The following is the homily Deacon Pat Hessel has shared with staff from various schools in Spruce Grove & Stony Plain (part of Evergreen Catholic where I work), as we prepare to launch into the 2020-21 school year: I’m an epidemiologist. Among other things, epidemiologists investigate epidemics. An epidemic is an increase in the occurrence […]
Who is Jesus? (Deacon Pat Hessel’s Homily for August 22 & 23, 2020)
The following is the text of Deacon Pat Hessel’s homily, preached the weekend of August 22-23, 2020 at Holy Trinity Parish in Spruce Grove, AB Canada: Jesus begins today’s Gospel asking: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” He was asking them how people viewed him. Was he worried about his image? […]
Study the Bible with Mike!
The Guinness Book of World Records says that the Bible is the best selling and most distributed book of all time – in 1995, this included an estimated 5 BILLION copies translated into 349 different languages. Twenty-five years later, that number has surely increased (and that would be without counting people accessing the Bible via […]
Practicing Catholicism during Pandemic Measures
An announcement came out late yesterday afternoon from the Alberta Bishops regarding what the Church is doing during these strange and difficult times. In the Archdiocese of Edmonton, Archbishop Smith released a letter explaining what’s going to happen (and some of the rationale behind it) as the Church is doing her part to comply with […]
Deacon Pat Hessel’s Homily from SPA Graduation 2019
The following is the text of the homily Deacon Pat Hessel of Holy Trinity Parish delivered to the St. Peter the Apostle Catholic High School Class of 2019 on Saturday, June 2, 2019: Many cultures around the world have initiation rites for men and women. An initiation rite is sometimes called a rite of […]
Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday
Liturgically speaking, Holy Saturday is the quietest day of the year – the time between Jesus’ death, and his resurrection which takes place at the Easter Vigil, technically Easter Sunday. Holy Saturday has always seemed to be such a quiet day in the midst of a very busy week – especially when I try to […]