The Gospel we have heard this morning is about the call of the disciples: First come Simon and Andrew. We know that Jesus will rename Simon “Peter”. It’s important to notice that Simon comes first because we believe that Mark was Peter’s companion and that his Gospel is mainly made from Peter’s memories. We also…

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (…)And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Most of us are quite familiar with the beginning of John’s Gospel,a beautiful passage we always read solemnly of Christmas Dayand the first Sunday after Christmas.We read…

As we celebrate today the feast of the Epiphany, we are invited to hear once again the story of the Magi, the wise men from the East coming to visit Jesus at his birth in Bethlehem. This year though, I wanted for us to do things a bit differently, rather than following the lectionary that…

I admit I have to smile this year when reading anew the Gospel for Christmas Eve! We have talked so much during Advent about how we were in a season of planning, of preparation, how we were supposed to be alert, ready for the Lord’s coming…and so tonight I can’t help but smile at the…

I am often asked the meaning of the pink candle on the Advent wreath: “What does it stand for?” or “When are we to light it?” so you may know by now that the pink candle represents Joy. In some churches, all the linens including the priest’s stole are changed to pink for the occasion…

We talked last week about this kind of tension there can be during the season of Advent between the business and excitement around us, and the quiet, contemplative, and sometimes gloomy atmosphere we find at church, both in our liturgy and in our readings. Last Sunday, we talked about Isaiah and how he prophetized at…

There is always this tension in Advent when, on one side, everything around us invites us to get busy and excited as we prepare for the Christmas celebrations and, on the other side, we find ourselves at church in this quiet, contemplative, and even rather gloomy mood. Advent in the church is traditionally understood as…

“In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.”These famous words from John of the Cross, a Spanish mystic in the 16th century, come resonate in me as I read the “Parable of the final judgment“, the last parable in Matthew’s Gospel, the parable the lectionary leaves us with as we wrap…

You’re probably all aware that we are reaching the end of our liturgical year, in two weeks we will be in Advent, and with the end of the liturgical year we are hearing the last lessons from Matthew’s Gospel. They are not the easiest ones. They are what we call the “Parables of judgment”: The…

All Saints’ Day in one of those very rare occasions where we get to read from the Book of Revelation, at least in mainline protestant churches. There is a good reason for that, and it probably has to do with the fact that the Book of Revelation is a bit suspicious to us. By that,…