Easter Sunday, Cycle A - April 5, 2026

 Easter Sunday – A 

April 5, 2026

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Chocolat

 

This past Thursday, three days ago, I received in the mail a box of homemade Easter eggs from my sister-in-law Lynn.

 

Lynn makes these every year. They are buttercreams coated with dark chocolate and they are delicious.

 

Well, these Easter eggs led me to remember a movie named Chocolat. Chocolat, as may be obvious, is, the French word for chocolate and I suggest that this movie is a great Easter story.

 

The story takes place in a small French village in 1959. Life in this little village is very traditional, very structured, and very rigid.

 

But then, into the village comes a young woman named Vianne and her little daughter. Vianne opens a chocolaterie – a chocolate shop.

 

She makes and sells anything made with chocolate – chocolates filled with nuts and jellies and crèmes, hot chocolate, chocolate cake, everything. You can gain a couple pounds just watching the movie!

 

The mayor of this French town is very opposed to the chocolate shop and tries to keep the villagers from patronizing it. He sees it as a place of sinful indulgence.

 

And, of course, because Vianne opened the chocolate shop during Lent, the mayor judges it to be the work of the devil. Well, despite all of the mayor’s efforts to make it fail, the shop succeeds.

 

Vianne’s shop becomes a place of acceptance, love, and care.  Little by little the entire village is changed and on Easter Sunday, even the young parish priest throws away his traditional homily and just speaks from the heart about what the risen Christ means to him.

 

He tells the villagers and us, the audience, not to measure goodness by what we can condemn and reject and exclude. Instead, he calls us to measure goodness by what we can create and love and embrace.

 

A Resurrection Story

 

As I said, I see Chocolat as an Easter story, a resurrection story.

 

It tells how people of this French village come to fuller life or simply come to life after being virtually dead.  On the surface, this happens because of chocolate, but in truth, the transformation happens because of the qualities that Vianne has introduced.

 

Chocolat and Easter give us messages like:

v the value of uniting rather than dividing people – key word – uniting people.

v the importance of accepting differences rather than rejecting those who are different – key word – accepting differences.

v the excitement of creating opportunities rather staying stuck in the status quo – key word – creating opportunities.

v The merit of highlighting light rather than ruminating on darkness – key word – highlighting light. 

 

Actions like these – uniting people, accepting differences, creating opportunities, and highlighting light – actions like these   are life-giving. They bring us a satisfaction that is invaluable. 

 

They give us a fullness that we can find in no other way. And, of course, the grounding of all of this is Jesus, the risen Christ – as the young priest in Chocolat came to realize.

 

Jesus’ life on earth and then his death and resurrection – these teach the truth of the Easter mystery that dying leads to rising. Dying, letting go of lesser ways and following the lead of Jesus, the risen Christ – this gives us life. 

 

Embrace Easter 

 

So, today I invite you to really embrace the message of Easter. 

 

Embrace it, as happened in that little Franch town. If we do that, we will discover that the way of the risen Christ – uniting people, accepting differences, creating opportunities, and highlighting light – this way gives us such a fullness of life that resurrection just feels right and makes sense.  

 

That’s the message of Easter that I bring to all of us this morning. That’s how I see our faith in the risen Christ. 

 

So, Happy Easter and please enjoy your chocolates!

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, Cycle A - March 29, 2026

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion – A  

March 29, 2026       5pm   

            Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

The Passion According to Matthew

 

We just heard the account of Jesus’ Passion according to Matthew. I want to comment briefly on two details in this passage. 

 

God’s Forgiveness/Love

 

First, Matthew is the only gospel writer who informs us about Judas taking his own life.

 

Why does he mention this? Judas comes to realize that he has betrayed a good and holy man and he feels remorseful.

 

But tragically, he does not realize that Jesus is so good that he still loves him and will forgive him. Judas is unable to see this.

 

So, by recalling this, Matthew wants us to be clear that nothing we do is too bad to be forgiven by God. God’s love is full and complete. 

 

So, maybe there is something we have never told anyone and won’t even mention in confession. It can be something that we just feel ashamed of.

