Feasts St Joseph the Worker 1 May 20219 May 2021 Why this feast of Joseph the Worker? And why St Joseph? The clue lies in the day on which we celebrate this feast and is rooted in the tumultuous history of the…
Christmas… Baptism of the Lord – Open to the Father’s Love 10 Jan 202123 Jan 2021 The Baptism of Christ, Leonardo da Vinci Isaiah 42:1-7, Mark 1: 7-11 2015 saw the demise of one of the brightest intellectuals of our age, Rene Girard. His work spanned…
Christmas… Feast of the Baptism – One with Us 10 Jan 202116 Jan 2021 Do you remember Jacob’s ladder, with the angels ascending and descending? Throughout the Christmas season we have contemplated how God came down that ladder to our world, how he came…
Feasts… Epiphany – The Risk of Faith 5 Jan 202116 Jan 2021 Matthew 2:1-12 The feast of Epiphany. We meet the Magi, these well-loved characters in every crib. Today, they are contrasted with another character, Herod. Between them, they represent the best…
Feasts… Christ the King – The Sheep and the Goats 20 Nov 202013 Dec 2020 The Last Judgment, Michelangelo Matthew 25:31-46 If you’ve been to the Sistine Chapel, you can’t fail to be impressed by the full length mural serving as the backdrop to the…
Feasts… Carlo Acutis and The Feast of All Saints 31 Oct 202020 Nov 2020 Fra Angelico, The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs Matt 5:1-12 “The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.” ― Léon Bloy I grew up being quite perplexed…
Feasts The Feast of John Henry Newman 9 Oct 202023 Oct 2020 Sophie Scholl might not be a familiar name to many. She is, however, a legend in Germany. About 200 schools are named after her and was voted ‘woman of the…
Feasts… Assumption of Mary – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb 16 Aug 20204 Sep 2020 Revelation 11:19-12:10, Luke 1:39-56 Assumption of the Virgin by Corregio, Fresco 1939. Hardly twenty years had passed from what had been thought of as the ‘war to end all wars’.…
Feasts… Sts Peter and Paul – Archetypes of the Church 28 Jun 202012 Jul 2020 Acts 12:1-11, 2 Timothy 4:6-8,17-18, Matthew 16:13-19 Peter and Paul, by El Greco The Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul. These two saints have been venerated from the earliest times…
Feasts… Corpus Christi – The Gravitational Force of Heaven 13 Jun 20205 Jul 2020 The Institution of the Eucharist by Ercole de' Roberti Deuteronomy 8:2-16, John 6:51-58 In 1263, in the town of Bolsena in Italy, during Mass, just after consecration, the host started…
Feasts… Corpus Christi -food that Saves 13 Jun 202021 Jun 2020 At last the Churches are opening! Public masses are still a few weeks away, however. And as this sacramental fast draws to a close, we’re hungry. Hungry for the Living…
Feasts… Trinity Sunday – Love and Gift at the heart of the World 6 Jun 202028 Jun 2020 Exodus 34:4-9, John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” It is not without reason that many consider this short verse from John 3:16…
Feasts The Annunciation – The Burden of Mary 25 Mar 20209 Apr 2020 One of the most painful experiences in life is to carry the burden of unanswered prayer. Such prayer, arises from the depth of one’s heart and is not dismissed easily,…
Feasts… Baptism of the Lord – The Approach of the King 12 Jan 20203 Apr 2020 Isaiah 42:1-7, Matthew 3:13-17 In the Chronicles of Narnia, the first experience the children have as they encounter the enchanted land of Narnia is quite gloomy. The legitimate rulers of…
Feasts… Christ the King – The Monothelite Controversy 24 Nov 20195 Apr 2020 What does it mean to say Christ is King? What does it mean to say we have to submit to Christ's rule? We have a continuing form of monarchy in…
