Liturgical Index
Cycle: A - 28th November 2010: Seize the Day
In Advent, as we prepare for the annual celebration of a past event - Christ's birth - we are also preparing for a future event - Christ's return in... more »
Jesus takes watching
very seriously. In today's short Gospel reading, Jesus tells us four
times to watch – he's really hammering it home... more »
“May the Lord be generous in increasing your love.” That is a joyful prayer from our second reading and seems a fitting start for the... more »
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Today's feast celebrates divine grace and human freedom. Think of the saints of the Old Covenant, how God has to cajole them into doing his will... more »
One of the frustrating features of life is the constant feeling of never quite getting there. When I was simply professed, people said, 'Ah, but... more »
Today we celebrate the beginning of Our Lady's pilgrimage, when she was conceived in her mother's womb. On August 15th we celebrate the end of her... more »
Cycle: A - 5th December 2010: Into Exile
Matthew tells us today that 'Jerusalem, all Judaea and the region around the Jordan' were going out to John. Where was he? He was in the wilderness,... more »
Many today could sure use hearing the words
God speaks to the prophet Isaiah:
Be
comforted, be comforted my people!
Though most of us are not... more »
Baruch brings a message of reconciliation and hope to the Jewish communities of the Greek-speaking Middle East at a time in which for them exile had... more »
Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) View all sermons
Cycle: A - 12th December 2010: Look!
'Don't think, but look!'
The Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, with this advice, was trying to get us to consider things as they are in... more »
Cycle: B - 11th December 2011: I Am Not
St John's Gospel is very clear about the divine identity
of Christ. The prologue to the Gospel, a small part of which we read today,
speaks of... more »
“What shall we do?” Various groups of people go to John the Baptist to ask him for moral instruction because they recognize his wisdom... more »
In his Letter to the Romans, several chapters after the portion appointed to be read as the second reading today, St Paul waxes lyrical over the... more »
Cycle: B - 18th December 2011: House of Gold
Everyone seems to have an opinion
on 'What Would Jesus Do', the catchphrase of our times. In contrast, Catholicism
is not about what we can do for... more »
In the gospel today we read the story of the Visitation. Here at the beginning of his gospel, Luke has told us of two women, Mary and Elizabeth. Both... more »
Christmas
As editor of this
website, it is my job to ask friars, when their turn comes up, to provide a
sermon. In the case of Christmas, they always ask... more »
It was in the night that these shepherds beheld a most amazing thing. It was seen first by just a few, those assigned to watch, but then they awoke... more »
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 our body rhythms... more »
'The Word became Flesh and dwelt amongst us.' (John 1.14)
With these words John goes to the very heart of the meaning of Christmas. He... 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 entrance... 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 via... 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 starry... 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 »
Cycle: C - 25th December 2012: Freed for Joy
“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.” At last, the journeys’ end. For there have been different paths. Mary... 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
The most popular Christmas card, among
people who are in any way religious, must surely be the Mother and Child, Mary
with Jesus. Today is the... more »
It's quite common for parents to have unique authority in the lives of their children. Of course that's not always apparent whilst the... 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 history... more »
Today's readings remind us just how unholy some families can be - even royal ones. We should not be surprised that King Herod massacred innocent... 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 »
Cycle: C - 30th December 2012: Holy Families
This Feast of the Holy Family can help us see that families can be holy. We must find all the help we can, to work out how they can be. We have this... more »
Today's feast marks both an ending and a beginning. It is the final celebration of the Christmas period, a fact that is emphasised by the Divine... more »
Mark begins his Gospel in the desert, where John baptises and where Jesus will be tested by Satan. The desert is a place at the fringes of... more »
Religion is commonly blamed for two evils. The first is war. But while we can think of plenty of wars, some of them going on right now, in which... more »
Epiphany
One of the good things
about travelling is that it both dislocates and disconcerts us. The unique
combination of stress, boredom and... more »
2nd January 2011: Grumpy
My name is Grumpy and I am a camel. Camels are proverbially evil tempered. I must admit I used to deserve to be called Grumpy because I was the... more »
In the Christmas story we traditionally see two journeys to the manger of the infant king.
