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 »
So we come to the beginning of Advent and the readings immediately put us on high alert. The Lord is coming, let us be ready! We are told to be... 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 »
'I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the Day of Jesus Christ.' With these words, St. Paul expresses his... 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 »
It's tempting to think that morality is all about education: if people really knew what the right thing was to do, they would do it. Parents make... 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 »
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 that happen, in and... 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 »
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 »
A Dominican novice once wrote home to his father, complaining of his many duties and the demands of the divine office, even rising in the early hours... 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 »
According to St John's Gospel, John the Baptist performed his baptisms at a place called Bethany-beyond-Jordan, at the northern end of the Dead Sea... 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 »
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 »
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 »
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 Jesus to the world... 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 - 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 in the worship of... 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 »
Vegetation of all different sorts makes frequent appearances in the scriptures; between the Tree of Life in Genesis and the Tree of Life in... 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 »
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. The first... 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 »
Cycle: C - 21st March 2010: Know Yourself
Researchers have recently discovered that honesty makes for good relationships. If you are honest and objective about yourself, you will tend to have... 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 »
It's often said that St Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles are two volumes of a single work. Almost certainly they are written by the same... 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 »
Good Friday
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 »
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 »
Cycle: C - 11th April 2010: Blind Faith?
If I told you that I had won the lottery last weekend you would probably not believe me. You know, probably, that the odds against that are... 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 »
In today's Gospel we hear that when Peter recognized the Lord, he got out of the boat and 'sprang into the sea'. At this point in time we still have... 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 »
The fourth Sunday of Easter is known as 'Good Shepherd Sunday'; in a narrow understanding this refers to vocations to the priesthood, but in a wider... 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 »
In the Gospel for this Sunday we have what seems to me to be a very stark contrast in terms of discipleship. The passage begins ominously with the... 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 »
Today's readings relate to the past, the present and the future of Christ's people. The first reading gives us the moment in the earliest days of he... 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 »
The phrase 'He ascended into heaven' trips off the tongue as we say the Creed. I suggest, though, that we rarely think much about it. The Crucifixion... 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 this today's gospel reading Our Lord is praying to the Father. In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostles are gathered to make an... 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 »
The Holy Spirit can't be pinned down to a single name or imageHe is like the wind He blows where he chooses whence He comes and wither He goes no one... 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 »
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 »
In the Catholic Tradition we use the phrase 'Body Of Christ' in three distinct but interconnecting ways. The first and constant use is to refer... 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 »
It seems (at least to me who has never had to organise a wedding) that it is the wedding feast, not the wedding, that takes by far the most trouble... 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 »
In an age of empty chatter, where people tweet their meaningless activities to a worldwide audience, where politicians equivocate, shameless in their... 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 »
Today's Gospel continues the story that we heard last week. But whereas last week's Gospel left the congregation of the synagogue marvelling at the... 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 »
We often pigeon-hole people. We are certain we know them and we fix their identity. We treat them more like things than people. Then suddenly we see... 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 »
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 »
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 »
The first reading tells us that death and sickness came into the world, through the devil's envy. God's response to this tragedy of sin and death was... 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 »
Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to meet Jesus? Or perhaps wondered about what it would have been like to be sat in front of... 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 »
Amos stands on dangerous ground - Bethel is the religious centre of a breakaway kingdom in the Promised Land. As its priest, Amaziah, makes clear,... 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 »
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 of Mark's Gospel it... 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 »
Even in these tough times, we still assume a lot will be there as normal. Like electricity, for example. A couple of winters ago, there was quite a... 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 »
The current recession is making many people forego things that they cannot at the moment afford. But one thing we cannot do without is food and... 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 »
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 struggling to understand... 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 »
This is not the homily I was expecting to offer to you but as they say 'life is what happens when your making plans'
We can take so much for... 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 »
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 of life. And today we are... 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 »
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 dealing with... 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 »
This week I am in Rome for a conference on interreligious dialogue. The lay and religious participants have come from all over the world, but... 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 »
'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. It forces me to ask... 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 »
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 telling us how great we... 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 »
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 those who are held... 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... more »
Think of the church weddings you have been to. Everything seems designed to make the occasion a celebration beyond the ordinary. Not only do the... 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 »
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 several miles and... 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 »
Jesus has already told his disciples about his coming suffering in disgrace and death on three different occasions; each time they fail to... 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 »
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 »
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 »
'Jar of meal shall not be spent, jug of oil shall not be emptied ...'
This promise, made by God through Elijah the prophet to the widow at... 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 »
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 guard. In his song,... 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 »
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 time.
I remember as... 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 »
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 »
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 they... 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
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 »
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 »
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 »
