Ordinary Time After Easter (47)
2024 (7)
“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 …
7 min (1,312 words)
Read more...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 Jesus …
3 min (588 words)
Read more...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 …
2 min (507 words)
Read more...Tuesday, 17 September, 2024
Year B
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 …
6 min (1,074 words)
Read more...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 …
3 min (569 words)
Read more...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 …
6 min (1,048 words)
Read more...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. …
8 min (1,413 words)
Read more...2023 (1)
Good evening everyone,
First, please let me say what a pleasure it is has been to accompany the young men and young women on their retreat today.
We have considered the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and reflected on their own giftedness and call to be ministers in the Church, …
8 min (1,571 words)
Read more...2020 (3)
Today’s first reading contains a word that has taken on new dimensions and has been felt more often in these days than in the past. “Terror is on every side!” We currently are continuing to face the terror of a pandemic. And that’s been enough to make us all anxious and …
5 min (1,087 words)
Read more...Today we are asked to contemplate authority and to pray for those in authority. Authority is legitimate power, and in our readings today we see how certain individuals are legitimized, and what power is given to them by the ultimate authority, the one whom Peter calls the …
6 min (1,034 words)
Read more...All our readings are taken from near the end of their books, and so are summaries in a way of their main and most important messages. This is not surprising as we come to the end of the Church’s Liturgical Year next week. I want to briefly examine each of the readings and …
6 min (1,115 words)
Read more...2019 (10)
Last week we celebrated the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. A feast that reminded us that “Within God there is distinction but no difference. And that within God there is love without distance or diminishment.” [because, as Fr Terence Klein recently noted in his …
9 min (1,658 words)
Read more...Ecclesiastes is a book in the Bible that forms part of the wisdom tradition and is named after the assembly, the church ecclesia, to whom the preacher Qoheleth is speaking. A previous wisdom book, the Book of Proverbs, made an argument that hard work and careful planning …
11 min (2,014 words)
Read more...The readings in our Mass today asks us, I think, to focus on God’s victory over evil and God’s power at work in Mary, and whether we allow it to work in ours lives as well.
When Pope Pius XII proclaimed Mary’s Assumption in 1950, he called his document Munificentissimus …
8 min (1,483 words)
Read more...Our readings today address a disappointed people but they offer a universal hope of salvation – not a guarantee, but a promise that all are welcome.
We know that 200 years after the text of Isaiah was written, there was great disappointment among the Jews after their exile, …
7 min (1,351 words)
Read more...Pope Francis recently declared September 1 as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, as the Orthodox Church has done since 1989. You can read the full letter here. According to Pope Francis, “The annual World Day of prayer for the Care of Creation offers to …
9 min (1,746 words)
Read more...In our readings today we are once again reminded of the humility we need in our relationship with God, and with creation, and with each other. This humility – we can recall – was a key feature of last week’s readings where we realized how humility was a truthful attitude and …
17 min (3,265 words)
Read more...There are so many stories in today’s readings but I think they share the chorus of ‘Rejoice with me, for what was lost is now found’. The gospel for this Sunday includes the story of the prodigal son, and our first reading from the book of Exodus has been selected to make …
13 min (2,515 words)
Read more...Our first reading this morning from the second book of Kings refers to a time about 850 years before Christ when Elisha the prophet took over from Elijah. That story is in the 19th Chapter of the first Book of Kings. At that time the northern kingdom of the Jews was in …
9 min (1,658 words)
Read more...At the heart of today’s readings is, I think, the distinction between a gift and a reward. God is always gifting us, blessing us, and bestowing grace upon us. It is not something we can ever earn or take for granted, rather we can only say how unworthy we are of it and thank …
10 min (1,943 words)
Read more...On the face of it – our readings today talk about a key aspect of our faith, the importance of life and our belief in the resurrection from the dead. In both the first reading and the Gospel we hear two stories about seven brothers.
In the first reading we hear the heroic …
8 min (1,455 words)
Read more...2018 (4)
Tonight we hear about the healing miracles of Jesus. I suppose Jesus could have healed the rich and famous but instead he heals the people who are on the margins of Society.
Jesus heals a physically impaired person, a man who is both deaf and suffers from a speech …
6 min (1,136 words)
Read more...Good morning everyone. It’s good to be here again with you all. Our readings offer three insights to us this morning. The first is that if we are serious about being Christians, we need to reverse our thinking; the second is that we should beware ambition; and the third is …
7 min (1,302 words)
Read more...Our readings this morning talk of prophecy, God’s faithfulness and the importance of our faith.
Our first reading is trying to remind us that our leaders should never lack the gift of prophecy. Whether they exercise it or not is the real question. The reading tries to show …
7 min (1,236 words)
Read more...Today we remember All the Saints. This feast started out as the Feast for All Martyrs and was celebrated on 13 May in Rome. The Eastern Church adopted this as early as the year 359. It was so popular at the time it was celebrated during the Roman harvest so that enough food …
7 min (1,580 words)
Read more...2017 (15)
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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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 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’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...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...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...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...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 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...2016 (6)
Good morning everyone. There are three things I want to propose that we reflect on today after hearing these three readings. They are firstly, what are we to do with luxuries? Secondly, how can I be sensitive? And thirdly, the difficult business of respecting the whole …
7 min (1,241 words)
Read more...Good morning everyone. We see from the First Reading, that when we pray or talk to God, we can be honest with him. In fact it is best that we are. In today’s first reading we read from the Prophet Habakkuk “how long shall I cry for help” – a more honest remark we might not …
7 min (1,527 words)
Read more...Today’s readings present us with three rich images about perseverance in prayer and strength of faith. They show us three things, firstly, that we need help to pray, secondly, that we should not give up, and thirdly that God will answer our prayers if we have faith.
Last …
12 min (2,252 words)
Read more...At the heart of today’s readings is, I think, the distinction between a gift and a reward. God is always gifting us, blessing us, and bestowing grace upon us. It is not something we can ever earn or take for granted, rather we can only say how unworthy we are of it and thank …
9 min (1,731 words)
Read more...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 …
5 min (904 words)
Read more...Some people believe the Feast of Christ the King is a feast dating back from the Middle Ages, when Monarchy was more common. It was in fact instituted in the last century and represents the concerns of our recent history. In 1925 Pope Pius XI understood that the old royal …
4 min (792 words)
Read more...2015 (1)
Clearly this story of the multiplication of the loaves that we have just heard is an allusion to the Eucharist that we are celebrating together here today. In fact, all of today’s readings have much to say about the Mass that we celebrate when we come to Newman.
The second …
8 min (1,797 words)
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