mass the World was in the midst of Covid Lockdowns and a Spiritual Death-of-Sorts. Three years later, as we hear that Gospel story again, where are we now, how far have we come? Fr. Bill preaches on Jesus call “that they may have life and have it more abundantly”, and whether or not we have truly risen from this “death” from a disease that was “not to end in death” but that “the Glory of God may be revealed.”

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JESUS WANTS US TO BE PERFECT

Sunday Homily
7th Sunday of the Year – A
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Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
Matthew 5:38-48

“Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Is such a thing even possible? Was Jesus serious when he said this? What are we to make of it if perfection is impossible for humanity?

Fr. Bill preaches on these words of Jesus; why they were uttered; why we are expected, even commanded to be perfect, not as a suggestion, but as a mandate; and ways God has given us to achieve this seemingly impossible command.

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TEMPTATION? BRING IT ON

The Spiritual Strain of Lenten Spiritual Exercses
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Homily – 1st Sunday of Lent (Year C)
Luke 4:1-13 – The Temptation of Jesus in the Desert

What is the point of Spiritual Exercise without the Strain of Temptation?

Fr. Bill preaches about the Individual and Communal Observances of Lent and how they fit into the experience Jesus had in the Temptation in the Desert.

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“THE FREEDOM TRILOGY” – Good Movies to Watch for Holy Week and Easter

While many like to turn to movies about Jesus during Holy Week, Easter Sunday and the Easter Season, Fr. Bill makes a suggestion of a “trilogy” of movies that deal with the issue of Freedom, with a final resolution on how true Freedom is grounded in Faith in Christ.

Join Fr. Bill as he discusses three unlikely films which build one upon the other to a climax in the third movie on where true freedom must be grounded if it is to lead to an end of tyranny and worldly oppression.

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TEN COMMANDMENTS / TEN EXCEPTIONS – A Worldly Assault on the God’s Divine Law

Homily – 3rd Sunday of Lent – B
Exodus 20:1-17
(Deuteronomy 5:6-21)

How does thee world cleverly draw us away from faithfully obeying the Ten Commandments and how does St. Joseph serve as a model of perfect adherence to them?

Fr. Bill talks about the Ten Commandments of God’s Law, what “Commandments” are imposed upon us by the secular world, and how the world draws us away from faithfully living the Ten Commandments by cleverly weaving a series of “exceptions” to the Commandments themselves that may be more familiar, and startling than we realize.

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HOLY THURSDAY – The Other Great Commission

Lenten Reflection, #37

Jesus gives two Great Commissions. One is called “The Great Commission” and was given before leaving his Disciples after the Resurrection. The other was given at the Last Supper. Fr. Bill discusses how Holy Thursday celebrates the institution of the Holy Eucharist, but also of the Commission Jesus gave to His Disciples, and, by extension, to the entire Church.

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JUDAS ISCARIOT, SCANDALS AND THE CHURCH’S CREDIBILITY

Reflection for Wednesday of Holy Week

Judas Iscariot is addressed in all four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Each one tells the story differently, and in one case the tradition of his fate is a bit different than the traditional story. What does the story of Judas and his betrayal of Jesus tell us about what the early Church had to face in dealing with him and his memory, and how can we, as Church, learn from that experience as we face scandals today?