 

Whatever it is, the lesson here is that there is nothing about us that is beyond God’s forgiveness. It’s important for us to remember this for our own sake. 

 

It’s important for us to share this with anyone who feels so sinful or guilty that they think they cannot be forgiven. And it’s important for us as a Church to see our ministry not as judging and condemning, but as healing and restoring to wholeness. 

 

God’s Presence/Closeness

 

The other detail I want to highlight is the tearing of the curtain in the temple.

 

Today’s passage says that at the moment Jesus dies, “the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.” This veil or curtain separated what was called the Holies of Holies – the inner area of the temple where God is seen as present – it separated this from the rest of the temple.

 

In that way, the veil separated God and us. The tearing of this curtain from top to bottom signifies that this is God’s action, the divine action or initiative.

 

It means that this separation from God no longer exists. Jesus’ death and eventual resurrection reconciles and makes humanity close with God.

 

The result is that we can now approach God as the One who is as close to us as we are to ourselves. In our prayer, we can speak to God in our own words and bring our true self to God. 

 

We no longer need to feel alienated and distant from God. Instead, we can feel loved by God and at peace with God – all of this flowing from the tearing of the veil in the temple.

 

May we now live with this assurance and comfort. God’s presence and closeness, along with God’s love and forgiveness no matter what, are important takeaway messages in today’s account of the Passion of Jesus. 

 

5th Sunday of Lent, Cycle A - March 22, 2026

 5th Sunday of Lent – A 

March 22, 2026       8:30am  

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Resurrection on the Last Day 

 

Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, has died. 

 

His sister, Martha, says to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus replies: “Your brother will rise.”

 

And Martha responds with a sentence that is significant. She says: “I know he will rise in the resurrection, on the last day.”

 

Some Jews, in the centuries right before the birth of Christ, had come to believe in a resurrection. They believed that this would happen on the last day, at the end of time.  

 

So, Martha is asserting this belief. And her statement is significant because it sets up Jesus for declaring something dramatically new.   

 

“I am the resurrection…”

 

Jesus says: “I am the resurrection and the life.”

 

Notice that Jesus says: “I am” – not I will be “the resurrection.” This means that resurrection is a present reality, and not only something in the future.  

 

And also notice that Jesus says: “I am.” This is dramatic because it means that resurrection is in some way not just a belief for the future, but it is a person in the present.

 

So, resurrection happens now through a relationship with Jesus in the present. This is why Jesus says: “Whoever believe in me, even if they die, will live.” 

 

Jesus invites us to believe in him and then to live out of this relationship so as to live in resurrected life right now. The idea is that Jesus calls Lazarus and us out of the tombs we are in right now. 

 

Our Tombs  

 

For example, Jesus gently calls us out of our tomb of grief and loss. 

 

He knows what it is like to be abandoned and to feel the loss of those closest to him. He walks with us in that experience and assures us that he is always with us. 

 

He offers himself as our companion especially in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. He calls us, as we are able to do it, to come out of the tomb of grief and back into the current of life that God must still want for us. 

 

Jesus calls us out of the tomb of anxiety and worry.

 

He paints that touching and powerful image: “Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more important than they?

 

“Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your lifespan?” He calls us out of the tomb of worry and anxiety and into a trusting relationship with God.

 

Then Jesus calls us out of the tomb of guilt and shame.

 

We may be burdened with guilt for something we have done or crippled in shame about who we are. Remember the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman that we heard here just two weeks ago.

 

She had a sordid past and felt guilty and ashamed. And yet Jesus takes her where she is and she emerges with a renewed sense of worth and dignity.   

 

One last example: Jesus may be calling us out of the tomb of self-absorption.

 

Self-absorption means that I am thinking only about myself and my concerns. I may not even be able to relate to the world or viewpoint or feelings of others.

 

Jesus calls us out of this tomb of self-absorption by teaching us the balance of loving others as we love ourselves. He brings us to the awareness that our true happiness is connected with the well-being of others.

 

“Do you believe?”

 

So, the real issue today is the question that Jesus asks Martha: “Do you believe this?” 

 

“Do you believe that I am the resurrection – that “I am the resurrection”? If we do, then he can raise us up and help us out of the tombs we are in right now.

