Cycle: C - 20th December 2009: Here and Now
Catholicism is a physical at least as much as it is a spiritual religion. It is about things that happened, and things... more »
Christmas
Not many people love the night. It can be a time of fear and uncertainty. Sometimes it is a time of death. Scientists tell us that... more »
'The Word became Flesh and dwelt amongst us.' (John 1.14)
more »Up until the twentieth century there were two great mysteries of human existence: life and death. The twentieth century saw the advent of a third... more »
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
It was not so with us at our beginning. We did not mark our... more »
The first visitors to the infant Jesus that St Matthew mentions are 'wise men from the East', the Magi, led by their astrology, and consultation... more »
One of the most arresting insights into what we celebrate at Christmas comes in a line of a carol: 'See, within a manger lies he who made the... more »
A friend of mine was abroad for a year and after he returned he discovered that the pubs were now serving something strange and wonderful -... more »
This morning we are celebrating the birthday of God. This birthday is unlike our own. On our birthdays we celebrate -- or lament -- all the years... more »
Christianity lives within the wonder first sketched out by the prophet Isaiah. On the one hand there is the thrice-Holy divine Mystery beyond and... more »
Caesar Augustus issued a decree and set the whole world moving. What power there is in a word. Caesar speaks and everyone is uprooted. They all... more »
Second Sunday of Christmas
You might say that during the Christmas season we are celebrating the mystery of the Incarnation, except that that is far too abstract: really, we... more »
We sometimes forget in Advent and Christmastide that we celebrated the feast of the Incarnation over nine months ago when we kept the Feast of the... more »
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
It's quite common for parents to have unique authority in the lives of their children... more »
'Holy Mary, Mother of God': we say this whenever we say the Hail Mary. We say it so often that we can easily forget what a strong, startling, even... more »
The Church celebrates a great many feasts of saints throughout the year. Men and women from all parts of the world, all eras of the Church's... more »
Holy pictures of the Flight into Egypt have a certain charm about them. There is Mary, with Jesus in her arms, riding a camel that is led by... more »
Among Catholics there has been a special and popular devotion to the Holy Family for centuries. Today it is found to be less convincing. The... more »
A Dominican novice once wrote home to his father, complaining of his many duties and the demands of the divine office, even rising... more »
Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. We recall the moment when Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry came to John the Baptist and... more »
Mark begins his Gospel in the desert, where John baptises and where Jesus will be tested... more »
According to St John's Gospel, John the Baptist performed his baptisms at a place called Bethany-beyond-Jordan, at the northern... more »
Epiphany
In the Christmas story we traditionally see two journeys to the manger of the infant king.
The shepherds... more »
If one was to ask the average teenager today what they understood by having 'stars in their eyes' they... more »
One must admit that we succeed in giving this feast a rather silly sounding name, in English, with the stress on the second syllable. It's not... more »
'Wise men', Magi.
Not the only magi in the New Testament... A certain Simon, who practised 'magic', was converted and baptized by... more »
The magi gave the child Jesus 'gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.' Why did they bring him gifts? These would not have been useful for Mary's... more »
The differences between the Gospels are part of their message, and they should not go unnoticed. Only St Matthew tells us about the magi. By... more »
Our Christmas Crib is now complete: a star has risen in the east, and the magi have followed this sign, until it came to rest over the place where... more »
The word 'Epiphany' means 'showing forth' or 'revelation'. On today's feast we celebrate God revealing himself, in the person of the baby Jesus,... more »
No nativity play would be complete without the three kings, central characters in the tale of Christ's birth. And I suspect almost as well known... more »
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
St. Luke has run together two legal observances that Mary and Joseph fulfilled.
