1st Sunday of advent 1 December 2024 Stages of growth The season of Advent tends to be somewhat swamped by Christmas, as most Christmas events are celebrated before Christmas Day arrives. We still have the Advent liturgy, however, and that keeps us in our place as far as needing to prepare for Christmas, and not just stumble into it. The Advent readings take us the full range of time, from distant future to distant past, as we contemplate the infinite power and goodness of God. All time is in God’s hands, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. We squeeze in there somewhere; sma ..read more

29th Sunday Ordinary Time  (B)  20 October 2024 Saved by the Cross Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? My servant justified many … Why could he not have just come from heaven and wish us a happy time and work a few miracles with a bit of advice? He took a very different course. He did spread some sunshine  with his many miracles, but there was a much darker element involved as well. Why was that necessary? It was part of the age-old battle between good and evil. Satan is a malignant and powerful foe requiring much shifting on our part. Saving a person, or saving the human ra ..read more

Christ the King 24 November 2024 Two kinds of King Christ can be seen in different lights. He is humble, taking blows and insults, yet all the while He had the power to crush those mistreating Him. He showed another kind of power in restraining Himself. Consider Ph 2,6 that He did not cling to his divinity but humbled Himself to become like us. This feast celebrates His greatness, infinite goodness and power. It also acknowledges His humility stemming from love which motivates His actions. Christ can be seen in both lights - glorious and sorrowful. We can admire and respond to both aspects.&nb ..read more

 33rd Sunday Ordinary Time 17 November 2024 Readiness There are two things that we need to get right -  one is to be ready for the coming of Christ when He comes on the Last Day. The other is to be ready today and every day to be doing the will of God, living according to His will. Readiness for one should help with the other.  We are ready if we are on good terms with the Master, such that His sudden appearance would not startle us too much. We make sure we are in a state of grace (free from grave sin); generally living good lives.  We can do this with His help, and we cal ..read more

 32nd Sunday Ordinary Time  (B) 10 November 2024 Generosity The woman gave more than the others because she gave more of herself. It was ‘all she had,’ whereas the rich could give plenty, but they still had a lot in reserve. It was the same story with the widow in Elijah’s time (first reading). She was preparing what she thought was her last meal, and yet was willing to share it with the prophet. To make matters worse the prophet insisted that she feed him first – a clear hint to us about whether we give first place to God or to ourselves. To be people who give rather than take. God ..read more

  [This is one from the archives, as I did not get to write one last week] 31st Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 5 November 2000 Desire for God We are told in the Gospel that we should love God above all else, with our whole heart, soul, and mind. We can find this difficult because God can seem remote or abstract, whereas we are more comfortable with people and things that we can see and touch. Even if we want to love God we can find it hard to know precisely how to do so. We can learn something of how to make progress here from considering another important topic at this time of year - the souls ..read more

  30th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 27 October 2024 Perseverance in Prayer The blind man called out loudly - which indicates to us that we should exert ourselves  when asking for heavenly favour. The story is for our benefit so that we will have more confidence in God, and present our needs to Him more boldly. We don’t have to shout, but we do have to believe, and the stronger our belief the more effective the prayer is going to be. (See also the Canaanite woman, the nobleman who petitioned for his son, the ten lepers, the friends lowering a man through the roof.)   xxx 1) Jesu ..read more

28th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 13 October 2024  Challenge I prayed and wisdom was given me (Wis 7,7). Wisdom to know what to do with everything else. If wisdom is sorting out desires, then God must be our first desire. God may be hard to know but He is the deepest object of our desire. If we get a taste of the Lord (Taste and see Ps 34 (33),8) we will find it a delight to discover Him. There are two false trails we could take. One is to doubt God's promises to us, of such things as heavenly reward, and from today’s Gospel, manifold return on what we give up for the Kingdom. The other is to ..read more

27th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 6 October 2024  Marriage When God created Adam and then Eve, He joined them together in marriage. It was the first marriage, and the first thing that happened in what was now a society. Why was marriage so important to God and why is it still so important, that God and His Church have detailed so much about it? Marriage is given to the human race by God as a way of sharing in His life and love, and of coming to understand Him more deeply. We can see this from different aspects of marriage. 1) Covenant love. As God gave Himself for the human race (most no ..read more

26th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 29 September 2024 One in Christ Today is Migrant and Refugee Sunday throughout the Church.  We recall our pilgrim status as we journey through the ‘desert’ of this life striving to reach the Promised Land of Heaven. We are right to be proud of our nation, of who we are and where we come from,  but our identifying with Christ is our strongest point of identity. I could be other than Australian but I cannot be other than Christ-ian. As St  Paul puts it: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, f ..read more