San Francesco Catholic Church

22870 S. Nunneley Road, Clinton Township, MI 48035

Call Us: 586-792-5346

San Francesco Catholic Church

22870 S. Nunneley Road, Clinton Township, MI 48035

Homilies

Homily for the 1st Sunday in Lent, March 9, 2025

We all sense that Lent is a special time of grace from God…but we might think that giving up a few little things for 40 days or so, is all that it takes to get in spiritual shape and ready for Easter.  Lent is perhaps the most intensely spiritual time of the year but must be so for a more comprehensive and radical reason; one that covers all aspects of life.  It is our fundamental choice to be unconditionally faithful to God and trusting in him alone as our Father.  Knowing well our weakened human nature, God has always tested the mettle of his pe

by Fr. Dino Vanin
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Homily for the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, March 2, 2025

Usually, it is kids who do exactly the opposite of what they are told to do. They must do it out of spite, I guess, and it is unnerving and frustrating their parents and teachers.   However, if it is adults who act out of spite, we feel hurt and wonder why they act that way.  Not unnerved, but perhaps with a touch of frustration, Jesus asks us: “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? 42 How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,' when you do no

by Fr. Dino Vanin
Homilies

Homily for the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 23, 2025

Are these orders from Jesus (Luke 6: 27-37) a string of exaggerations designed to shock us?    NO!  We all know very well that Jesus means every single one of these statements, shocking and nearly impossible to implement as they truly are.    We know him well enough to realize that these teachings are so “Christ-like,” so incredibly different from conventional wisdom, so radical that they must be divine; they must be filled with Life and designed to fill us with Life too.  Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you

by Fr. Dino Vanin
Homilies

Homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 16, 2025

Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh…Jeremiah 17:5  This divine message is somber and blunt, but we shall thank God for it even so.  How accurate is this warning? Let us begin by asking ourselves: “who keeps failing us?”   Many would say that the Government, at the local, or at the state or at the federal level, fails them. Even some of those whom we elected to look after our interests and rights do fail us.   However, let us start, instead, by listing those closest to us, those whom we

by Fr. Dino Vanin
Homilies

Homily for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 9, 2025

We are swamped with words.  Some poisonous like gossip; some devastating like slander; others unsettling like rumors and criticism.  Most of them, though, are empty and meaningless, hot air—precisely.  How many millions of words have invaded our being this past week?  Printed words, broadcast words, casual words from friends and passerby—words, words, and more words.    Almost screaming, we take refuge in this church and say: “No more words… I need facts!”  However, here we get more words.  But we do not mind that, a

by Fr. Dino Vanin
Homilies

Homily for the feast of The Presentation of the Lord, February 2, 2025

But who will endure the day of his coming?  For he is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. …He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi… from the first reading, Malachi 3:1-4  Isn’t it overkill, a pure exaggeration?  We are talking about a 40-day-old baby, so cute, so charming.  The 2nd reading (Hebrews 2:14-18) sheds light on this obvious discrepancy.  It speaks of Jesus’ entire life as spent in obedience to the Father’s command.  It also deals with the extremely high personal c

by Fr. Dino Vanin
Homilies

Homily for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 26, 2025

Then, Nehemiah, that is, His Excellency, and Ezra, the priest-scribe and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all the people: "Today is holy to the LORD your God. Do not be sad, and do not weep"- for all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law. Nehemiah 8:9  Often enough, as a priest I am privileged, especially in the Reconciliation room, to witness women and men weeping when they are touched by God’s grace and return to him after many long years of absence from the Church.  There are tears of joy because how they feel

by Fr. Dino Vanin
Homilies

Homily for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 19, 2025

Today’s readings show us the love interaction that is happening within the Holy Trinity in which we are living by our being one with the Son Jesus Christ.  A simple fact: God’s love interaction with us from before the beginning of time and for all eternity was, is and will be perfect and a source of endless rejoicing.  Today, we should dwell on the perfection of this love interaction so that we can imitate it as much as it is humanly possible in our dealing with each other.   The 1st reading reminds us that we should never allow our hearts

by Fr. Dino Vanin
Homilies

Homily for the Baptism of the Lord, January 12, 2025

At the end of the funeral Holy Mass, the priest is instructed to incense the body of the deceased. This is the first thought that came to mind while I was reflecting on the feast of the Baptism of our Lord.   Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19  As a sacred place, our body which is sanctified by the Holy Spirit through the waters of Baptism, and is nourished by the Eucharist, is worthy of being incensed; and it is incensed not only when

by Fr. Dino Vanin
Homilies

Homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany, January 5, 2025

The importance of the Solemnity of the Epiphany is all in the contemplation of the mystery, hidden for millennia from past generations, and revealed in the fulness of time in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God in human flesh.  It is the desire of God the Father to save every one of his children and, at the end, to welcome all of them into his heavenly home, to share in his endless joy.  The fulfillment of this grandiose and most generous plan depends in part on our grateful acceptance of gifts and our wholehearted exchange of gifts.  The ex

by Fr. Dino Vanin
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