According to Exodus 13,... more »
In the places where the Prayer of the Church is celebrated, there are certain prayers for which we are obliged to stand. This is because these... more »
With the story of Jesus' presentation in the temple Luke brings his nativity narrative to an end. The narrative began in the temple with the... more »
Ash Wednesday
Putting on weight not only means that we can't get into our favourite clothes but also that we don't feel as well as we would like... more »
A few yards from my cell in Santa Sabina in Rome is the cell formerly inhabited by Saint Pius V. Pope Pius, a Dominican friar who... more »
Ashes were once something, even a number of things, and are now a residue -- the original solidity and identity are gone, and what is left swirls... more »
More and more we seem to be worried by experts -- can we trust what they say or not? We have no choice, though, but to trust experts in a... more »
It happens to me every year. On Ash Wednesday someone opens his mouth and stretches out his tongue at the very moment I am about to place ashes on... more »
Living on the edge of the city of Glasgow, I had to take the bus into school - a Jesuit school situated in the centre of the city - every morning... more »
Today Lent begins with the sign of ashes -- a communal sign of repentance. All over the world Catholics receive the sign of ashes on their... more »
Ashes are always significant. The remains of a camp fire in the woods; of a picnic; or of a bonfire. Signs of companionship; a family outing; a... more »
Today, Ash Wednesday, marks the beginning of Lent. For forty days we shall travel along a path of discovery. A path that should deepen and... more »
The Season of Lent begins on a negative note. On Ash Wednesday, when the ashes are distributed the Celebrant says, 'Remember that you are dust and... more »
At its most basic, Christian life is about imitating Christ, Christ as presented to us in the gospels. So given that today's gospel recounts... more »
Our weekly meetings in the Edinburgh University Inter-religious Chaplaincy are often occasions for very enlightening discussions... more »
Luke 4:1-12 is a splendid opening for the First Sunday of Lent, and Luke intends it to be an exercise in the self-disclosure of... more »
When Sir Edmund Hilary died recently, the writers of his obituary concentrated, in the main and understandably, on his remarkable achievement as... more »
Our readiness to make sacrifices for those we claim to love is a good indicator of the true extent of that love. A sacrifice can... more »
Cycle: C - 28th February 2010: The Last Word
Today's Gospel is the story of the Transfiguration, a very untypical example of a Lenten Gospel even if it has occupied this place... more »
Cycle: A - 24th February 2008: Living Water
Being a typical Englishman I'm going to begin by talking about the weather!
We rejoice when it's dry and complain when it rains. But in an... more »
The Gospel for today from St. John is sometimes called 'The cleansing of the Temple'. It is not just about the upsetting of the... more »
Vegetation of all different sorts makes frequent appearances in the scriptures; between the Tree of Life in Genesis and... more »
Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday) View all sermons
Cycle: A - 2nd March 2008: A New Vision
This Gospel does not tell of the healing of a blind man, as we find in the other Gospels, but of a man blind from his birth. What's the... more »
One of the most important words in St John's Gospel is 'glory'; right at the beginning we read that 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and... more »
Cycle: C - 14th March 2010: Come Home
Today's Gospel of the father and his two sons, one prodigal the other a home-son, is presented in two 'shells' of interpretation... more »
There are two strange ironies in today's liturgy. First, as we enter the last two weeks of Lent, traditionally called 'Passiontide', and turn our... more »
Jesus is near his end in the gospel of today. The acclamation of Palm Sunday is over and the crowds melt away. Jewish plotting for... more »
Cycle: C - 25th March 2007: Pressing On
We are preparing to celebrate the paschal mystery and in our preparation we have to try not only to come to a better understanding of this mystery... more »
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord View all sermons
One of the features linking the birth of Christ with his death is the presence of a donkey. There is a Christmas poem (by E. Fanthorpe), in which... more »
A busy shopping street in London, Berlin, New York or any other big city can show us how much freedom in fact we have. Chains of similar looking... more »
A tour guide in the Holy Land once pointed to a pile of pebbles lying by the roadside in Jerusalem, and proudly declared: 'These are the stones... more »
Holy Thursday
At the liturgy of Maundy Thursday we read the account of the Last Supper from John's Gospel. There we see Jesus very much in... more »
This evening the Church begins its celebration of the Paschal feast, of Jesus's journey from this world to the Father bringing with him the host... more »
At the Last Supper Jesus is a dead man. His betrayer is at hand, the trap set for him is about to be sprung. The words and actions of a dying man... more »
The Gospel brings us more than we could ever have conceived of or imagined. But in this way -- this higher way -- it also fulfils our basic... more »
Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper, Jesus' last meal with his disciples on the evening before he died. Our word 'Maundy' comes from the... more »
Have you ever tried to get a dog to look at the moon? Whatever you do or say the dog is more likely to look at your finger. Dogs don't seem to get... more »
I am always very moved every year at this time, as I look up into the sky and see the full Paschal moon, and remember it is the very same moon... more »
In Gosford Park, the relationship between those above and below stairs is very interesting. Those above stairs often treat the servants as... more »
A recent TV documentary asked why it was the Japanese treated prisoners of war so much more harshly in the Second World War than in the First. The... more »
Good Friday
When the evangelists write about the Passion of Jesus they are quite discreet. They do not go into any detail about the horrors of... more »
Jesus's death has saved us. But how? A single, neat explanation cannot exhaust something so awesome. Scientists use several models for an ordinary... more »
Why did Jesus die? That's a question that arises for us all today of all days. Often I think it gets its charge from a piece of mistaken thinking,... more »
No single answer is given to this question nowadays, and no single answer was given at the time.