4th Sunday of Lent, Cycle A - March 15, 2026

 4th Sunday of Lent – A 

March 15, 2026       11am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

I Am Nameless

 

Did you notice that the gospel writer, Saint John, never tells you my name?

 

In the entire story that you just heard, John only refers to me as “a man blind from birth.”  He never uses my name.

 

I want to tell you why he doesn’t but first, I want to make two observations about what happens here.  After all, I’m the one at the center of the story, so I really experienced what happened.  

 

Observation 1: Seeing Spiritually 

 

First, did you notice that Jesus says that my blindness is not due to any sin, either my parents’ sin or my sin?

 

It just happened.  Period.

 

So, you are probably not responsible for any physical blindness.  But you may be, in fact you and all of us are probably responsible for spiritual blindness in ourselves.  

 

When I look in this story at my religious leaders and my neighbors and even my parents, I think they are afraid: afraid that they will have to change the way they think about Jesus, or afraid that their status will be threatened, or afraid of what others will think about them. That’s why they are unable to see and to say that Jesus healed me.

 

They remain spiritually blind and they are responsible for that. So, please don’t let that happen to you. 

 

Maybe you are afraid that if you really listen to Jesus, you will have to face up to some habit in your life, like talking negatively about people or a substance abuse problem. Or maybe you are afraid that you will have to deal with your part of a marriage problem.  

 

You know, this sort of spiritual blindness diminishes who you are and doesn’t make you feel any better about yourself. Jesus is so insightful when he says: “I came into this world so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” 

 

What Jesus means is: don’t be so certain that you are really seeing, because then you may end up spiritually blind. Instead, admit that you are blind to some extent, and then allow Jesus to help you to see – spiritually.

 

Observation 2: Seeing More

 

And that takes me to my other observation: Did you notice that I did not see fully all at once?

 

Oh yes, I instantly got my eyesight, my physical sight. But my spiritual sight – that was another thing.

 

At first, I saw Jesus as just another person; then as a prophet; then as one sent from God; then as the Son of Man or Messiah; and finally, as the Lord or God himself. It took me a while to see him for all that he is.

 

There’s a good lesson here for you. You need to grow in your faith – to keep seeing more and more and never stop growing.

 

So, don’t get stuck into thinking that your understanding of God or of the Mass or of Catholic traditions has to be the way it was when you were a kid. Keep your mind and your eyes open and trying to see more.

 

I’m telling you: it’s a lot more exciting to keep growing and to keep seeing more and more. And it will lead you, as it led me, to a much fuller relationship with Jesus – and that means with God.

 

Why I Am Nameless

 

Okay! I just had to make these observations about 1) seeing spiritually and 2) seeing more and more.

 

Now, I want to tell you why John never tells you my name. He does not do this because he wants each of you – each of you – to realize that you are me.

 

So, you – Mary, Michael, Rita, Robert – you are the “man blind from birth.” Jesus also wants to give you sight, and he will do this 1) if you are willing to admit that you may be spiritually blind and that you want spiritual vision and 2) if you are willing to keep trying to see more and more for as long as you live.  

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - February 15, 2026

6^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – A 

February 15, 2026  8:30am 

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Anger

 

For just a minute, imagine this.

 

At work, on your job, a coworker starts talking to others and maybe even the boss about what they did on a particular project. They pass themselves off as having come up with the idea or done a major part of the work, when it was really you who made it happen. 

 

You feel upset and angry. And this is natural, isn’t it?

 

Your anger signals that an injustice has occurred. So, what do you do with your anger?

 

In what I call a healthy and gospel-based response, you pause, you reflect, and then you address the issue as respectfully as you can. Perhaps you speak privately with the coworker and express your upset.

 

Or perhaps you speak with your supervisor and clarify your contribution to the project. Your anger motivates you to pursue fairness while still respecting the coworker’s dignity.

 

Healthy or Unhealthy 

 

The point here is that anger, by itself, is not sinful.

 

It is a human feeling, a part of who we are as human beings. Healthy or normal anger is an emotional response to something that is unjust, harmful, or wrong.

On the flip side, what is called unhealthy or sinful anger goes beyond recognizing what is unjust, harmful, or wrong. It becomes hurtful, even destructive.