The shepherds were so captivated by the message of the... more »
If one was to ask the average teenager today what they understood by having 'stars in their eyes' they might well respond by a reference to... 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 Philip; offered the... 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, to... 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 as... more »
The recent census showed a sharp rise in the number of people in England and Wales who do not belong to any religious faith. Yet there is still a... 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, every first-born male belonged to God. God... 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
Ash Wednesday. 'Remember that thou art
dust and unto dust thou shalt return.' Repent! And be quick about it. This
could, after all, be your last... more »
Ash Wednesday is not just a day in the liturgical year; it is the start of a forty day period or season culminating at Easter. Looked at as a day we... more »
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 and don't function... 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 retained many of... 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 complicated... 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 foreheads... 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 reawaken... 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 to... more »
Now we are being told that too much praise is not good for us. But what is too much? Perhaps it would be better to say that the wrong kind of praise,... more »
Last summer I climbed to the top of Cologne Cathedral and was rewarded with a stunning view of the city. This urge to climb seems to have been... more »
What's in a name? In Spanish, the name for the season of
Lent is, prosaically enough, derived from the number forty – a period of forty... more »
John Le Carré’s novel, The Secret Pilgrim, tells of a young man, a member of the intelligence services, visiting the former East Germany... more »
Every year on this second Sunday of Lent we hear one of the accounts of the Transfiguration of Christ: the glory of the Lord is revealed, and... more »
Mountaineering is a
transcendent experience. On a human level, we transcend the limitation of our
fears, and discover the tenacity of the human... more »
Cycle: C - 24th February 2013: Expectant Glory
What we expect to hear in Lent are lessons on fasting, prayer, alms-giving and perhaps the corporal works of mercy. This Sunday however, as many have... more »
Out of the heat haze in an arid landscape at noon figures emerge. Three or one. One or three. Abraham in the shelter of his tent, Sara his wife... more »
Today's Gospel records an act of violence. Jesus goes into the temple
and upsets the money-changers' tables. He drives the cattle and sheep
out... more »
The Holy Week liturgies of the passion which we will celebrate in a few weeks time include the reading and singing of the passion narratives. And... more »
Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday) View all sermons
Cycle: A - 3rd April 2011: Born Blind
I am writing this sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, which is Mother's day, having recently lost both my mother and godmother on the same... more »
Cycle: B - 18th March 2012: A Disciple
In this Gospel we have Jesus talking in an unusual way to an
unusual man.
When we hear Jesus speaking, usually to crowds, it is loud
and... more »
Today’s gospel, which we hear well into the season of Lent, is extremely familiar. To describe someone as a ‘prodigal’ or behaving... more »
A theme for today is friendship: something we sometimes take for granted. If popular magazines are anything to go by, we don't spend much time... more »
John's
Gospel is building to a show-down. You can feel the rising tension. The
Pharisees are watching for an opportunity to attack Jesus. And... more »
When the disciples were caught in the middle of a sudden storm they cried to the sleeping Jesus to save them, and he awoke and sent the tempest to... more »
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord View all sermons
Gethsemane provides the final lesson in discipleship given by Jesus before his execution and exaltation, and that lesson is rooted in prayer.