Anyone who has been at a public reading or... more »
The liturgy of Good Friday is one of the most ancient and the most stark of all of the Church's ceremonies. Traditionally, there is no homily... more »
One can hardly ignore the existence of Mel Gibson's film of The Passion, and though it is by no means a perfect film, it does serve to... more »
Today the Church gets rid of the cross for a while. When we come to church the cross is veiled or even removed from the sanctuary.
But would... more »
Isaiah tells us of the suffering servant:
Ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried ...
By his sufferings shall my... more »
'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Good Friday, we call this day. What's good about it? The day Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was... more »
Why did Mary Magdalene visit the tomb of Christ? Was it simply an act of sight-seeing? St John doesn't tell us, and St Matthew... more »
One of the most moving reflections on the Resurrection I know of was written by a grieving father mourning the loss of his son in the First World... more »
Cycle: B - 16th April 2006: Being Someone
They say you learn by your mistakes. I wish that were the case. A few weeks ago I found myself watching a film which told the story of a family on... more »
The Gospels are reticent about the Resurrection. Having described Our Lord's Passion in relentless detail, they do not describe the Resurrection... more »
Second Sunday of Easter (Low Sunday) View all sermons
St Paul tells us, in his First Letter to the Corinthians,
I want you to understand that on the one hand no one can be speaking under the... more »
In St John's Gospel Jesus says 'I have overcome the world'. He means the world in so far as the world is marked by sin and death... more »
Many of us will at one time or another have been confronted by the following question: 'But why do we have to go to Confession?' Certainly I can... more »
In the Gospel of Luke, there is the story of the poor man called Lazarus, and the rich man who is not named. Both die and Lazarus is rewarded but... more »
Today's Gospel shows the first disciples having difficulties and doubts about the Resurrection. Is it real, did it really happen,... more »
Every now and then there is a story in the press about some secret tomb which is supposed to contain the bones of Jesus. There are many such fake... more »
How do we recognise the voice of the shepherd? How are we to ensure that we're led in and out by the true shepherd, not attacked or snatched away... more »
'I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me.' Jesus gives us this wonderful image in today's gospel. A lamb...
more »Sheep are often ridiculed for their lack of intelligence. This common perception was behind the cartoon I saw on a t-shirt recently, where two... more »
The image of many mansions leads us into thinking of heaven as a physical place, which of course it must be in some sense if it is to accommodate... more »
There is a short memoir, in a book by a recent theologian, called 'Confessions of a former marginaholic' . We have heard of an... more »
The Gospel this Sunday begins 'When Judas had gone out'. This is significant because when Judas went out it was to betray Jesus 'it was night'... more »
Imagine the scenario: an older brother or sister is desperately trying to get a recalcitrant toddler to co-operate. Maybe the toddler won't get up... more »
Cycle: B - 17th May 2009: God is Love
'God is love' (1 John 4.8): this verse must be the most quoted in the New Testament. Pope Benedict XVI took it as the theme of his... more »
It is a commonplace that most of those who were first attracted to Christianity were from the lower ranks of their society. 'Consider your own... more »
In some ways the feast of the Ascension seems a bit of a 'Cinderella feast'. It is overshadowed by the two great feasts of Easter and Pentecost... more »
The 'Longer Ending' of St Mark's Gospel records three encounters with the Risen Christ. Firstly there is an encounter with...