 

Healthy anger is controlled and directed at the problem. But sinful anger attacks the person.

 

You may gossip about your coworker and label them as dishonest. You may hope that they fail and even want to take revenge.  

 

Jesus and Anger

 

This distinction helps explain Jesus’ words in today’s gospel. 

 

Jesus says; “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not kill.’ But I say to you, whoever is angry with another will be liable to judgment.”

 

Jesus moves the focus from the outward act of murder to the inward attitude of the heart. The insight is that murder does not begin with a weapon.

 

It begins with contempt and hatred. When anger turns into contempt and hatred, it has  the spirit that leads to violence. 

 

So, Jesus is not condemning the emotion of anger in itself. Instead, he wants us to get in touch with our feelings of anger and express them in a constructive way.

 

Healthy anger seeks justice while preserving respect. Sinful anger seeks to wound, diminish, or destroy. 

 

There is a big difference. And basically, the difference lies in whether our heart remains aligned with God’s mercy or drifts toward contempt and hatred. 

 

Sexuality and Oaths

 

Jesus gives two other examples in this passage, and he wants us to deal with them in the same way – moving from just the outer act to our inner attitude. 

 

So, he speaks of marriage and sexual expression. He wants us to integrate our sexual drives – a part of who we are as human beings – he wants us to integrate them into a life lived by gospel values.

 

Jesus is calling us to lives of faithful love. And he is calling us to respect others as persons and not view them as objects for our own pleasure. 

 

And then Jesus speaks of oaths. He is not putting down the use of oaths in a courtroom.

 

But he is saying that there is no need for swearing oaths in ordinary life. Simply speak what is within you and say Yes if you mean Yes and No if you mean No. 

 

From Outer to Inner

 

So, to wrap it up, let’s go back to where Jesus begins today: “I have not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them.”

 

He wants us to go beyond the law, as something outside of us that we just must obey. He wants us to go within and live out the spirit of the law, the values and principles that are its foundation.

 

Living this fulfillment of the law will give us a sense of fullness. It will make us more at peace with Jesus and with one another.  

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - February 8, 2026

 5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – A 

February 8, 2026    5:00pm 

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Salt

 

Here is something very familiar to all of us – a box of Morton’s salt. 

 

We all know that salt, in its various forms, has a lot of qualities or uses. For example, if we run out of toothpaste, we can brush with a mixture of soda and salt because of salt’s cleansingqualities. 

 

If we get a sore throat, we can gargle with salt because of its healing qualities. If we’re hungry, we can cure a ham with salt because of its preserving qualities.  

 

We can flavor just about every food with salt. We can use it to melt ice on the sidewalk or street in the winter.  

 

We’ve seen a lot of that in the past few weeks! And we can also use it to put out fires.  

 

So, salt has lots of uses and these uses tell us a lot about why Jesus calls us “the salt of the earth.” His idea is that with his presence and following his way, we can be “the salt of the earth.”

 

“Salt of the Earth” 

 

For example, we can flavor our families with selflessness, by thinking in terms of our well-being and not just my well-being. We can cleanse our marriages by asking for forgiveness when we have offended our spouse. 

 

Like salt, we can heal a friendship by granting forgiveness. We can preserve the relationship with our older parents by making time to visit and assist them. 

 

Like salt, we can melt the coldness that can creep into work relationships by a few positive words. We can put out the fires that can flare up with our children by listening to feelings and dealing with the root of the issue.

 

And we cannot forget this one: we can give lightness to our relationships by not taking everything too seriously and by taking some things with a grain of salt. So, there it is, a box of salt, being “the salt of the earth” – they are some of the qualities that Jesus must have in mind here.

 

Light

 

Now, in today’s passage, Jesus goes on to call us also “the light of the world.”

 

This leads me to recall an article that I read some years ago about a prayer breakfast. The speaker was emphasizing our duty to be “the light of the world.”  

 

He said that he had an experience at home that really helped him understand this. He went down into his basement one day and made an interesting discovery.  

 

Some potatoes were over in the darkest corner of the basement, and they had begun to sprout. At first, he couldn’t figure out how they had gotten enough light.