... more »
We have two readings from Mark's
gospel, and each describes a crowd. There is the enthusiastic crowd of people
who cheer Jesus when he enters... more »
From early childhood Jesus had been accustomed to making the long journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. This, the greatest of... more »
Holy Thursday
In the first Harry Potter film, one of the great scenes is the beginning-of-term banquet. Amid all the special effects – the starry ceiling and... more »
My mother used to remind me before every meal to wash my hands, and despite my juvenile reluctance, as with so many maternal pronouncements, this... more »
On Holy Thursday, throughout the Catholic world, we celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper - Missa in cena Domini - literally, Mass in the Lord's... more »
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 charge of his destiny... 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 of... 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 needs and... 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 that... more »
In Gosford Park, the relationship between those above and below stairs is very interesting. Those above stairs often treat the servants as if they... 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 »
Actions speak louder than words! That was certainly true when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. This strange incident is sandwiched between two... more »
Good Friday
The way John tells the story of the arrest and trial and crucifixion of Jesus, you would think Jesus is in complete command of the situation. He... more »
When the first high rise flats were built in Britain, it soon became apparent that among the many signs of negligence in their design was that the... more »
The liturgy of the church on Good Friday has four parts. First we read the passion of Jesus in John's Gospel. Next we intercede for the Church and... more »
This is a day of fasting and abstinence. A day of silence and desolation. And when we arrive at its hour of glory, we witness the drama of a... more »
When the evangelists write about the Passion of Jesus they are quite discreet. They do not go into any detail about the horrors of crucifixion and... 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, as... 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 a... 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 given... 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 highlight... 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 it make... more »
Isaiah tells us of the suffering servant:Ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried ...By his sufferings shall my servant justify... 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 crucified;... more »
A child of nine years of age asked me a rather difficult question during a recent visit to a primary school. He asked me why the date of Easter... more »
CHRIST IS RISEN! ALLELUIA!
We have been following Christ through Lent, with fasting, prayer and almsgiving. We have tried to keep close to him... more »
Here's something odd about the Resurrection scenes in the Gospels: in all the scenes where the disciples encounter the Risen Christ, there is no... 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 does tell us that... more »
Cycle: A - 24th April 2011: Enduring Love
Tonight we celebrate the defeat of death. St Paul wrote to the Romans: 'As Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, we too might live a... 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 a... more »
The Gospels are reticent about the Resurrection. Having described Our Lord's Passion in relentless detail, they do not describe the Resurrection at... more »
Second Sunday of Easter (Low Sunday) View all sermons
Just as the bands that had shrouded him in death could not hold him, nor the stone seal the tomb, so now the locked doors, behind which the disciples... more »
It is often said that society today is disfigured by a culture of suspicion and mistrust – distrust of our banks, of our political process, of... more »
On the day of the Resurrection Jesus, the risen Christ, appeared early in the morning to Mary Magdalene, who eventually recognised him; he commanded... more »
Cycle: A - 8th May 2011: The Stranger
Gospels come to life as we imagine ourselves taking part in them. In this Gospel, with the disciples walking on the road, we might picture ourselves... more »
The scope of the appearance of the risen Jesus given in the gospel extract from Saint Luke today is very great.
The full setting of his teaching... more »
Cycle: C - 14th April 2013: Set in Love
What happens to Simon Peter in today’s gospel looks like a step up. And to be honest, it is, Christ has set Peter up.
What transpires by the... more »
The Gospel from Saint John speaks of Our Lord not only as
the Guide and Saviour in salvation, but more particularly of the unique
condition of... more »
Why should Jesus be the one we should follow? Why should we place absolute trust in his voice among all the voices and noise we hear in our world?... more »
In the liturgy for the fourth Sunday of Eastertide the Church presents us with the powerful and appealing image of Christ as the Good Shepherd. A... more »
None of us would
wish to be called a religious fundamentalist. Fundamentalists are inevitably
violent – whether engaged in full-scale... more »
Cycle: B - 6th May 2012: Face to Face
In the Acts of the Apostles the suspicion of the early Christians in Jerusalem towards Saul is treated as perfectly understandable. After all, here... more »
Someone once told me that the purpose of a sermon is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Clever words, but I’m not convinced... more »
Christians are people of hope. That is one of our distinguishing
marks. Perhaps we don't normally think of ourselves like that. Others think... more »
Same say that public speaking is an art of keeping a distance from one’s listeners. A good orator, like a trained fencer, is able to close the... more »
Cycle: C - 5th May 2013: Home Making
Home means different things to different people. For some people, home is just a place where we sleep. It provides a safe haven from the world and... more »
In his farewell discourse at the time of the Last Supper Jesus
tells his disciples that he is to go to the Father's house to prepare a place
for... more »
We tend to think along a sequence, especially when it come to the passing of time. One hour follows another, one year follows another and so on and... more »
Back in 1907 when the 20th century had not long come into being, Robert Hugh Benson wrote of the things to come in his book, “Lord of the... more »
In the winter of 1978 I had finished my time at university
and was not gainfully employed. By this I mean, I wasn't doing any paid work,
since a... more »
In John’s Gospel we hear a lot about ‘the world’, and it’s fair to say that what we hear is pretty negative. And... more »
Cycle: C - 16th May 2010: Ut Unum Sint
I look back on my nearly twenty-five years as a priest and wonder where all the time has gone. Nearly eighteen of those years were spent as part of... more »
In my ministry over the last
ten years as a bishop I have come to experience the gift of the Holy Spirit in
a new way and immediate way.