more »To celebrate the Ascension may seem strange. It is, after all, about an ending. Saying good-bye can be awkward, is sometimes difficult, and is... more »
One of life's most painful things can be the absence of someone we love. This is all the more acute when there is no discernible end to the... more »
In this today's gospel reading Our Lord is praying to the Father. In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostles are... more »
Jesus prays in today's Gospel reading for all of us who come to believe him. He prays that we may be one. What does it mean for us to be one? The... more »
Throughout Lent, Easter and Ascension the scriptures use the imagery of the Temple to show us who Christ is and what he does for... more »
For Christians Pentecost is the day the Spirit descended on Our Lady and the apostles in the upper room. Yet in John's Gospel it is clear that... more »
Pentecost Sunday is the day God gave the Holy Spirit to the Apostles. Our principal reading today, unusually, is not from the Gospel but is the... more »
Today's Preface praises God because he poured out the Holy Spirit on this day, 'and so brought the Paschal Mystery to its completion'. Today's... more »
The Holy Spirit can't be pinned down to a single name or image
He is like the wind
He blows where he chooses
whence He comes and wither... more »
Today's reading gives us a clue as to what the experience of the first Pentecost meant. It does not dwell on the fire, wind and noise, but on the... more »
It is a commonplace that the holy Trinity doesn't connect with anything much in the life and worship of most Christians. One reason alleged for... more »
'Go, make disciples of all the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit'. Recently I was... more »
'Two is company, three is a crowd.' 'It takes two to tango.' 'Just the two of us.' 'Tea for two, just me and you.'
That's a random selection... more »
The Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) View all sermons
Since the Second Vatican Council, the reformed liturgy has led to a remarkable shift in Eucharistic piety. Before the liturgical changes,... more »
In the Catholic Tradition we use the phrase 'Body Of Christ' in three distinct but interconnecting ways. The first and... more »
Both the second reading and the Gospel for today's feast relate to food as it bears on the community we form with one another and the... more »
There are times when our Lectionary, the collection of readings from scripture we use at Mass, gives us short and apparently pointless passages... more »
Celebrities are known for giving their children outlandish or unusual names. Indeed, it seems to be de rigueur to give... more »
It seems (at least to me who has never had to organise a wedding) that it is the wedding feast, not the wedding, that... more »
The way Matthew tells it, Jesus lived a dangerous life right from the start. As a baby he had to flee the family home in Bethlehem because of a... more »
'The form of this world is passing away' (1 Corinthians 7.31). At the time when St. Paul wrote these words he believed that the... more »
In an age of empty chatter, where people tweet their meaningless activities to a worldwide audience, where politicians equivocate,... more »
What do we have to boast about? What are we to boast about? I mean, what do we amount to that would justify a boast?
We normally... more »
As a boy I came to understand something of the qualities of love from a variety of sources. Among these were the stories told to... more »
Today's Gospel continues the story that we heard last week. But whereas last week's Gospel left the congregation of the synagogue... more »
You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.
In public life perhaps no one in recent decades has made more of... more »
There is a beautiful moment of reversal in the film Babbette's Feast. The film tells the story of a pair of sober and...
more »We often pigeon-hole people. We are certain we know them and we fix their identity. We treat them more like things than people... more »
Cycle: B - 15th February 2009: Reaching Out
On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is Michelangelo's famous painting of the creation of Adam, in which the outstretched hand of... more »
First we have set aside the more familiar 'beatitudes' found in Matthew's gospel. 'Blessed are the poor in spirit'. Matthew gives... more »
Thomas Aquinas begins his mighty work, the
Summa Theologiae, with a discussion of the nature and purpose of sacred...
more »It's easy to be kind and loving towards those whom we like, to our family and friends, to those who are good to us. All this comes naturally. But... more »
Eighth Sunday of the Year
Cycle: B - 26th February 2006: Strange Feast
Given the poor quality of the altar wine and the thinness of the fare, any eucharist tastes more like a fast than a feast. And yet we always say... more »
'A good man draws what is good from the goodness in his heart; a bad man draws what is bad from the store of badness. For a man's words flow out... more »
There are times in our lives when we can feel utterly overwhelmed by the difficulties that beset us. There are times when we can feel that we have... more »
Usually on Sundays the Church gives us a first reading that in some way points forwards to the Gospel reading, and today's is a particularly... more »
'When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.' One of the... more »
Sometimes we take Our Lord's words too seriously. We forget that, being human, and indeed Jewish, he had a sense of humour. So, when we hear his... more »
All four Gospels tell of Jesus being anointed by a woman, and down the centuries the four accounts have, naturally enough, been considered... more »
Preachers tend to avoid preaching on the passage from the Letter to the Romans that is one of our lessons for this Sunday. This is often because... more »
The idea of the Church as a ship has always been popular. In today's gospel reading we can see the biblical inspiration for... more »
Do you want to live a long life? Nowadays one senses that people expect to live into their nineties. But in fact those living long lives today... more »
The Gospel is addressed to the church as a whole. In chapter 10 of his Gospel, however, Matthew sets out the instruction that Jesus gave to his... more »
The first reading tells us that death and sickness came into the world, through the devil's envy. God's response to this tragedy... more »
In the second part of today's Gospel we learn that whereas foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his... more »
'Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in... more »
Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to meet Jesus? Or perhaps wondered about what it would have been like... more »
If one wonders what it means for the Church to be missionary some of the answers to this question are presented to us in today's Gospel.
