The way of grace
31 July 2011
The Gospel today begins with Jesus withdrawing to a lonely place to mourn and pray after hearing of the death of John the Baptist – his cousin, friend and comrade – only to find that this secret place has been invaded by crowds of people. Although he could respond in many ways, Jesus chose the…
Leviticus and Jubilee
30 July 2011
The book of Leviticus doesn’t get much of a run within the lectionary readings – just two weekday readings and a single reading during the Sunday cycle in Year A and Year B. Since there were none during the leactionary readings before the Second Vatican Council, this is a vast improvement. Nevertheless, Leviticus still has…
What do we want from God?
23 July 2011
Although we know many things about the life of King Solomon, we do not know how old he was when he came to the throne of Israel, to succeed his father David. Solomon is the tenth of David’s sons, and as I Kings opens, he is described as not yet being an adult. So it…
Wheat and weeds in the shining sun
17 July 2011
How many times have we heard something described as an ‘act of God’ or a disaster of biblical proportions, and wondered in our hearts – if God is indeed all-loving and all-powerful – then where is he in these times? Why doesn’t he step in and prevent these disasters? Why do we see such powerful…
Creative word
9 July 2011
The Word of God is so creative, powerful and fruitful, that sometimes we need to go to a high place to see the incredible vista that the Lord provides before us. This is the image that St Paul uses in Romans 8 when he lifts us with him to see the vision of all creation…
Resting in the Father
2 July 2011
As we return to the ordinary season of the year, we are given a most magnificent Gospel to land on, in Matthew 11:25-30. This gospel passage is unusual in the first three Gospels that rarely take us into the inner life of Jesus in his prayer to the Father. Here we are plunged into this…
Liturgical Dance
26 June 2011
Reality TV shows like MasterChef have reminded us of the art involved in preparing a meal – you need the right equipment, the right techniques and especially the right ingredients in the correct balance to prepare the culinary masterpiece. The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ provides an opportunity to reflect on the…
God is love
18 June 2011
When you read through the scriptures, one thing that modern readers might expect are passages that point to proofs for the existence of God. And yet there is not a single place that we can turn to to find something even remotely close to a De Deo Uno (Concerning One God) treatise that you find…
Come Holy Spirit
11 June 2011
Easter, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year A
This feast is a demonstration of the unique Christian understanding of grace and salvation. Before this day, although the disciples knew of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus and the fulfillment of the many prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures, they were still huddled together in fear – until the Spirit comes – then they…
Renovations at SJV – Stage 2
5 June 2011
Photo gallery showing some of the recent works in the renovations…View the album for the whole set of photos.https://picasaweb.google.com/richard.healey/RenovationsAtSJVStage2
Heaven and earth together
5 June 2011
The feast of the Ascension can be one of those feast days that seems utterly bizarre and irrelevant – it is so mythological and pre-scientific to border of pointless. Or if we can reclaim it somehow in our understanding of its place in the life of Jesus, we can still be left wondering what this…
Signs of the Spirit
28 May 2011
Easter, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year A
As we move through the Easter season, the liturgy today moves in its focus from looking back to the events of Easter, to looking forward in anticipation of the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out upon the Church at Pentecost. All the readings today provide insights and guidance concerning the life in the Spirit…
Chosen race and royal priesthood
22 May 2011
Easter, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year A
During Easter we have been reading from the first letter of St Peter, and we come today to what must be one of the most extraordinary declarations in scripture. Peter addresses a mixed community – young and old, men and women, gentiles and Jews, leaders and members – and to each person he reminds us…
The road from Emmaus
7 May 2011
Bible, Easter, Seasons, Teaching
This powerful resurrection story is well known and often repeated. It shows the creative power of Luke’s narrative and has intrigued saints and scholars over the centuries. One saint who has a wonderful commentary on the story is St Bede the Venerable, the famous 8th century English historian and doctor of the Church. He brings…
Peace be with you
1 May 2011
Easter, New Creation, Season of Growth, Seasons, Teaching, Year A
‘Peace be with you’ – this is the greeting that Jesus proclaims to the disciples when he appears to them – even if they are locked behind closed doors for fear of the same fate falling on them as has just happened to Jesus. But the peace that Jesus promised, and the peace that he…
Living on the third day
24 April 2011