A... more »
The Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of God, poured out upon us to make us holy, is curiously self-effacing. Trying to describe the Spirit is like trying... 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 us. We might think... 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 Jesus... 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 first... 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 gift... more »
In the upper room the disciples encounter the ongoing reality of Jesus, and the whole world changes. When someone we love dies, we build a mausoleum... more »
When the Holy Spirit descends in our first reading, he does so with great drama. He is accompanied, as usual, by signs that tell us something about... more »
Some Christians think that the doctrine of the Trinity is so
baffling that it's better to forget about it. Other recognise that it must be... 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 returning from... more »
Every preacher looks forward to the chance of preaching on the Trinity.
It is just as well this homily is in written form: it's difficult to speak... more »
The Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) View all sermons
Cycle: A - 26th June 2011: Amazing Grace
We find in St Thomas Aquinas’s reflection on the Incarnation of Christ an interesting point: God did not have to redeem us by assuming human body... more »
Dominicans from St Thomas Aquinas onwards have been very articulate in helping the Church understand more deeply the mystery of the Blessed Eucharist... more »
High on the wall at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, in the glitter of the fifth-century mosaic, the standing figure of Melchizedek presents bread and... more »
A few months ago a friend of mine alerted me to an amusing mistake. In Wales, all the road signs have to be written in both Welsh and English, and... more »
Cycle: B - 15th January 2012: Open Your Mind
Walking around a
university campus during 'Freshers' Week' I was approached by a group of
students who asked me if I was a priest. Replying... more »
Some people have a lot of magic in their lives. Tables are magically set, heating just works, clothes are cleaned and ironed, and the most of the... more »
A few years ago, someone invited me to take part in an exercise with a team of fire-fighters. We wore fire-proof clothing and breathing apparatus... more »
'Let those who have wives live as though
they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those
who rejoice as though... more »
The rather long second reading at today’s Mass is about body parts, and the way the variety of different parts of the human body make up a... more »
What we are given as the gospel for today is St Matthew's preface to his account of the teaching of Jesus to his disciples. Matthew thought of it as... more »
Cycle: B - 29th January 2012: Real Authority
In the Gospel,
Mark gives us an account of Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Mark does not tell us what Jesus
teaches, but does... more »
Cycle: C - 3rd February 2013: Rejected love?
And just as it was starting to go so well! He had returned among them in triumph – a local hero. They marvelled at the wonderful things he said... more »
Cycle: A - 6th February 2011: See!
The ancient philosopher Aristotle wrote somewhere that of all the five senses we possess, sight is the most valued. By the sense of sight, we... more »
In the opening chapter of St Mark's Gospel, Jesus is driven
into the wilderness by the Spirit – a vivid and dramatic opening of his
ministry... more »
Those experts who are concerned to trace direct relationships between the Gospels – that of Saint John as also all of the synoptics –... more »
Cycle: A - 13th February 2011: An Angry Jesus
I sometime think I could do with a course in anger management. I can go weeks without being angry. I really need to get organised.
