March 20, 2025 – Friday of the 4th Week of Lent

Sg 2, 1a.12-22; Jn 7,1-2.10.14.25-30 

H O M I L Y

Jesus neither refuses death nor desires it. He knows that according to His Father's will, there is a time for everything. There will be a time for him to be arrested, judged, maltreated and finally put to death. That time had not come yet, and therefore nobody can lay his hand on him, even when he dares to go to the Temple on the Feast of the Tents and preach.

19 March 2026 – Feast of Saint Joseph

2Sam 7, 4...16; Rom. 4, 13...22; Mat 1, 16-24

Homily

One of the consequences of the development of psychology in our time is that we have become very attentive to all our inner states, scrutinising and analysing them sometimes to the extreme. Several great modern writers, especially poets and novelists, devote a great deal of time to describing their own inner states or those of the characters in their work. However, the Bible as a whole, both the Old and New Testaments, hardly dwells on describing the inner states of the great characters in the History of Salvation. On the contrary, Holy Scripture essentially describes events of salvation.

19 mars 2026 – Fête de saint Joseph

2Sam 7, 4...16; Rom. 4, 13...22; Mat 1, 16-24

H O M É L I E

          L’une des conséquences du développement de la psychologie à notre époque est que nous sommes devenus très attentifs à tous nos états intérieurs, les scrutant et les analysant parfois à l’extrême. Plusieurs grands écrivains modernes, en particulier les poètes et les romanciers s’adonnent longuement à décrire leurs propres états intérieurs ou ceux des personnages de leur création. Or la Bible dans son ensemble, aussi bien l’Ancien que le Nouveau Testament, ne s’attarde guère à décrire les états intérieurs des grands personnages de l’Histoire du Salut. Au contraire l’Écriture Sainte décrit essentiellement des événements -- des événements salvifiques.

18 mars 2026 – mercredi de la 4^ème semaine de carême

Is 49:8-15; Jean 5:17-30

Homélie

          « Mon Père est toujours à l’œuvre, et moi aussi, je suis à l’œuvre.» Il n’est pas sans importance de remarquer que cette phrase de Jésus vient au début d’un discours où il parle de son amour du Père et de son union avec lui, et de l’amour et l’union auxquels nous sommes nous aussi conviés, si nous savons sortir de nous-mêmes.

March 18, 2026 - Wednesday of the 4th Week in Lent

Is 49:8-15; John 5:17-30

Homily

“My Father is always at work, and I too am at work.” It is not unimportant to note that this phrase of Jesus comes at the beginning of a discourse in which he speaks of his love of the Father and his union with him, and of the love and union to which we too are invited, if we know how to come out of ourselves.

          Yesterday, in the vision of Ezekiel that we had as our first reading, we saw Ezekiel increasingly engulfed by the waters of life (first up to his ankles, then up to his knees, then up to his waist...). Going further and further from himself, forgetting himself and allowing himself to be invaded by these waters, he returned to the shore where he had been at the beginning, to discover the trees and fruit that had always been there and that he had not seen before.

          In today's first reading, from Isaiah, God is presented as the most tender of mothers, who opens her arms and leaps for joy when her sons and daughters return from exile

The Gospel takes us to an even deeper level.   Jesus invites us to be one with our Father in heaven, just as he is one with his Father. He invites us not only to be objects of his mercy, but to share the mercy he has for all others as well as for us - not only to do his will, but to have only one will, only one will, only one love with him: which is the most radical form of obedience.

          This radical transformation of our hearts, which remains the goal of our Christian and monastic life, will be offered to us as a special grace in our celebration of the Paschal Mystery. It is also a grace offered to us in every Eucharistic celebration.

          Let us open our hearts to this grace.

Armand Veilleux

17 mars 2026, mardi de la 4^ème semaine de Carême

Ez 47,1-9.12 ; Jn 5, 1-16 

Homélie

          L’une des expressions qui revenait assez souvent dans la bouche du pape François est celle de « périphéries ». Il employait d’ailleurs le mot au pluriel. Il nous appelait tous à aller aux périphéries. Et ce mot a évidemment des sens différents selon la vocation propre des personnes à qui il s’adressait ou selon les contextes dans lesquels il l’utilisait. Son approche était évangélique avant d’être sociologique.