Cycle II (42)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Christmas Day asks us to look again at the world we thought we knew, and to notice that God has already stepped into it. Not from above, not from far away, but from within.

Our first reading from the prophet Isaiah gives us an image full …

This morning tells us that God enters the world quietly, chooses the poor, and asks us to return to our lives changed.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Christmas at dawn meets us before the day has properly begun. The world is still tired. Some worries have not yet …

The night has a way of telling the truth. When the streets grow quiet, the noise inside us often grows louder. Worries we have kept busy during the day begin to speak. Regrets knock. Hopes feel thin. And so we gather here, in the deep hush of Christmas night, in our own …

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scriptures tell us that God does not move into the houses we build for him; God builds a home in us, and then walks with us into the night, lighting the road as we go. This is the promise that runs through the whole of Advent.

Our …

Brothers, we are close to Christmas now. The Church does not push us forward. She asks us to slow down and to notice what God is already doing.

The prophet Malachi speaks about a messenger sent ahead of the Lord. The images are ordinary ones. A fire that cleans metal. A soap …

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as Advent comes close to its end, the Church asks us to listen to three songs. They come from Hannah, from Israel, and from Mary. They rise from lives that knew waiting, worry, and weakness. They remind us that when God draws near, even …

Today the Church brings us to a moment of decision. Christmas is close, but before the story is finished, we are asked a question: will we trust God when the way forward is unclear?

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, on this Fourth Sunday of Advent the Church …

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, in these final days before Christmas the Church asks us to slow down and pay attention, because the most important things in our faith happen without noise, without spectacle, and often without recognition.

Our first reading …

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, as Advent draws to its close, the Church asks us to slow down. These last days before Christmas are not loud. They are careful. They invite us to notice what is usually missed. God is at work, but not in ways that shout.

The …

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, these last days of Advent feel like that moment just before morning, when the world is still dark but something inside us knows that light is near. We are close to Christmas now, close to a promise about to take flesh.

Our first reading …

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, we are now in the final days before Christmas, and the Church deliberately slows our pace. Advent narrows our focus. The noise fades, and what remains is memory: a long remembering of what God has promised and how patiently …

Today we are challenged with a simple but uncomfortable question: will we only speak faith, or will we actually go and live it?

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, Advent is a season of waiting, but it is not a season of delay. It is meant to move us. It asks …

Today’s message is essentially about how God’s authority does not force us but invites us to be led.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, Advent often begins not with an answer but with a question. Who will guide us when the way ahead is uncertain? Whose …

Advent today teaches us how to wait without hardening, by learning to recognise God’s work in real and often modest acts of healing and justice.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Gaudete, rejoice. The Church wears rose today not because the world is suddenly healed, but …

This homily is about a small light that keeps going, even when the night feels long.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, Advent teaches us how to wait without giving up. Each week we light another candle on the Advent wreath. The darkness does not disappear at …

This homily reflects on Advent as a season of learning to listen again, especially when God speaks in ways we did not expect.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, Advent often finds us tired before it finds us ready. We come carrying noise, disappointment, and …

This Advent word reminds us that God comes close to steady us, to lift the lowly, and to ask us whether we will make room for his kingdom in simple, costly ways.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, Advent often begins more quietly than we expect. Not with …

At the heart of today’s Scriptures is a steady promise: God does not tire of us, even when we are worn thin.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, Advent meets us where we actually are, not where we wish we were. It meets us tired, carrying quiet worries, …

Dear friends in Christ,

A shepherd sees one sheep missing. He leaves the rest and goes to find it. That simple image, which Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel, helps us understand everything else we hear in today’s readings. Advent is not only about waiting. It is about a God …

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The story of salvation begins with a woman. And today, we remember that it begins again—with another woman.

In the first reading from Genesis, God calls out to Adam, “Where are you?” Adam and Eve are hiding. They are ashamed. Something in …

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we gather with a quiet hope burning within us: that God is nearer than we think—guiding, healing, and sending us to tend a wounded world.

Let one image carry us through today’s Word: a gentle voice guiding a traveller through thick …

Dear friends in Christ, today we are offered a simple truth that carries the weight of heaven: God teaches us to see again. Everything in these Advent readings leads us toward this gentle but urgent promise: our vision restored, our courage renewed, and our hearts awakened …

Dear friends in Christ, today we stand in Advent’s quiet light, listening for the steady voice that teaches us how to build a life that can stand. If there is a single thread running through the Scriptures for this Thursday of the First Week of Advent, Year A, it is this: …

Dear friends in Christ, this homily carries one simple image: God prepares a table on the mountain, and through saints like Francis Xavier he sends us out to bring the world there.

