Passover and redemption
6 April 2012
Although John spends more time describing the events of the last supper – including the conversations across five chapters of his Gospel – he doesn’t give us the details of the institution of the eucharist. He does give us plenty of details around the event, including ensuring that we know that it all unfolded…
Stations of the Cross Reflection
6 April 2012
A brief reflection offered at the end of the Stations of the Cross, celebrated at St Paul’s, Camden on Good Friday morning. Play MP3 Length: 2’15” A full recording of the service (slightly edited to reduce some of the silences and not including the final multimedia) Play Full Service mp3 Length: 40’05”
The Hunger Games and Sacrifice
1 April 2012
Last weekend I joined the throngs – not in welcoming the Messiah to Jerusalem – but in watching the new hit movie, The Hunger Games – based on the first part of the popular trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. The action takes place in a future post-apocalyptic north America, where all that is left…
eMissal now includes Music
31 March 2012
The industry-standard e-book edition of the English eMissal now includes all the music for Holy Week and the Easter Triduum, as well as the Ordinary of the Mass (including the fifty main Prefaces) and some of the music for the seasons of the year (Ash Wednesday – Pentecost). The ePub version of the Missal…
Annunciation – dreaming big and saying yes
25 March 2012
The readings in the liturgy today provides a contrast between two figures – the great and mighty King Ahaz, and the young maiden Jew Mary. When the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, appears before the king, and directs him to ask for a sign, he is given permission to dream big. “Ask the Lord your…
A new covenant
24 March 2012
Taking a friend out for a driving lesson a few weeks ago brought to mind my own experience of learning to drive a car. Growing up on a farm, our first driving experience was with tractors and motorbikes and eventually cars as we made our way around the paddocks. But once I actually received my…
Let them go up to worship in love
18 March 2012
Lent, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year B
A Jew would recognise our first reading today as the very last passage in the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh. English bibles have tended to reorganise the order of the books in the Old Testament, so that we no longer follow the three-part division of the Tanakh into Torah (the Law), Nevi’im (the Prophets) and Ketuvim…
Ten words of freedom
10 March 2012
To soften the hard edge of these sacred commandments that are presented in Exodus 20, the Rabbis’ would often tell a joke – such as ‘when Moses came down the mountain, he began by telling the people: well, there is good news and bad news; the good news is that I managed to talk the…
Sacrifice, obedience and the lamb
3 March 2012
Lent, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year B
Our first reading from Genesis 22 contains what is often regarded as one of the finest examples of a short story in all or Western literature. In 19 short verses, the reader is taken on a terrible and shocking journey along with Abraham and Isaac – your only son, the son that you love -…
Wilderness and floods
26 February 2012
As we journey through lent each year, the Church provides us with similar foundations. Each year, on the first Sunday in Lent, we journey with Jesus out into the wilderness as he is tempted; on the second Sunday, we travel with Peter, James and John up a high mountain where Jesus is transfigured. These two…
Strange ashes
22 February 2012
A lot of the things that we do as a Christian church are kind of strange. If you had never been into a Christian church before, and you happened to wander into this church today – particularly at the end of Mass – and saw several hundred, otherwise ordinary people, who have freely submitted themselves…
Levitical cleaning
12 February 2012
Bible, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year B
Reading the bible is a wonderful gift. But for many people, who with great zeal and commitment begin to read the bible in the book of Genesis, everything goes well for a while. The book of Genesis is interesting, and it is full of familiar stories beginning with creation and then the ‘myths’ of pre-history,…
Immediately driven
5 February 2012
Every book in the biblical library has unique characteristics that set it apart from all other books in the bible. The passage that is our first reading today from the book of Job – dealing with suffering and pain – is fairly typical of this book. So also each of the gospels have particular ways…
fecit mihi magna
5 February 2012
Many years ago, I read the biography of the then holy father, Pope John Paul II – ‘Witness of Hope’ by George Weigel (1999). One of the things that really struck me as I read his story, was the detail about his ordination as a deacon. It was essentially a private event, taking place during…
Teaching with authority
28 January 2012
Any male who had completed his bar mitzvah was eligible to read from the Torah in a Synagogue service and to offer commentary upon the reading. What the commentary contained would always be a reflection upon what the student had learned from his rabbi – who in turn would offer the insights that he had…
Called to follow
15 January 2012
