Ordinary Time… 19th Sunday – Elijah and the Infinite Game 12 Aug 20237 Oct 2023 1 Kings 19:9-13 I recently heard a fascinating talk on what is called the ‘Infinite Game’ by Simon Sinek (worth listening, here). Sinek is a best-selling author who writes on…
Ordinary Time… 15th Sunday – The Need for Roots 15 Jul 20235 Aug 2023 Matthew 13:1-23 With this Sunday we start to hear the parables of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel. The first parable Jesus gives is the Sower. Why this parable? Because it is…
Ordinary Time… 13th Sunday – The Shunamite Woman and the Desires of the Heart 1 Jul 202322 Jul 2023 Secret Cupid, Johannes Vermeer 2 Kings 4:8-16 Each Sunday, God brings his people together, his children to feed us and nourish us with his Word and Sacrament. Sunday is the…
Feasts… Corpus Christi – Power of the Blood 11 Jun 20231 Jul 2023 On the feast of Corpus Christi, that of the Body and Blood of Christ, I wanted to focus on the incredible gift of the Blood of Jesus. We speak very…
Lent… 3rd Sunday – Watering the Arid Heart 12 Mar 20232 Apr 2023 John 4:5-42 The Word today comes to people who feel unable to change. Maybe as you come here this morning, you feel a bit dead or stuck in life. Nothing…
Ordinary Time… 6th Sunday – The Virtue of Law and the Law of Virtue 12 Feb 202312 Feb 2023 Virtue of Charity, Uffizi Gallery Matt 5:17-37 We continue reading from the Sermon on the Mount this week. There is a lot to take in today. Jesus goes up a…
Ordinary Time… 30th Sunday – The Arc of Salvation 23 Oct 202114 Nov 2021 Christ healing the blind, Domenico Fiasella Mark 10:46-52 We meet the blind Bartimaeus in today’s gospel. This is one of the rare instances, where the person is named in Mark’s…
Ordinary Time… 29th Sunday – Teresa and the Prayer of Desire 16 Oct 20216 Nov 2021 Mark 10:35-45 On Friday, we celebrated the feast of St Teresa of Avila, one of the great mystics of the Church. She was a woman of boundless energy, and of…
Ordinary Time… 18th Sunday – Keys to the Eucharist:Trust 1 Aug 202128 Aug 2021 Gathering of the Manna, Rijksmuseum Exodus 16:2-4,12-15, John 6:24-35 We started last week by examining why the Eucharist is not more fruitful in our lives. And I believe there is…
Easter… 6th Sunday – “I Have Called You Friends” 9 May 202130 May 2021 John 15:9-17 If someone asked you the essence of your faith, what would you say? The Trinity? Jesus? Salvation – how we sinned, and he came to save us? Would…
Ordinary Time… 3rd Sunday – Call Me Jonah (How to defy God) 23 Jan 202123 Feb 2021 Jonah and the Whale (1621) by Pieter Lastman Jonah 3:1-10 We hear this Sunday from the hilarious (yet profound!) book of the prophet Jonah. This is the only Sunday of the three-year…
Christmas… 2nd Sunday – Life, Light and Love in the Beginning 3 Jan 202110 Jan 2021 John 1:1-18 Coming to the Prologue of John’s gospel is like arriving at the foot of Mount Everest. We gaze upon it’s stunning height and grandeur. The difference is that…
Ordinary Time… 29th Sunday – Taxes,Caesar and God 18 Oct 20208 Nov 2020 The Tribute Money, Thomas Sully Matt 22:15-21 In today’s gospel, we have an unholy alliance, of the Pharisees and the Herodians who come together against Jesus. The question they pose,…
Ordinary Time… 22nd Sunday – Stumbling Stone 30 Aug 202019 Sep 2020 Felix Joseph Barrias, The Temptation of Christ Matt 16:21-27, Romans 12:1-2 “It so happened that I [once wrote] a bestseller; this was a pure accident, due to inattention and naiveté and I would take…
Ordinary Time… 21st Sunday – Rock of Salvation 23 Aug 202012 Sep 2020 Matthew 16:13-20 Christ giving the Keys of Heaven, Rubens The most important rock in all of Judaism was the foundation stone of the Temple. The Jews spoke of this as…
Ordinary Time… 19th Sunday- Elijah and Lessons in the Spiritual Life 9 Aug 202030 Aug 2020 1 Kings 19:9-13 If you’ve trained for a marathon or even otherwise, you might be familiar with the phrase ‘hitting the wall’. It’s the point where the body of the…
Ordinary Time… 15th Sunday (part 1) – To See and not Perceive 11 Jul 202025 Jul 2020 Isaiah by Michael Angelo, Sistine Chapel Isaiah 55:10-11, Matthew 13:1-23 A friend of mine always went to watch some of the most mind-twisting and complex, even disconcerting plots that came…
Feasts… Sts Peter and Paul – Archetypes of the Church 28 Jun 202029 Jun 2021 Acts 12:1-11, 2 Timothy 4:6-8,17-18, Matthew 16:13-19 Peter and Paul, by El Greco Peter and Paul have been venerated from the earliest times in the Church’s Tradition. They were both…