Monsignor Robert Latour

Monsignor Robert Joseph Latour former Pastor of my Parish,

the Annunciation of the Lord, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Feast of Corpus Christi June 2009

Fifth Sunday in Eastertide B 2009 The fruit we bear will be returned to us in abundance. However, in order to experience the joy of a good, abundant life in Jesus, we need to put into practice what He teaches us. We need to live life in union with Jesus, and be truly grateful to God for His steadfast and abundant love. Daily let us give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love is everlasting.

Easter Morning 2009 St. Augustine once said that Christians are Easter people and “Alleluia” is our song. May we always keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Risen Lord, who will lead us surely and safely on our journey through this life.

Third Sunday in Lent Do I want Jesus to help me clean out my house? Do I trust in Him and believe that He is with me and loves me more than I love myself.? If the answer to any of the questions we have asked ourselves today indicates a need for repentance and conversion in our lives, then let us take advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Second Sunday in Lent We are touched at Mass by the Transfigured Lord Jesus and when we are touched by the hand of God, we always become better persons because of our experience. On this Second Sunday of Lent, let us ask the transfigured Lord Jesus to touch our lives powerfully so that we can bring His love and compassion to those around us.

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time B So today, here at this Mass, we give thanks to God for forgiving us so many times, through Jesus His Son, Who forgives, and forgets, forever.

SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME “Whoever gives a cup of cold water in My Name---- will not want for his reward.”.

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME To grow strong spiritually, to be able to cope with life’s problems and challenges, then our life with Jesus must be constantly strengthened at its roots, and what will do that for us is prayer. Jesus needed to find a quiet place to be alone with God. So much more do we need to do that on a regular basis. We need to spend quality time to communicate our thoughts and aspirations to our loving God. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is called His first disciple because of her unwavering fidelity to God throughout her life. She always was prepared to say: to God: “Let it be done to me according to Your Word.”

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME “B” “O that today you would listen to the voice of the Lord. Do not harden your hearts.”

SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

The Kingdom of God is not just something far off in the future. It exists now in those who are trying to live according to the plan of God for their lives, in those who are striving to share their love with others whom they see as all God’s children

BAPTISM OF OUR LORD JANUARY 11, 2009

By being baptized by John Jesus showed Himself to be on the side of the ordinary people of His day, with the poor, with the powerless, even with the outcasts of society. Jesus invited all people to come and learn from Him, to be personally taught by Him about their relationship with God. Jesus wanted to reveal to those who were open to hear His message that God loved each person as a loving Father loves His own son or daughter. He wanted to teach them that God had sent Him to redeem sinners.

EPIPHANY, JANUARY 4, 2009 As we worship the Lord Jesus on this Feast of the Epiphany today, may our hearts burn with the fire of God’s Love, dispelling any darkness within us..

CHRISTMAS 2008 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us"John 1:14

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT "B" 2008 Luke tells us about the Annunciation of Our Lord to Mary and her magnificent “yes” to God, accepting to do His will, thereby setting in motion God’s plan for the redemption of the entire world.

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT " B" 2008 We are called to be witnesses to Jesus as was John the Baptist

All Souls Day November 02, 2008

THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME "A" 2008

TWENTY EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME "A" 2008

TWENTY SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME "A" 2008

TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME “A” 2008

FEAST OF THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS

TWENTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME "A" 2008

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME All of us need to have strong faith and complete trust in the love Jesus has for us. To get that strong faith we need to be more in touch with God, more aware of God in our lives. We need to develop a stronger relationship with God, we need to allow ourselves to be taken up by God, to be immersed in God and in His love for us.

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME “A” 2008 We are to develop a mind-set that allows us to think as Jesus thought and to act as Jesus acted, to consider the burdens of other people in some way as our own, so that we sincerely try be helpful and alleviate the pain of others as Jesus did.

17TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME May we sincerely ask the Lord right now to receive us, as we surrender our lives to Him, poor and weak though we may be. Let us give our hearts to Jesus for it is in Jesus that we find our real treasure - a treasure worth more than anything else, even more than life itself..

ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME "A" 2008 "Love does not come to an end." (1Cor 12)

TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Again, today Jesus asks us not to judge our brothers and sisters, but just love them. He says to us: “Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy not sacrifice.”

NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME God alone can satisfy our human hearts, for He made our hearts for Himself, He put into our hearts the desire to search for Him and for what only God can give us, and He wants to give us Himself in love.

FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI "A" 2008 “Those who eat my Flesh and drink my Blood abide in me and I in them” (Jn.,6:55)

PENTECOST SUNDAY 2008 the Holy Spirit acts in our lives bringing us the power and the presence of God; giving us the wisdom and strength we need to do what Jesus asks us to do as His disciples. The Holy Spirit seeks to purify our hearts, and to help us use our gifts and talents as faithful disciples of Jesus.

PRO LIFE HOMILY MAY 4 2008 "the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself, and if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?" Mother Teresa of Calcutta, speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D. C. on Feb.3^rd,1994 THE GOSPEL OF LIFE and briefly QUOTES FROM THE GOSPEL OF LIFE Pope John Paul II

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER "Where love is, God is too"

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER Today in the Sacred Readings we are reminded that Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and as our shepherd He teaches us how to cope in every situation we are in, no matter how desperate it may seem to us. We simply have to trust in Him, take His Word as truth when He says: “I am the Way...” and “Come follow Me”.