Recorded on my mobile phone at Zero Gravity 2012, a summer camp for 200+ teenagers held at Mount Tamborine on the Gold Coaast hinterland. The Sunday Eucharist was the culmination of the four-day camp. The readings of the second Sunday provided a great reflection on discipleship and evangelisation.Play MP312’09”
All the nations
8 January 2012
We are so used to thinking about the Christmas story as told in the gospel of Luke, that Matthew’s equally compelling story can get sidelined. When we do turn to Matthew’s story, we can get so distracted by the crib scenes and carols that the true details also get lost. It is worth pondering the…
Blessed by the face of God
1 January 2012
Christmas, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year B
In the perception of the so-called general public, when people think about God – if indeed they ever think about God, the idea that will probably be conjured would be more like the idea of the force from Star Wars, then the biblical reality of God. Likewise, the idea of heaven as somewhere up there…
Grace, peace and purpose of Christmas
28 December 2011
Time magazine this year declared the Protester to be the ‘Person of the Year’ – and certainly 2011 was an extraordinary year of protests and revolutions. But it was not the first year to be noted as such – and one event that began a revolution that continues to this day was the birth of…
Christmas Proclamation
26 December 2011
At the midnight Mass on Christmas Day (or Christmas Eve if you prefer) there is a tradition of reading the ‘Christmas Proclamation’ – which powerfully situates the events of the Nativity in the historical context of salvation and secular history. This is a recording of the beginning of Mass and the proclamation…Play MP3 (2’26”)Recorded at…
David, Mary and the Ark
18 December 2011
Advent, New Creation, Season of Growth, Seasons, Teaching, Year B
After journeying through this season of Advent with the prophet Isaiah, and then for the last two weeks with the witness of John the Baptiser, it is only on this fourth Sunday of Advent that we finally are presented with the figure of Mary to accompany our Advent reflection. When we encounter her in the…
Rejoice always
11 December 2011
On this third Sunday in Advent, the church issues a command – Rejoice! The teaching comes to us from the second reading today, taken from the very end of St Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, and therefore the very earliest Christian writing that we have. In the few short sentences, Paul manages to pack…
Beginnings
4 December 2011
Advent, New Creation, Season of Growth, Seasons, Teaching, Year B
Literature in the classical world was often concerned to set the scene and provide an overview of the whole text from the very first line of the text. When we come to a text like the Gospel of Mark, we may be tempted to pass over the opening line of the Gospel – which we…
Images of sin in Isaiah
27 November 2011
As we begin the new liturgical year and this new season of Advent, it is fruitful to consider the readings that the Church presents to us on this first Sunday, because it sets the agenda for the whole of the season and the year. It has been said that if Christmas were removed from the…
You did it to me
20 November 2011
Season of Growth, Solemnity, Year A
The feast of Christ the King provides us with Christ the prophet presenting this ominous and dark scene of the judgement – not only of the people of Israel or the New Covenant – but of all the nations gathered before the Lord, being separated according to the way that we have recognised the presence…
Jacaranda trees and exams
13 November 2011
One of the lovely things about living in the Sydney area is the veritable plethora of jacaranda trees that are in full blossom at this time of the year. When I see one of these trees, I am often reminded of the beautiful tree in one corner of the main quadrangle at Sydney University, and…
New eMissal now available
9 November 2011
The Cover of the epub and mobi editions. The new translation of the Roman Missal has been available for use in Australia since Pentecost Sunday this year, but the text only becomes compulsory from the First Sunday in Advent (27 November 2011). This is also the first time that the text will be used at…
The hope of the Lord’s coming
6 November 2011
New Creation, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year A
During the month of November, there is a tradition of remembering the dead and praying for them – particularly during the Eucharist. Our liturgy this Sunday provides an opportunity to reflect upon this practice in the light of the Lord’s coming and the judgement. When Paul writes his earliest letter, to the Thessalonians, he still…
Don’t call me father
30 October 2011
One of the things that you really have to admire about Catholics, is that we have taken the warning that Jesus offers us in today’s Gospel (Matthew 23:1-12) so seriously, that there is almost no risk in finding room in the seats of honour at the front of the church – with people crowding around…
Learning to love
22 October 2011
There is nothing unusual in the question that Jesus is asked in our Gospel today (Matthew 22:34-40) – students would regularly ask visiting Rabbis this question – which is the greatest commandment. When there are 613 mitzva (commandments) to choose from in the books of Moses (the Torah or Pentateuch) it is no wonder that…