Unfortunately... more »
Most of us live
somewhere in-between. The in-between can be a place of hope, where we are held
in the promises of Jesus Christ, or a place of... more »
First we have set aside the more familiar 'beatitudes' found in Matthew's gospel. 'Blessed are the poor in spirit'. Matthew gives us a spiritualised,... more »
The history of moral progress is rather erratic. 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth', and 'You shall love your neighbour, and hate your... more »
Cycle: B - 19th February 2012: Mercy
The local football team from my part of Fife, Dunfermline
Athletic, are nick-named 'The Pars', supposedly short for paralytic, from a
period in the... 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
Writing against the background of czarist Russia, Leo Tolstoy's last play makes for a difficult read. The unfinished work, The Light Shines In... more »
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 that... 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 of... more »
Cycle: A - 6th March 2011: Judgement
Matthew 7.21-27, the Gospel for the ninth Sunday of the year, is a very important reflection on the understanding of judgment. What Jesus has to say... 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 obvious... 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 sayings... more »
When you tell a joke and somebody stares blankly at you, you know they haven’t got it; and you know that if you explain it, it might finally... more »
Today's Gospel seems very congenial to our modern ears. There is kindness and support shown to a sinner. The sanctimonious and upright are rebuked,... 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 what... 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 nautical themes. It is... more »
The disciples remained near to Jesus as he was praying. That he should have broken off from his conversation with them and raised his soul with such... 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 »
Every society is built upon symbols. In our own time, the symbols of the dollar and euro signs and the golden arches of McDonald’s seem to... more »
Cycle: C - 27th June 2010: Free
My friend Robert Enoch is an all-too-rare combination of a committed Christian and a serious artist. Recently he published his work 'Free' on the... more »
What were these things the Father was
hiding from the learned and the clever, the influential stalwarts of society? What
were these same things... more »
Today’s gospel describes what happened when Jesus went home to preach the gospel. Put simply, it was a disaster. The people recognised Jesus... more »
Today's Gospel reading is about Jesus sending out seventy-two disciples to preach the good news of the Kingdom. Since Dominicans are called the Order... more »
We can get very pessimistic about the world, about the Church and about ourselves. One solution is not to be optimistic in the first place. One way... more »
Is it fear that prompts us to rely on modern technological advances in communication? An interesting question, perhaps. Are we too afraid to rely on... more »
Older manuals of moral theology are sometimes criticised for presenting the Christian moral life primarily in terms of obedience to a set of... more »
What should we do about the weeds? That's a problem facing every farmer and gardener -- a problem that Jesus uses in one of today's Gospel parables... more »
And he compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.
The London 2012 Olympic Games... more »
Cycle: C - 18th July 2010: Under My Roof
Only say the word and my soul shall be healed.
Today's passage from Luke's Gospel is one of those passages that has been twisted in all sorts of... more »
Some of Jesus' parables tell us exactly how much his wisdom is worth and what it costs, what it costs us. He tells of a merchant looking for fine... more »
Occasionally, God provides food and drink miraculously, as for the widow Elijah stayed with, or when Elisha fed the hundred. Jesus turned water into... more »
'I am their father, says God. Our father who art in heaven. My son told them all about my being their father. […] That's how they seem to me... more »
God cares for everyone, indeed for everything,
but not in the same way. Sometimes it can seem, however, that God does not care
at all, though our... more »
“You can know a thing to death, and be for all purposes completely ignorant of it. A man can know his father, or his son, and there might still... more »
Cycle: C - 1st August 2010: Affluenza
Our global culture is marked by what has been called 'selfish capitalism', and our consumerist economy is fuelled by our willingness to believe that... more »
Elijah
and Peter were servants of God and men of faith. In the Scriptures people of
faith were often tested, in order to strengthen their... more »
Can man live on bread alone? Well, in Elijah’s case the answer might be, ‘yes’. He thinks he is no better than his ancestors but... more »
I don't know anybody who thinks that the end of world is a good thing; actually I know very few people who want the end of the world to happen. Yet... more »
What we see in this
Gospel is an occasion when Jesus seems to be very harsh – uninterested, even
hostile to what seems like a perfectly... more »
Cycle: B - 19th August 2012: Foolish Wisdom
It is perhaps not a surprise to be told that many anti-religious and anti-faith people put our belief down to simple foolishness. We are the... 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. Imagine... more »
Last Friday evening I watched as
a group of young pilgrims gathered at St Dominic's Priory in London. The pilgrims
had come together from across... more »
Today’s gospel begins, as it were, halfway through. The very first thing we hear is the disciples grumbling that ‘this’ (or... more »
Why does the Church get us to listen to the Bible at Mass week by week? Why do we have to hear about Put and Lud and Moshech, which were marginal... more »
Twenty-Second Sunday of the Year View all sermons
Let me make this absolutely clear ... 'absolutely clear'?
