Homilies in 2017 (33)
Today’s Gospel follows on from last week’s – the one about the wicked tenants. Now Jesus is becoming even blunter in the way he makes his point. If they did not understand last week’s parable, they have to, he thinks, understand this one. A marriage feast is a joyous …
8 min (1,443 words)
Read more...During the week we celebrated World Teachers Day and I’d like to ask for your prayers for all of our teachers in Catholic Schools, and indeed, all our schools in our country. They deserve our thanks and our prayers for their dedication and work in preparing our future. Of …
6 min (1,008 words)
Read more...Today’s readings talk to us of conversion, the importance of what we do rather than what we say, and of the primacy of individual responsibility over communal responsibility.
In our first reading today we hear how “when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has …
5 min (1,117 words)
Read more...Today we celebrate two things. The first is all of you who have been doing this Alpha Course and who I think have been learning more and more about their faith in god the Father who created us, and in Jesus Christ his Son who came to save us, and in the Holy Spirit that has …
7 min (1,216 words)
Read more...Last week we heard the parable of how the servant was forgiven his debts. The Lord was generous with his mercy and expected us to be generous in return. The Church also celebrated the Feast of the Apostle Matthew during the week and we read of how Jesus came and called …
6 min (1,146 words)
Read more...I’d like to thank the children and the catechists in our parish who teach our children every week. They take great care in preparing the children for the sacraments and as a parish we are very grateful to them.
Quite often in Jesus’ parables there is a hidden meaning – but …
4 min (636 words)
Read more...Today Jesus continues to reveal aspects of his divinity when he walks on water and commands the winds and the waves. Just like last week he is revealing his divinity in order to strengthen his disciples’ faith, and we see in Peter someone who is like us – someone who has …
8 min (1,468 words)
Read more...I have three small thoughts about today’s readings and they concern Revelation, dialogue and prayer.
Today we celebrate an important Feast – the Feast of the Transfiguration, a Feast that is mentioned in all three of the synoptic Gospels, and which symbolically links the …
6 min (1,220 words)
Read more...Today we celebrate in the parish, the feast of Saint Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, and the inspiration of a spirituality that I know many of you, young and old, lay and religious, value and esteem. There’s so much I could tell you about St Ignatius, but let me try …
10 min (1,839 words)
Read more...This past week I found myself asking God why things happen the way they do? If God is all powerful, could he not prevent tragedy or evil? Inherent in this question, is a deeper underlying question as to how exactly does God act in the world in the first place? God rarely …
9 min (1,807 words)
Read more...Last week we heard about a farming metaphor to do with ploughing – we heard Jesus explain that with Him, the yoke is easy and the burden is light. And I tried to explain how this is so because we do not bear our burdens alone, or end up being yoked by ourselves – Jesus is …
8 min (1,442 words)
Read more...We just heard that God has hidden things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to infants. When I hear that line I think of a story when a young dad who had a young son were walking back from Church one day after Mass and the father said to his son, “who do you …
5 min (1,100 words)
Read more...As I read today’s readings I was struck by one of the many qualities of God, his loving kindness, and the hospitality and love Jesus is calling us to.
In today’s Gospel though, at least on a first reading of it, you might be forgiven for wondering where is the kindness in …
5 min (1,110 words)
Read more...In today’s Gospel we hear what is in fact one of the most repeated commands in the Bible. It is not ‘thou shalt not be corrupt’ – though in this country the Church must never tire of saying that. It is, instead, the much simpler, and yet, much more important, “do not be …
8 min (1,553 words)
Read more...Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. This feast asks us to grapple with the very identity of God. To ask, not only who God is, and what God is, but how he communicates to us because we can only be in relationship with someone who discloses themselves to …
7 min (1,209 words)
Read more...My brothers and sisters, on this the last day of Easter, on this our Feast of Pentecost, our readings tell us the story of the descent of the Holy Spirit.
