Videos

Join Father Charles Bouchard, OP, for a powerful and insightful reflection on the readings for Good Friday. He explores the significance of Christ's passion and death, and how it connects with our own mortality, offering a message of hope and the promise of eternal life.

God promised Abraham incredible fertility (Genesis 17), making him the father of nations. But the covenant wasn't just about God's promises; it required faithfulness from Abraham and his descendants. In this Word of Hope for Thursday, 5th Week of Lent (April 10, 2025), Fr. Charlie Bouchard OP asks: How are we keeping our side of the covenant?

Join Fr. Charlie Bouchard OP for a Word of Hope reflection for Wednesday of the 5th Week of Lent (April 9, 2025). We talk a lot about freedom today, but what kind? Reflecting on the Gospel (John 8:31-42), Fr. Charlie explores Jesus' profound statement: "The truth will set you free."

This week, we explore God's promise of "something new" from Isaiah, St. Paul's relentless pursuit of Christ in Philippians, and the powerful Gospel story of Jesus, the woman caught in adultery, and the law written in stone versus the mercy written in sand.

Today in our reading we hear the prayer of Esther, who in a seemingly hopeless situation turns to God in earnest prayer and prevails against all odds. We are reminded of the importance of persistent prayer, especially when things seem impossible to resolve on our own. God is there for us.

When the Ninevites believed the preaching of Jonah, they all repented in sackcloth and ashes—even the animals! We are all bound up in sin together, so while we begin with ridding ourselves of our own sinful behaviors, we do not end there. We have to deal with all the sins of society against one another and against the environment.

Fr. Charlie Bouchard, OP breaks open the readings for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time with its warnings against hypocrisy. While this is always difficult, we can help by working on shortening the gap between who we are and who we want to be.

Readings: Sirach 27:4–7; 1 Corinthians 15:54–58; Luke 6:39–45

In today's Gospel, Jesus has an argument with the scribes and Pharisees over Jewish purity laws. As Christians, we need to know when to let holy things be holy and when to go out into the world not letting purity laws hold us back from doing the work of God.

In today's first reading, we hear the beginning of the story of God creating the heavens and the earth, of which we were put in charge. Every time we see a beautiful sunset or sunrise, we are reminded of our call to participate in God's ongoing work of creation.

Fr. Charlie Bouchard, OP breaks open the readings for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, where Jesus turns water into wine. This sign speaks of Jesus' divine authority, but it also speaks of how God wants everyone to have enough. Jesus was dealing with a real scarcity, but many people manufacture artificial scarcities to gain a financial, political, or spiritual advantage over others. These scarcities need to be eliminated.

Readings: Isaiah 62:1–5; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; John 2:1–11

As we return to Ordinary Time, we hear the call of Peter and Andrew, ordinary people who did the extraordinary thing of dropping everything to follow Jesus. Will we even hear when God calls us?

Fr. Charlie Bouchard, OP opens up the readings for us for the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete ("Rejoice") Sunday. In the readings we are challenged to see the coming of our saviour and rejoice in that knowledge, and to ask "what must I do to help bring this great thing about?"

Readings: Zephaniah 3:14–18a; Philippians 4:4–7; Luke 3:10–18