In... more »
'Is your church growing?' This is the question asked by an internet website concerned with church growth. It offers to help you double the... more »
Amos stands on dangerous ground - Bethel is the religious centre of a breakaway kingdom in the Promised Land. As its priest,... more »
Cycle: C - 15th July 2007: Just Love
Where does justice end and charity begin? Are we required to give to the poor in justice or in charity? The Fathers of the Church, such as St John... more »
The kingdom of heaven, of God, was central to Christ's teaching and preaching. He did not tell his listeners what the kingdom of God was; the... more »
The Gospel of last Sunday told of Christ's first sending out of the disciples on a mission of preaching and healing. In the order... more »
There is nothing left now of the Oaks of Mamre; the place all tarmac and housing. There is not much left of the Byzantine Church there,... more »
In two out of the three parables in this passage from Matthew, someone 'sells all he has' for the sake of something beautiful and valuable. This... more »
Even in these tough times, we still assume a lot will be there as normal. Like electricity, for example. A couple of winters ago,... more »
When we ask a question we expect an answer. In the course of our lives, we ask, and we must ask, many questions. We ask questions for different... more »
In today's Gospel Jesus withdraws to a lonely place with his disciples so that they can be by themselves. His actions here reveal His sorrow at... more »
The current recession is making many people forego things that they cannot at the moment afford. But one thing we cannot... more »
This gospel, like so many others, revolves around money and property. It is not surprising that the subject comes up so often, given how much of a... more »
In today's gospel reading we have one of the most famous miracle stories of the bible: the story of Jesus walking on water. Jesus' disciples are... more »
This is the third week that we have been listening to St John's discourse on the bread of life, and still the crowd are... more »
I was talking the other day to a young man from a country in the Middle East who hopes to return to his home when he has completed his studies to... more »
Canaanites are cast in a bad light in the Bible. Their gods are Baal (2 Kings 10:18-28) and Moloch (2 Kings 23:10), their goddesses Astarte (2... more »
This is not the homily I was expecting to offer to you but as they say 'life is what happens when your making plans'
...
more » I know a church where they stopped using incense after they had fitted smoke alarms. Fire is dangerous but sometime you have to take a risk... more »
Let's begin with a poem by an American Benedictine priest who only began writing poetry at the age of seventy- five. (I discovered his work when I... more »
Cycle: B - 23rd August 2009: Hard Sayings
Today finally brings us to the end of this long chapter of St John's Gospel, and Jesus's sermon on himself as the bread... more »
Many years ago I was in conversation with a young Muslim student. He was explaining to me that, if I died without confessing belief in Allah and... more »
Twenty-Second Sunday of the Year View all sermons
Jesus' foretelling of his death and resurrection follows on immediately from Peter's declaration of Jesus as 'the Christ, the Son of the living... more »
Cycle: B - 30th August 2009: True Religion
Every so often it's worth asking ourselves what we mean when we say certain things; and this perhaps all the more so when we are... more »
In the middle of the nave of the church, two chairs were perfectly lined up, waiting for the future spouses. Suddenly, I noticed something utterly... more »
St Paul tells the early Christians in Rome to avoid getting into debt. Sensible advice we might think in any age, though mortgages and student... more »
This week I am in Rome for a conference on interreligious dialogue. The lay and religious participants have come from all over the... more »
I recently heard the 'peace of Christ' being compared to wearing a towelling bathrobe. This garment, it was argued, brought a sense of comfort and... more »
Twenty-Fourth Sunday of the Year View all sermons
This Sunday's readings challenge two pieces of popular wisdom. The first is that a person who has had a particular negative experience will... more »
'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine….' To me this is one of the most crucial statements in the whole of the Gospels... more »
The full reading of today's Gospel comprises four sections: Jesus eats with the 'lost' sinners; the lost drachma; the lost sheep and the lost... more »
In St Paul's thought, it is by the painful Passion and death of Our Lord, and by the power of his Resurrection, that Christ has won dominance over... more »
Cycle: B - 20th September 2009: Death and Glory
We think we know what counts as winning: doing better than other people; we think we know what counts as glory: everyone... more »
'No servant can be the slave of two masters.