We remember that in the Bible, God the Father and God the Son have featured very prominently – but God the Holy Spirit …
8 min (1,409 words)
Read more...I’d like today to talk about three things: firstly, the Holy Spirit, secondly, a sign of that Spirit present in our country this week. And thirdly, I’d like to briefly say something about Catholic schools which you may have noticed from some of the children wearing their …
9 min (1,776 words)
Read more...In today’s first reading we hear how, as a result of the evangelization of the apostles, the number of disciples grew. But as the number of disciples grew, we are told, so did the complaints. In ways that we can identify with today, the complaints ran along the lines of …
7 min (1,396 words)
Read more...Last week we heard about the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and how Jesus went after these two ‘lost sheep’ and found them. Today we hear a lot about Shepherds and Sheep, and so consequently we call today Good Shepherd Sunday. With the exception of last …
6 min (1,022 words)
Read more...This Sunday’s Gospel reading from Saint Luke is the familiar story of the Disciples on the Road to Emmaus. This story of the journey to Emmaus is both a literal and a spiritual journey. On the one hand, it recounts the story of two disciples who, after the crucifixion, death …
5 min (992 words)
Read more...So in this evening’s Gospel we hear the familiar story of the Risen Christ appearing to the disciples in the Upper Room.
I’ve just come back from a retreat with all the Parish Catechists where we watched the movie, Risen, which starred Ralph Joseph 1 Fiennes as the Roman …
6 min (1,178 words)
Read more...We must never forget that what we have just heard happened for us. That God so loved us all, that he allowed his Son to come into the world, to die so as to take away our sins. This is why we call this day ‘Good’ Friday. Because it is the day that death and sin were …
5 min (842 words)
Read more...In Matthew’s Gospel which we have just heard and which really needs no explanation, the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus is a world-ending event. We are told of the violent shaking of the earth that was expected to announce the arrival of the end time. The whole …
4 min (623 words)
Read more...Today I want to talk about the readings but I also want to say a few words about the past week in South Africa and how the readings have resonated with me experiencing this. Today’s readings talk about three things. We hear talk of prophesy in the first reading, a righteous …
8 min (1,564 words)
Read more...I think today in the readings we are being asked not to forget. This past Wednesday we all came together to receive ashes and mark the beginning of Lent. The Church offered two statements as the ashes were imposed. The first was ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel’, which I …
7 min (1,399 words)
Read more...Today we celebrate Ash Wednesday, the day that around the world marks the beginning of Lent. Although Lent is often thought of as a time for repentance and penance – and it is certainly that – it is also a happy time because it is the way we prepare as Christians for Easter, …
4 min (644 words)
Read more...Well we’ve almost reached the end of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Today’s installment, following on from the last few weeks – which began with ‘Blessed are the poor in Spirit’ – now talks about how we cannot serve two masters… we cannot serve God and mammon.
Mammon is a Greek …
9 min (1,684 words)
Read more...In today’s Gospel Jesus uses three images to capture the new justice he is proposing to his followers. It is a creative, healing, and restorative justice that focuses on relationships. The old justice found in the Bible was designed to prevent revenge running away with …
8 min (1,401 words)
Read more...You are all welcome to this Church of the Holy Trinity. We are all gathered here in this Church, from I think, places all over the globe, to share in this joyous occasion together and to celebrate the love that Megan and Peter both share for each other.
The readings you have …
8 min (1,501 words)
Read more...In today’s first reading, Sirach tells us how we have been given a choice, to keep God’s commandments, if only we will to do so. We are told that we are to choose between fire and water, life and death, good and evil. Our great gift of free will requires the even greater …
7 min (1,353 words)
Read more...Taken together today’s readings talk to us about three things: true Piety, true Preaching and true Presence.
True piety, the prophet Isaiah declares in today’s First Reading, does not consist in ritual acts of fasting, but in responding to the practical demands of justice: …
8 min (1,471 words)
Read more...In our first reading today the Prophet Zephaniah, writing some 600 years before Christ, writes of the people he calls the anawim, which means a remnant, the leftovers, a tiny band of God’s poor and forgotten. The characteristic feature of these humble and lowly people is …
7 min (1,218 words)
Read more...Last week I spoke about Christmas and I used Star Wars as an example. But in case I confused you all – today I want to speak about Peace; because today I think we are being asked to remember three things, a blessing of peace, a call to non-violence and unity, and the mother …
6 min (1,165 words)
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