On Easter Day we sing “Alleluia”, as our song of joy in the light of Christ’s victory over death. Today also, the Feast of the Ascension, we sing “Alleluia”, just as much so, and maybe even more, as Christ takes his place forever in the glory of his Father.
Homily for the 8 o’clock Mass, Eastertide Sunday 6C, 22 May 2022: John 14:23-29
If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. We are in the Last Supper discourse of Jesus, as recorded by St. John. Twice already, in the previous few verses (14:15,21), though always in slightly different words, Jesus has spoken of the link between loving him and keeping his commandments. If you love me, you will keep my commandments, my instructions, my word.
Homily for the 8'oclock Mass, 5th Sunday of Lent Year “C”, 3 April 2022, John 8:1-11
The story of the woman taken in adultery follows on very well from last week’s parable of the Prodigal Son. We are even permitted to think that this story’s original place might have been the Gospel of St. Luke, rather than that of St. John. Our text is set in canonical scripture at the beginning of St. John’s eighth Chapter. But it’s lacking there in the earliest Greek manuscripts.
Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent C, 26 March 2022; Luke 15:1-3;11-32
No matter how many times we read it, and no matter how many homilies on it we hear, the parable of the Prodigal Son retains its power to move us, to astonish us, to stir us to the depths. The story is told entirely in human terms, but what it reveals to us is the compassionate love, the patience, the mercy of God. We read the story again now in mid-lent, to remind ourselves of our need for conversion, and also of the goal of our journey, both of lent and of life.
Homily for the 8 o’clock Mass, Lent 2C, Sunday 13 March 2022: Luke 9:28-36
What is the Transfiguration? It’s a confirmation of the identity of Jesus as God’s Son: confessed by Peter (Lk 9:20), predicted by the prophets, prefigured in the law. The prophets are represented by Elijah, the law by Moses. The 3 chosen witnesses stand for all the Apostles, and for the whole Catholic Church.
Homily for St. Cecilia’s Abbey, Ryde, Sunday 8C, 27 February 2022: Luke 6:39-45
Homily for St. Cecilia’s Abbey Ryde, Sunday 7C, 20 February 2022, Luke 6:27-38
According to St. Paul, we should “have that mind in us which was in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5). In today’s Gospel according to St. Luke, our Lord manifests his mind to us, and asks us to imitate it. Love your enemies, he says, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you (6:27). Through all this list of commandments, Jesus is painting for us a self portrait, and indeed sketching out for us his own autobiography.
Homily for Sunday 4C, 30 January 2022, Luke 4:21-30
Today’s Gospel scene sets before us the mystery of the Lord’s attractive power, and also, immediately conjoined to that, the mystery of his rejection. We have here an illustration of the truth stated by St. John in his Prologue: He was the light that came into the darkness of our world, and the darkness could not comprehend it. He came to his own, but his own received him not (Jn 1:5,11).