You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.' This is one of the better known quotes from the... more »
The days are darkening. The gospels become darker. The 'powers of heaven' move towards darkness, and cold; and seem to show life ending, in... more »
Cycle: B - 27th September 2009: It's a Scandal
Jesus always provokes a response in those who encounter him. It's true that there are those who want to follow but are afraid and... more »
Parties are very much double-edged. They can welcome and they can exclude. The rich man of our parable welcomes his five brothers to his party. He... more »
Twenty-Seventh Sunday of the Year View all sermons
In our readings today there is a contrast between the extravagant violence of the gospel parable
'they seized the servants, thrashed one,... more »
Think of the church weddings you have been to. Everything seems designed to make the occasion a celebration beyond the ordinary... more »
Cycle: C - 7th October 2007: Guns and Roses
J.R.R. Tolkien is sometimes accused of being a pessimist, and the alleged cause is his devout Catholic faith. In the year his magnum opus The... more »
Twenty-Eighth Sunday of the Year View all sermons
Wedding banquets can be tricky occasions. The seating plan has to take account of such little matters as family feuds, past and present, and who... more »
When I was much younger and more active I used to enjoy camping. I would carry all I needed in a rucksack. Sometimes I would walk... more »
It was not the dispositions of the Samaritan leper alone which led to his expressing his reverence for Our Lord and his gratitude for his loss of... more »
In the paper the other day someone wrote about the current economic crash as a 'crisis of faith': we had believed in the money markets as our... more »
Jesus has already told his disciples about his coming suffering in disgrace and death on three different occasions; each time they... more »
To give any thought to religion is to find it difficult. It seems to fit less and less into the world we have learnt to understand. The old, clear... more »
Which is the greatest commandment? This is almost the final question. In Matthew's Gospel Jesus must answer many questions - from critics, from... more »
The character Bartimaeus leaps out from the pages of Mark's Gospel and stays with us as we go on our way from Sunday to... more »
How are we to enter the prayerfulness of Jesus? How are we to enter this temple of his prayerfulness along with these two men in today's... more »
As a student friar one of my jobs was being the sacristan. One summer I returned from a month-long pastoral placement to find the sacristy a... more »
One morning in our Priory of Holy Cross in Leicester, I was cleaning my teeth in preparation for Morning Prayer, which is very important when you... more »
Cycle: C - 4th November 2007: Real Pleasures
I was travelling on the Tube today, and following the great tradition of reading someone else's newspaper. The words GUILTY PLEASURES, the title... more »
Thirty-Second Sunday of the Year View all sermons
Today's Gospel takes us straight back to the ministry of Jesus, right back to what it was like, how it felt, for the very first disciples. The... more »
'Jar of meal shall not be spent, jug of oil shall not be emptied ...'
This promise, made by God through... more »
Cycle: C - 11th November 2007: Unlimited Hope
When I tell people I have a medal from a half marathon, they tend not to believe that I acquired it through completion of that event -- correctly... more »
This parable is often read as an exhortation for us to use our talents. After all, the word 'talent' came in the early fifteenth century to mean a... more »
In one of his last songs, the great prophet Johnny Cash saw the end of the world as something that catches all human beings off... more »
Cycle: C - 18th November 2007: He Leadeth Me
It is a sad truth for preachers that we are more often thanked for the homilies we have put little or no preparation into. When I remarked on this... more »
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. We must be on guard against taking this feast the wrong way. This is no nostalgia trip back... more »
It is possible to win all the battles and yet in a certain sense lose the war. I've come to see this, but it has taken me a long... more »
Back in the Sixties, there were a string of television shows named after the lead character, such as The Saint, The Baron, or The Avengers. What... more »
Feast of Saint Patrick
The field of St Patrick studies is not for the faint hearted. So many theories and so much emotion are invested into the solutions... more »
Solemnity of St Joseph
After walking for four days, my father reached the beach near Dunkirk in 1940. Finally he was evacuated, but as he was helped onto... more »
The first line of the Gospel appointed for the Feast of St Joseph is actually the end of a long list of names -- St Matthew's list of the... more »
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
The Angel Gabriel visits the Virgin Mary to bring her the news that she is to conceive and bear a son. On that day in Nazareth,... more »
A few years ago in my university days I can remember sitting in the university dining room as the bell in the neighbouring seminary pealed out the... more »
Today the Angel Gabriel, messenger of God the Father, announces to the Virgin Mary the sending of the Holy Spirit and the sending of his Son,... more »
Solemnity of the Birth of St John the Baptist
The disciples were frequently at a loss when it came to understanding Jesus because of his tendency to talk in parables (or, as some would see it,... more »
Why is there all this fuss about John the Baptist? Why is he so important that the celebration of his birth overrides the ordinary Sunday mass? We... more »
Solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul
From the many writings we have about Jesus, two men emerge: Peter, and Paul. No two could have been more different.