EASTER MORNING 2008 Paul reminds us that "all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death. Therefore, we have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."

FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT 2008 "All three readings today tell us that even when things seem to be hopeless, even when we are surrounded by signs of death everywhere, God can breathe life into any situation. He can and He will restore what is dying, even what is already dead. For we who have been redeemed by Jesus, death is never the last word, it is never the end of the story because Jesus says to each of us:. “I am the resurrection and the life, those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT 2008 Do we clearly see the evils that are allowed to exist in our society today: like abortion, pornography, fraud, and prejudice? Do we prefer just to turn a blind eye to evil saying to ourselves that there is really little or nothing I can do about them? Everyone of us needs to be healed of our spiritual blindness. We need the Light of Jesus to see things clearly and correctly and we ask for this when in the beautiful hymn “Amazing Grace” we sing: “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” But do we really see as Jesus sees? Do we see the world as He sees it? Do we see other people as He sees them? Do we see ourselves as Jesus sees us?

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT 2008 It is not always a good thing to build a bridge without having the drawings first, but in today’s world, with so much suffering and so many bridges needing to be built, with so many relationships needing to be healed, we must begin right away and start building instead of just talking about it. There are so many people we can help who are in need, either sick, or lonely, or hungry or poor, or misunderstood, so many whose suffering we can help alleviate and so we must not delay. We must act and act now and perhaps as a result we too will have a mountain-top experience with Jesus Our Lord.....

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT 2008 If we wish to become the beautiful persons God intends each one of us to be, then we must give our lives to God and serve only God.. When we are tempted to sin we must respond by resolutely saying “No” to Satan, and “Yes” to God.. That is how we can follow Jesus this Lent and rejoice in His new life at Easter.

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 2008 blessed are we when we accept the sufferings that come to us, because we are trying to live life God’s way, and not the world’s way, because we are trying to live our lives following Jesus as our model and following His teachings as our guide....

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 2008 “Father not my will but Yours be done.”

FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF JESUS So by being baptized by John, Jesus identifies with the ordinary people of His day, with the poor, with the powerless, even with the outcasts of society.

FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY 2008 Resolve to seek, to find and to serve the Lord Jesus in one another.

FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY 2007 By His presence as a member of that holy family in Nazareth, Jesus has sanctified all families and family life forever.

CHRISTMAS 2007 As St. Augustine teaches us, God became human so that we humans might become divine, sharing in the very life of God Himself.

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2007 we are reminded by John the Baptist to start paying strict attention to the most important thing in life, namely, that Jesus has come; He is in our midst and we must pay attention to Him now . “Be still and know that I am God” says the Lord. We look to Mary as she waited in prayer and with joy in her heart for the birth of her Son, Jesus and we pray to her with confidence that she will help us know Jesus her Son better.

FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING 2007 Jesus is a King Who came to serve, not be served. Like Him we are also called to serve others, for in serving others, we serve Him.

THIRTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 2007 God is God, not of the dead, but of the living. There is no mistake we have made, there is no wrong decision we have taken, there is no sin of any kind which can defeat God’s Love for us, God’s willingness to forgive us. When we turn to Him in prayer, His Love finds a way to turn our darkness into light, our night into day, our sorrow into joy.

THIRTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 2007 “Today salvation has come to this house....for the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost.” Salvation came to Zacchaeus’ house when he welcomed Jesus to his home, and salvation is also ours when we welcome Jesus to be the Lord of our lives.

THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 2007 To live humbly before God is to live with Jesus, it is to serve Jesus in others, and that is the Gospel truth with no hidden meaning.. “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Lk. 18:14)

TWENTY NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Jesus wants us to pray without ceasing and trust in the goodness of God. We need to persist in prayer, and to trust in God Who loves us.. For as St. Paul wrote: “If God is for us who can be against?” and in another place he wrote: “I can do all things in Him Who strengthens me.”

footnote: A quotation from Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton "We must pray literally without ceasing - without ceasing; in every occurrence and employment of our lives. You know I mean that prayer of the heart which is independent of place or situation, or which is, rather, a habit of lifting up the heart to God, as in a constant communication with Him." Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

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TWENTY EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME “All of you should be like-minded, sympathetic, loving toward one another, kindly disposed and humble. Do not return evil for evil or insult for insult. Return a blessing instead. This you have been called to do, that you may receive a blessing as your inheritance.” (1 Peter 3:8-9)

TWENTY SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” (Lk.16:31) Not even the Risen Lord Jesus can get through to us if we don’t want to listen to Him. He is calling us to make a conscious decision right now to choose His ways over our ways, to be His faithful followers, adopting the new life He offers us which leads to genuine happiness and peace."

TWENTY FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Jesus shows us how we can worship God when He says in today’s Gospel passage: “You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Lk. 16:13)

TWENTY FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME “There is .... joy in heaven over one sinner who repents......” This Parable of the Prodigal Son gives us a very clear image of God’s love for each one of us who are sinners. Jesus wants us to know that God’s mercy is always available and will never be withdrawn from us. Now in imitation of Jesus, and of God the Father, as Christians we are called to be loving and merciful to others - to care for those who are hurting, or who are lonely, or who are in need of our love. We are called to love others without exception just as He loves them and just as He loves us. Moreover, Jesus assures us that when we love others, even the least of His brothers and sisters, we are, in fact, loving Him.

TWENTY THIRD SUNDAY INORDINARY TIME “If any want to become My followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.” (Mt.16:24)