26 September 2025 -- Friday, 25th Week of Ordinary Time

Ag 1:15b–2:9; Lk 9:18–22

Homily

Who is Jesus?

For a long time, this was undoubtedly a theoretical question for us, but it took on a new meaning the day we were led to question our own identity. (Even if we may not have asked ourselves the question explicitly.)

The answer to the question ‘Who is Jesus?’ determines the answer to the question ‘Who am I?’.

The Son of God accepted all dimensions of human existence. The devotional books of recent centuries have told us about a Jesus who had a beatific vision from the beginning... But contemporary Christology leads us to rediscover a Jesus more in line with what the New Testament tells us: a Jesus who grows in age and wisdom before God and men—a Jesus who grows in the discovery of his mission and identity. A Jesus who is as fully human as he is fully divine, who, like any human being, needs to be confirmed by his friends in his initial and then growing perception of his identity.

The more I meditate on the Gospel we have just read, the more I am convinced that when Jesus says to his disciples, ‘Who do you say that I am?’, this is not a theoretical question. Nor is it a pedagogical device. Jesus himself needs to hear Peter's answer: ‘You are the Messiah of God’, and this confirmation allows him to fully assume what he already perceived in his human soul: "The Son of Man must suffer greatly, be rejected by the elders... be put to death and rise again..."

Jesus knows how to recognise the signs of the times in his own existence: for him, there is a time to preach courageously and a time to hide, a time to live and a time to die. His disciples, and Peter in particular, help him to make this discernment...

There is a time for everything, a time for every matter under the sun. It is important not to read this with our Western conception of time. For us, time is an immense void, a continuous line with a starting point and an ending point: a void that must be filled.

(We sometimes talk about occupying time, and even killing time.) The Semitic mentality ignores this conception of time. For the Semite, what exists is not a duration to be filled. What exists is above all a number of realities, such as death, joy, sorrow, war. Each reality has its own time.

During our human existence, we encounter some of these realities with their own time. And the important thing is to recognise each of these realities with their own time. There are times that we only experience once in our lives, such as birth and death, but there are other times that we experience often, such as joy and sadness, peace and war, etc. Jesus reproaches his contemporaries for recognising the weather by looking at the signs in the sky, knowing when rain or sunshine is approaching, but not knowing how to recognise the times of the Kingdom of God.

When it comes to the future of our communities, as well as our personal existence, our responsibility is not simply to make human calculations, but to know how to identify the time that is coming and to respond to it: is it a time of growth and expansion, or a time of waiting, and perhaps even, in some cases, a time of death?

During this celebration, let us ask for the grace to recognise the time we have to live.

Armand Veilleux

25 September 2025 – Thursday of the 25th week

Haggai 1:1-8; Luke 9:7-9

HOMILY

Herod Antipas, like his father Herod the Great who had the children of Bethlehem put to death at the time of Jesus' birth, is a troubled, anxious man. He is king – or tetrarch – of Galilee, but a puppet king whose power is in reality very fragile since the country is under Roman control. He is very attached to his prerogatives, but always torn by insecurity, always fearing that a true ‘king of the Jews’ will come and dethrone him. He is weak, and would not have wanted to behead John, but he did so in order not to lose face after making a foolish promise to the daughter of his illegitimate wife. Similarly, he became Pilate's accomplice in the death of Jesus, out of fear of the Romans, even though he felt a certain fascination for Jesus. He wants to see Him, but out of simple curiosity.

September 22, 2025 – Monday of the 25th week of Ordinary Time

Ezra 1:1-6; Luke 8:16-18

HOMILY

Following the parable of the seed falling on different types of soil, and the explanation of this parable, Luke adds here, somewhat haphazardly, several sayings of Jesus that are found elsewhere in the Gospel of Matthew. I must confess that I scratched my head a little, wondering how I could best comment on this text. Finally, two words jumped out at me toward the end of this short text. The word “therefore” and the word “listen” — “Pay attention, therefore, to how you listen.” This “therefore” indicates that the few words that follow will be the conclusion of everything that precedes—not only the few lines that make up today's Gospel reading, but the entire parable and its explanation.

21 septembre 2025 - 25^ème dimanche "C"
Am 8, 4-7 ; 1 Tm 2, 1-8 ; Lc 16, 1-13

H O M É L I E

          Dans ses chapitres 14 à 16 saint Luc rapporte ce qu’on pourrait appeler des « propos de table » de Jésus. Même si ce genre littéraire est propre à Luc parmi les évangélistes, il était souvent utilisé de son temps. Jésus est invité à un repas et, comme les autres invités, lorsque vient son tour, il offre des réflexions et un enseignement. L’Évangile que nous avions il y a quelques semaines sur la place à choisir lorsqu’on est invité à un banquet, était tout à fait dans cette veine. Plusieurs des enseignements rapportés dans cette section de l’Évangile de Luc, y compris celui que nous avons aujourd’hui, ne se trouvent que dans Luc.

September 21, 2025 - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Am 8:4-7; 1 Tim 2:1-8; Lk 16:1-13

Homily

In chapters 14 to 16, Saint Luke recounts what could be called Jesus' “table talk.” Although this literary genre is unique to Luke among the evangelists, it was often used in his time. Jesus is invited to a meal and, like the other guests, when his turn comes, he offers reflections and teaching. The Gospel we had a few weeks ago about choosing where to sit when invited to a banquet was very much in this vein. Several of the teachings reported in this section of Luke's Gospel, including the one we have today, are found only in Luke.

20 septembre 2025 – Samedi de la 24ème semaine ordinaire

1 Tm 6,13-16 ; Luc 8, 4-15

Homélie

          L’agriculture ou le jardinage peuvent être une bonne école de patience, de confiance et d’abandon. Une fois qu’on a travaillé le sol, qu’on y a déposé les semences et qu’on l’a arrosé, on n’a plus qu’à attendre avec patience. Durant un premier temps il n’y a aucun moyen de savoir de façon certaine si la semence croîtra ou non. Ensuite on ne peut savoir dans quelle mesure elle croîtra. On peut agir de diverses manières sur les conditions qui favorisent la croissance, mais on ne peut intervenir aucunement dans le processus même de croissance. Gardant tout ceci présent à l’esprit, revenons maintenant à la lecture de l’Évangile d’aujourd’hui.