I realise that as
soon as you read this opening line, there is a risk that you... more »
Why is religion so important? It is because it puts us in touch with a special revelation from God that we would not otherwise receive. The Jews... more »
At a formal meal, seating arrangements are important. Usually the most distinguished guests sit at the top of the table. To avoid the embarrassing... more »
What
was the real story of World Youth Day? Was it the two million young people who
gathered to celebrate their faith together, or the thousands... more »
Cycle: B - 9th September 2012: Be Opened
When you move to a new place it can take a while to find your feet. This morning I helped some friends to move house, and although it was a short... more »
Jesus has had his disagreements with learned scribes and Pharisees along the way to Jerusalem, while the unlearned crowds are still enthusiastically... more »
Twenty-Fourth Sunday of the Year View all sermons
In this chapter of St Matthew's Gospel Jesus
reveals to us a God who is intensely keen on forgiving us and who is overjoyed
when we turn back to... more »
Cycle: B - 16th September 2012: Living Faith
Most people, I imagine, can think of an occasion when they’ve said one thing but done another – from the trivial “I think... more »
Cycle: C - 12th September 2010: The Lost Son
The parable of the prodigal son must be among the best-known Bible stories. The title rolls off the tongue easily, and even many people who don't... more »
We must always remember, as we are often told in sermons, that 'Gospel' means 'good news'. This may be almost a cliché, but it is one that... more »
As so
often, the main actor in today's parable does not behave true to life. No
normal householder would pay the same wages to those who worked... more »
We tend to side with the people who agree with us or with arguments we find congenial to our own views. We read the newspapers which complement the... 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 »
Cycle: A - 25th September 2011: Never Too Late
My mother used to say to me, when I forgot for the zillionth
time to do some thing she had asked me to do, 'The road to Hell is paved with
good... more »
Some sayings of Jesus are so difficult to deal with, it is tempting to say He was exaggerating and we shouldn't take Him too literally. For example,... more »
Cycle: C - 26th September 2010: Still Too Ugly
In 1892 the French writer Émile Zola went to Lourdes in search of a miracle. Zola, a dogmatic atheist, declared, 'I only want to see a cut... more »
Twenty-Seventh Sunday of the Year View all sermons
In first century Galilee, vineyards looked very like the vineyard in today's parable. The hedge was for keeping out predators and the watch tower for... more »
Jesus says ‘from the beginning of creation, male and female he made them.’ The Pharisees ask a question about how to regulate family life... more »
The apostles said to the Lord , 'Increase our faith.' Their request seems to come from nowhere. It is all the more striking because of the language... more »
Twenty-Eighth Sunday of the Year View all sermons
Jesus was not averse to parties. His opponents
criticised him as a 'good time guy', a glutton and a wine drinker. They did not
like the... more »
Cycle: B - 14th October 2012: Total Giving
Most of us have at some point been presented with a task that seemed impossible to us. Perhaps it might be sorting out family difficulties: one child... more »
One of the tasks of the Dominican Studium in Oxford is to prepare friars for priestly ordination. In pursuit of this goal, it arranges courses of... more »
Cycle: A - 16th October 2011: Render to God
Assyria and Babylon, the two monsters of Israel's
nightmares; the two-headed beast of their defeat and failure; the end of God's promise
that... more »
There is a tendency for us to define ourselves by what we do, and not by what we are. ‘What do you do?’ is not just the Queen’s... more »
In the readings this weekend we are given some insight into how our requests to God relate to time, our time and God's time.