more »It must have seemed typical of the arrogance and disrespect of the Gentiles that the pagan city of Caesarea Philippi was named after two men --... more »
Why is it that two individuals so immensely important in the history of the Church as Saints Peter and Paul and yet so extraordinarily different... more »
Today's feast of St Peter and St Paul is a Roman feast. It celebrates the fact that we are Catholics, and our full communion with the Church of... more »
The Feast of St Peter and St Paul has always seemed to me not to give Paul a fair share of the honours! The first reading - Peter's miraculous... more »
In celebrating Peter and Paul by a common solemnity, we're celebrating the apostolicity of the Church - the rootedness of the Church in a... more »
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
It is not difficult to misunderstand what the Transfiguration of Jesus is about. Some of the prayers of the Mass for today's feast, at least as... more »
Solemnity of our Holy Father St Dominic
Today we celebrate the fast of our Founder, St Dominic. On his deathbed, Dominic told his friars that he wanted to be buried under the feet of his... more »
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
In the early Church there was little concern for setting down a detailed biography of the Virgin Mary. The New Testament... more »
'Go up Lord, to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your strength.' This phrase, from the psalm set for the vigil Mass of this... more »
Concepts have a history. They don't just come out of the blue. It may take decades, even centuries, for a concept to develop and pass into common... more »
Some years ago I visited Georgia -- the real one, in the Caucasus, not that pseudo-Georgia in the United States (apologies to any residents... more »
A few weeks ago I took part in a 'Thinking Faith' week for young people in which we thought about areas of contemporary life in Britain where out... more »
When you receive a gift, are you the sort of person who keeps the box? A child's instinct seems correct: to tear off the coverings and get at the... more »
The God of our Salvation comes to be enthroned among human beings through their praise.
Yet you O God are Holy, enthroned on the praises of... more »
And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars... more »
And Mary said,
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is... more »
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Why did Jesus have to die? And why did he have to be crucified? Some Christians have a pat answer: it's because you are a sinner. And Jesus... more »
Today we unashamedly recall historical events. Encouraged by his mother, St. Helen, the Emperor Constantine had the sites of Our Lord's... more »
Solemnity of All Saints
It's always sad to meet someone with a lack of imagination. Not the kind of imagination you need to think about mythical... more »
It is said that Pope John Paul II canonised more Saints, and created more Cardinals, than any one of his predecessors. Could it be that such large... more »
As the year moves on once more towards its end, and the daylight hours grow shorter, we begin to think again of those who have gone before us in... more »
An elegant Italian lady strode up to me. 'Look at this!' she commanded. I obeyed and surveyed the scene. It was the folk Mass, best described as... more »
Listening to homilies isn't everyone's idea of having a good time. One of the benefits of being a preacher, you might think, is getting to inflict... more »
The celebration of a feast of All the Martyrs goes back to the first centuries AD, according to the testimony of St Ephrem of Damascus and St John... more »
Every celebration of the Church is really a celebration of the goodness, the love, the truth, the holiness of God.
On Trinity Sunday, the... more »
All Saints is the feast of the ordinary saints of the church, the huge number, impossible to count of every nation, race, tribe and... more »
Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed
After the Falklands War, there was a service held in St Paul's Cathedral. The Anglican archbishop, Runcie, has been remembered as criticizing... more »
The commemoration of All the Faithful Departed is, I think, one of the most consoling days of the Church's year. We both celebrate Christ's offer... more »
Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
When the late Cardinal Heenan was asked what was distinctive about the Catholic Church, he answered quite simply with one word: authority. ... more »
No one can really doubt that the establishment of a cathedral church in Rome, then the heart of the empire that had put Jesus to death, is worth... more »
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