Francis Xavier, one of the first companions of Ignatius, stands as a sign of what grace can do …

Dear friends in Christ, today’s readings invite us to see how God plants new life in places that seem cut down, and how a humble, childlike heart becomes the soil where this new life grows.

Isaiah tells us that a shoot rises from the stump of Jesse. Not the proud heights of …

Dear friends in Christ, today the Church invites us to see that God comes quietly to the humble, comes faithfully to the weary, and comes surprisingly to the outsider; and that Advent is the season in which our eyes learn again how to recognise him.

Our first reading from …

This morning’s readings and the memorial of Blesseds Miguel Pro, Emilio Moscoso, and Rutilio Grande and companions invite us to reflect deeply on the call to bear courageous witness, to trust in God’s strength, and to live in the hope of the resurrection. These themes …

Brothers,

Today we celebrate the Memorial of St Stanislaus Kostka. He was a polish Jesuit, famed for walking 750km to Germany to be admitted into the Society by St Peter Canisius. He died of illness in 1568, aged 18. He was, all agreed, a Jesuit who died too young. In …

In today’s Gospel from Luke, we hear the disciples approach Jesus with a simple yet profound request: “Lord, teach us to pray.” This request speaks to their desire for a deeper communion with God, and Jesus responds by giving them—and us—the Our Father. …

Today’s readings offer us profound reflections on the sanctity of marriage. They remind us that marriage is a gift from God, a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman, rooted in God’s original plan for humanity. As we reflect on these readings, let us also consider how …

Today’s first reading is taken from the Book of Proverbs, a beautiful example of “wisdom literature.” Here, wisdom isn’t abstract or theoretical—it’s practical guidance for living well. Proverbs teaches us how to act with justice and compassion, especially toward …

Yesterday some of us were introduced to a word that was perhaps not part of the usual vocabulary of men and women who work in finance. That word was charism or spiritual gift. It is a word that our first reading from St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians examines.

When Paul …

This morning’s readings call us to reflect deeply on how we, as a Christian community, live out the balance between justice and mercy. They challenge us to consider what it means to truly follow Christ—both individually and as part of the Body of Christ, the Church.

In …

Remembering how the LORD came to the exiled Israelites in Egypt, the first reading tells once again how his people are asking for a sign. Psalm 85 is celebrating the end of that exile, many years after the prayer of the Prophet Micah in our first reading. In our Gospel …

“Beware false prophets” Jesus says. For it is “by their fruits [that] you will know them”.

Actions speak louder than words, and hypocrisy and inauthenticity should be warning signs for Christians in their leaders.

You will recall how yesterday Steve intended to intimate how …

The argument that preoccupies Jesus’ disciples in the same Gospel story—namely, “Who was the greatest?” (Mk 9:34)—deserves the stern warning of James:

“Where do the conflicts among you come from?”

A question we can well ponder today as we look around the world at the …

On Wednesday, we heard from Brendan about how we should focus on our reconciliation with God, or rather, God’s reconciliation with us – and Brendan was right to remind us, as St Paul did, that “God has reconciled the human world to himself in Christ – fundamentally and …

You are all welcome to this glorious place of great joy and hope for the union we are about to witness. We are all gathered here to share in this joyous occasion together and to celebrate the love that Fraser and Roxanne both share for each other.

The readings we have just …

You are all welcome to this Church of the Immaculate Conception. We are all gathered here in this Church to share in this joyous occasion together and to celebrate the love that Graham and Janine both share for each other.

The readings we have just heard all speak about the …

You are all welcome to this Church of the Holy Trinity. We are all gathered here in this Church to share in this joyous occasion together and to celebrate the love that Mphaga and Phindokuhle both share for each other.

Christians have long believed that human persons bear …

It is not often that we have such a coherent set of readings. The first reading comes at the end of Chapter 1 of the first book of Samuel. If one were to read the rest of the first chapter, one would learn that Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, was made fun of by Elkanah’s second …

Technically we call today the “Commemoration of all the faithful departed” but it is popularly known as ‘All Souls’ as a play on words of yesterday’s ‘All Saints’. In yesterday’s feast of All Saints, the Church around the world honored the Church in Heaven (though in South …