Author: St. Ann's Webmaster

I have noticed that society spends a great deal of time attacking and criticizing their leaders. Leaders are blamed for every poor decision or good decision they make. It is not a surprise that few people get into politics. I have also noticed that it is easy to make a mess and very hard to clean one up. What does this have to do with the Solemnity of Christ the King? It seems that we expect our l...
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We are at the last Sunday before the feast of Christ the King. In this time as we end the liturgical year, we are always reminded of the end times. However, in my opinion, what is more pressing is our end times. Yes, that is right, we, as Christians, must live with a view of eternity as our times. Just as the Church has different seasons of rejoicing and fasting, it also has a time where we look a...
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On January 16, 1917, French mystic Claire Ferchaud wrote a letter to the president of France, Raymond Poincaire. In it, she called on him to win the war by gaining Christ’s blessing on the country. This he was to do by rejecting Freemasonry, placing the image of the Sacred Heart on the French national and battle flags, and giving images of the Sacred Heart to soldiers to wear. She underlined these...
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When I was in high school, a whole new line of clothing came out that was called, “No Fear”. It is a good slogan, however, it didn’t work. We were still afraid, insecure teenagers, whether we wore the shirt or not. Fear is a very powerful thing in our lives and it seems to be getting more and more common. There are more anxiety disorders, more medication. It is so common that most of us do not eve...
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Today I would like to do something with you to emphasis the personal nature of the Gospel. Today we are going to be Bartimaeus and we are going to meet Jesus. So I want you all to sit back and relax. Take a deep breath. Put aside what you are doing. Leave your cares behind. What would it be like to be Bartimaeus. You are sitting by a roadside. It is hot. There are people around. You are helples...
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I was recently blessed with a beautiful experience. I have had a few like it here in Quesnel, probably the most I have ever had as a priest has been here. A lady called me up and asked me to visit a non-Catholic friend who was dying. She said he was a good man and she asked if I could give him the sacraments of the sick. I asked if he had been baptized but she was not sure. I then asked if he want...
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GK Chesterton, a famous Christian writer and apologist, said, “I know there are many biologists who are trying to make a small camel and many industrialists who are trying to make a large needle.” Once again, we encounter a difficult Gospel. I know we don’t want to think so and we might think I am not rich so this doesn’t apply to me. Well, we are in the one percentile of the world that has all th...
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I am sure that when the readings speak of divorce and remarriage there are many people who cringe. With this world that prizes nonjudgmental talk, sometimes reading the Scriptures makes us scared. I will come across as judgemental if I say something like this. I am sure there are many times when we hear a passage in Scripture and our tendency is to gloss over it or ignore it. It is as though we ar...
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I would like to apologize if you were hurt by the words of my homily last Sunday. After being in Pennsylvania, I feel it may have come across as insensitive and appear that I was trying to justify the abuse or discount it. I guarantee that was not my purpose. I feel terribly sad for the victims of these crimes. It hurts me that the members of the Church failed so badly. I know we have our own vict...
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Today I was reading from the Liturgy of the Hours St Gregory the Great’s homily on the angels. He said that the word angel means messenger. Lesser angels are assigned lesser tasks and great messages are assigned to the Archangels. I thought how it is easy to understand the stories of Michael in the Bible talking to Daniel and casting Satan out of heaven. Further, it is easy to see why the messa...
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