 

He looked around and then realized what had happened. His wife had hung a shiny kettle from the ceiling near the basement window.   

 

That kettle was so shiny that it was reflecting the rays of the sun onto the potatoes in the dark corner. The speaker said that he learned a lot from this experience.  

 

He could be like a shiny kettle and reflect the light from Jesus onto someone in a dark corner of life. Well, that speaker gives us a good insight into what it takes to be “the light of the world.”      

“Light of the World” 

 

The kettle had to be facing the source of light.

 

Because it was facing the sun, it could also reflect light to the potatoes. The idea is that we also need to be facing our spiritual light who is Jesus.

 

We do this primarily through prayer. Our participating in Mass on the weekend, our reading the Scripture, our doing some spiritual reading, maybe like the book Holy Moments which you will receive today as you leave church – these are important ways for facing our source of light.

 

If we are doing that, we can then reflect God or Jesus to others. And this will include showing the qualities of salt in our relationships – flavoring, cleansing, healing, preserving, melting the cold, putting out the fires, and yes, even taking some things with a grain of salt.

 

So, being “the light of the world” will make us “the salt of the earth.” That’s why Jesus has connected both images and applied them to us.   

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - February 1, 2026

 4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – A 

February 1, 2026     11:00am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

The Barista 

 

On a weekday morning several weeks ago, I was standing in line at a coffee shop. 

 

The barista looked exhausted—dark circles under her eyes, moving quickly but without much joy. The man in front of me told the barista that he was in a big hurry.

 

He was fidgety and tapping his foot. The barista brought his order, he sipped it and immediately snapped that she forgot to add the vanilla to the coffee.

 

She apologized, fixed it, and he walked off without a word – no thank you. As I stepped forward, she looked up and said, almost embarrassed, “Sorry about that.”

 

I said, “You’re doing fine. Don’t worry about it.”

 

Her shoulders relaxed. She smiled—just a little—and said, “That means more than you know.” 

 

The Beatitudes

 

That was a small moment, a brief interaction, nothing heroic. 

 

But it occurs to me that this is the world Jesus is speaking to in today’s Gospel. These sayings that we call the Beatitudes are often not the way the world works. 

 

Jesus doesn’t say, “Blessed are the powerful, the admired, the successful.” He’s saying things that are quite different.

 

And he’s not giving us commands as God did when he gave the Ten Commandments. Instead, he’s giving us simple declarations. 

 

He is declaring, “God is already near to you at these times.” These Beatitudes reveal how and when God is near. 

 

The Eight Declarations

 

So, when we live with a sense of our need for God in a culture that tells us to be self-made and independent, when we admit our limits, when we stop pretending that we are fully in control and have it all together, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

When we suffer the loss of a job, when we grieve the death of a spouse or close friend, when we know how fragile life is, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn.”

When we choose not to dominate conversations, when we choose not to crush others to get ahead in an aggressive world, when we know that real strength is strength under control, Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek” because meekness is not weakness. 

 

When we feel angry at injustice, when we ache for truth and honesty, when we respect human life at all stages and in all people, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” because our hearts are then aligned with God.  

 

When we are willing to let go of a hurt and move on, when we have the strength to refrain from a verbal put down to get back at someone, when we choose compassion over judgment, Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful.”

 

When we act with integrity with our actions matching our thoughts, when we try to discern what God wants us to do, when we value all of this more than what other people think about us, Jesus says, “Blessed are the clean of heart.”

 

When we take a step to heal a relationship, when we are even willing to talk with a counselor to work out a problem, when we advocate for ways of diplomacy and not warfare in our world, Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

 

And finally, when others call us weak for trying to be merciful and peacemaking, when they can’t see what we know is real strength, when we are ignored or put down because we are different from the ways of the world, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness.”

 

Conclusion

So, these declarations of Jesus, these Beatitudes are not just a checklist.

Instead, first, they are a portrait of Jesus Himself. And then, they are a portrait of the kind of person we are to become. 

Sometimes, it will be as small as a kind word in a coffee shop. Something small, probably not seen or noticed by many. 

But real. And Jesus says: “Blessed are you."