Easter, New Creation, Seasons, Teaching
Welcome to the third day – the day when everything is different because of that day – which John calls the first day of the new week, when the tomb was empty. On Friday we waited in silence and we mourned and lamented. We so often live our whole lives on Friday. We are shocked…
Resurrection Day (Vigil)
23 April 2011
Easter, New Creation, Seasons, Teaching
The Easter Vigil provides us with the opportunity to be immersed within the story of our salvation and the continuing work of God – from creation to redemption. So it is only appropriate that we make Alleluia our song as we celebrate the day of Resurrection and become builders of the new creation.Play MP3Recorded at…
Betrayal, lies and grace
17 April 2011
The Palm Sunday liturgy crams an amazing array of emotions into an hour – from the jubilation of the triumphant entry into Jerusalem to the heartbreak and desolation of betrayal, sleep, violence, cowardice, lies, false witness, racial abuse, denial, pride, anger – the reality of so much human sin on display. It is precisely into…
Roll the stone away from the stink
9 April 2011
This most powerful healing story – perhaps the ultimate miracle with the raising of a man four-days dead – begins so simply with a description of the fact that a man called Lazarus was ill. Most of our English biblical names have come to us via the Latin Vulgate translation. In the original Hebrew, Lararus…
Blinded by the light
3 April 2011
Discipleship, Lent, New Creation, Seasons, Teaching
To truly appreciate the full scope of this sixth sign in the gospel of John – the healing and faith of the man born blind – we need to remember the full scope of John’s spiritual vision. John is always leading us to look back to the beginning of creation and forward to the wonders…
Thirst quenched by living water
26 March 2011
Lent, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year A
The story of the woman at the well presents many strange scenes in this most beautiful Gospel. John 4 begins by telling us that Jesus learnt that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was baptising and making more disciples than John the Baptist (although it wasn’t Jesus who was baptising, but his disciples – apparantly)…
The voice of justice
25 March 2011
If justice and injustice were in the flesh, what would they say to us? Which voice would commend, which would rebuke — and whose voice would be most familiar?The Voice of Justice from The Justice Conference on Vimeo.See more: http://www.thejusticeconference.com/
Goat or Calf?
25 March 2011
During this Mass for the Anointing of the Sick, the Gospel of Lent week 2 Saturday was from Luke 15 – the parable of the Prodigal Son. We often focus on the younger son, but this brief reflection looks at the older son and compares the two by way of the two animals that the…
Changed by cross and glory
19 March 2011
Lent, New Creation, Season of Growth, Seasons, Teaching, Year A
On the second Sunday in Lent each year we join Peter, James and John to witness that incredible moment when Jesus is changed (in the Greek, metamorphoo, which you can probably discern from the word is an aorist indicative passive third person singular verb, which is a form of ‘metamorphosis’ meaning ‘to remodel’ or ‘to…
Garden and wilderness
13 March 2011
As we begin this new season of Lent, we are taken back to the garden of Eden to witness both the life of tranquility and peace that originally existed and then the condition during and after the fall. When the serpent entered into the picture, the lies and deception begin to flow and the consequences…
Worry, money and insurance
26 February 2011
The fact that Jesus repeats a phrase seven times in our Gospel reading today perhaps suggests that there is something he wants us to learn. In a world that values money, security and wealth much more highly than the glories of God’s creation, the words of Jesus invite us to embrace a different way of…
Renovations at SJV
24 February 2011
The parish Church at Fairy Meadow is soon to undergo a range of renovations – improvements to the sanctuary, the main body of the church and to the entrances and landscaping. Some of the work will require that the church is closed (during which time all Masses will be transferred to the parish church in…
Offer the left cheek
20 February 2011
A story told by Eugene Peterson (the author of The Message Bible – a translation in very contemporary English) of the day when the tables were turned on Garrison Johns – the school yard bully who had beaten up on Eugene every day after school for seven months – highlights the way that we have…
But I say to you
12 February 2011
Often we imagine – to tell you the truth – that the teaching of Jesus was much softer that the hard edges of the laws of Moses. Yet – to be honest with you – what we discover in today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:17-37) is the very opposite of this. In the face of an ages’…
Salt and Light already
6 February 2011
As we continue to journey through the sermon on the mount, lest we imagine that the kingdom of heaven is only something that will happen in the distant future, today we are given two promises that serve as concrete declarations of the kingdom breaking into our present reality. Jesus tells the crowd of disciples (who…