In both the reading... more »
In today's gospel reading we have the final of three
questions put to Jesus by his opponents. In comparison to the others
(concerning the... 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 Sunday. He becomes a... more »
Cycle: C - 24th October 2010: Out of Step?
Doesn't it seem strange how incredibly frustrating 'virtuous' people can be?
In reality, of course, it is not their virtue that frustrates us, but... more »
In the Gospel today we are given the first part of a very harsh
polemic which Jesus delivered against the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus's
language... more »
The Shema is the great prayer that resounds through sacred Scripture and bears witness to the unity and transcendence of God. “Hear, O Israel:... more »
There is often something essential about seeing, times when hearing by itself won't do. When I was a little boy the Queen was driven through our... more »
Thirty-Second Sunday of the Year View all sermons
In
this Sunday's Gospel, we hear of ten virgins, five foolish and five wise. The
five wise ones have flasks of oil with their lamps. The foolish... more »
As he concludes his teaching in the Temple, Jesus sits down opposite the treasury — the thirteen large trumpet-shaped receptacles in the Court... more »
In the year of Cardinal Newman's beatification it seems fitting to note that our first reading is an instance of 'the development of doctrine'.
... more »
Like many priests, I am
asked from time to time to preach at a school Mass – often for the end of term
or the beginning or end of a school... more »
Cycle: B - 18th November 2012: The End of Time
Today’s gospel reading is rather apocalyptic in style. “In those days, after the time of distress, the sun will be darkened, the moon... more »
'It's not the end of the world.' There are all sorts of ways of using that phrase. It can be a way of telling something that what they've done isn't... more »
History tells of some very interesting, if not very moral,
monarchs. Ivan the Terrible merited his nickname by torturing enemies and
friends alike... more »
We celebrated Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee earlier this year, sixty years on the throne. I have never been much of a monarchist and tend to... more »
In ancient Rome, 'dignity' referred to the weight of authority a public figure gained through his experience and service of a community. Later it was... 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 for the various... 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 a motor boat, they... 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 ancestors... 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, Mary began to ponder... 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, Jesus... 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 »
“What, then, will this child become?” That was the question asked at the birth of St. John the Baptist –today’s feast. That... more »
Solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul
By the entrance to the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome, where I lived for nine years, the fifth century mosaics give equal dignity to Peter and Paul... more »
From the many writings we have about Jesus, two men emerge: Peter, and Paul. No two could have been more different.
It isn't quite so simple as to... 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 from... 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 escape... 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 commission... more »
Children ask questions all the time about all sorts of things. Children want to know about absolutely everything. When their questions amuse us, we... more »
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord View all sermons
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
The angel Gabriel did not tell Mary to
visit her cousin Elizabeth. It seems strange that a young girl would be allowed
to venture so far from home... more »
During my novitiate year in 1950 Pope Pius XII declared as a dogma to be believed by Catholics as a matter of Faith that 'Mary, the immaculate... more »
In the early Church there was little concern for setting down a detailed biography of the Virgin Mary. The New Testament highlights just a few brief,... 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 solemnity, is... 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 thereof... 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 Israel... 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 ...Today... 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 his... more »
In 1950, five years after the end of the carnage of the Second World War which had ruptured the peace of the world and during which millions of human... 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 died... more »
Today we unashamedly recall historical events. Encouraged by his mother, St. Helen, the Emperor Constantine had the sites of Our Lord's crucifixion... more »
Solemnity of All Saints
A few days before he
died my father said to me 'I know my sins but still I hope some day to see
God'. He said a lot of other things in those... more »
Today we honour the countless holy men and women who have loved God and loved neighbour fully in their lives. As the first reading from the book of... more »
It's always sad to meet someone with a lack of imagination. Not the kind of imagination you need to think about mythical creatures like dragons,... 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 Church... 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 language.It is... more »
When I was the Chaplain at St Dominic’s Primary School in London, I asked a Year 4 class to help me prepare the Mass for the whole school on... 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 Prime... 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 to... 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. Cardinal... 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 »
