Christmas
Growing in Wisdom
1 January 2024
The Profound Significance of Mary in Christianity As we step into the new year, it’s a time of reflection and transformation—a time to ponder upon the words that have shaped our faith and the figures that have stood as pillars within our spiritual narratives. Today, I want to share with you insights of the significance…
Waiting in hope
31 December 2023
Embracing the Journey: Reflections on the Feast of the Holy Family I recently had the chance to delve into a topic that resonates deeply with many of us: the essence of family and the power of faith. Fr Richard Healey offers a profound sermon on the Feast of the Holy Family, a celebration that holds…
Room for us 2
26 December 2023
A Reflection on the Nativity Scene The Humility and Vulnerability of Jesus The birth of Jesus is a story of humility and vulnerability. Born in a manger, surrounded by animals, Jesus’ birth was far from the royal entrance one might expect for a king. This humble beginning makes Jesus more approachable and relatable. It’s a…
Room for us
24 December 2023
The Humble Birth of Jesus: A Reflection on the Significance of Christmas The Gospel of John and the Letter to Titus As a podcaster and a spiritual guide, I recently had the opportunity to delve into the profound significance of Christmas and the birth of Jesus. During a religious service, I found myself reflecting on…
Called to Worship
7 January 2023
The Epiphany of the Lord First Reading ‡ Isaiah 60:1-6The glory of the Lord shines upon you. Responsorial ‡ Psalm 71:1-2.7-8.10-13Lord, every nation on earth will adore you. Second Reading ‡ Ephesians 3:2-3.5-6The revelation means that pagans now share the same inheritance, that they are parts of the same body. Gospel ‡ Matthew 2:1-12We have…
Being Blessed
31 December 2022
Mary, Mother of God – Octave Day of Christmas My dear mother has kept a diary all her adult life. It does not contain her deepest thoughts, feelings or secrets, but it is an accurate chronicle of the events in her life and that of our family, with all the comings and goings, trips and…
Christmas Reversals by night
24 December 2022
We are all very familiar with the Christmas story and the Christmas Gospel that we just read from the Luke 2. But in some ways the story is even more familiar than we think – and yet still radically different. For we all know stories that begin about the rich and famous. Our newspapers and…
Christmas Reversals by day
24 December 2022
We are all very familiar with the Christmas story and the Christmas Gospel that we just read from the Luke 2. But in some ways the story is even more familiar than we think – and yet still radically different. For we all know stories that begin about the rich and famous. Our newspapers and…
Invited into intimate love
8 January 2022
Christmas, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year C
Baptism of Jesus We transition today with a feast that both closes the Season of Christmas, and launches us into the new season of the yearIn the Baptism, all of the Gospel accounts agree that this was the moment when the adult Jesus begins his public ministry.Jesus spent the first 90% of his life growing…
Invited to mission
2 January 2022
Each of the Gospels begins with the baptism of Jesus – launches his public ministry (next week)Each has an overture – like a piece of music that introduces us to mood and main themes.Matthew is no different. 2 chapters that situate the action of his genealogy and birth. He wrote his gospel after Mark, in…
Even Jesus was lost and found
26 December 2021
The Feast of the Holy Family 1 Samuel 1:20-22.24-28 – For the whole of his life, Samuel shall be lent to the Lord.Psalm 83:2-3.5-6.9-10 – How happy they who dwell in your house, O Lord.1 John 3:1-2.21-24 – He calls you his own children, and that is what you are.Luke 2:41-52 – His parents found him in the temple,…
More than a manger
25 December 2021
Hey! Look over there! What did you look at? Example of a dog, looking at the finger, rather than what is being pointed to. No longer walking in darkness – now in light. Often we have been so distracted by the folk law that has grown up around Christmas, that we continue to walk in…
Baptism – The longing of God
10 January 2021
Christmas, Epiphany, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year B
O come to the water, all you who are thirsty!Though you have no silver, come, eat, and be satisfied! This is the invitation that God so longs for us to hear. A constant longing for us to hear the invitation to be in relationship with God. To have nothing hold us back from being with…
Not so weird Magi (Epiphany)
2 January 2021
Christmas, Epiphany, Seasons, Solemnity
Do you know that I am weird? There is also a more than fair chance that I’m not the only weird person here today! Statistically, we talk about people who are most likely going to be surveyed by researchers. Unfortunately, most of them share something in common: they are weird. WEIRD is an acronym –…
Imperfect Family of God
26 December 2020
Christmas, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year B
I must confess a certain dis-ease in celebrating the feast of the holy family each year. Although it is a wonderful thing to do, there is a certain degree of disconnect and contrast between the seemingly perfect example of the Holy Family and the lived reality of most people. When you zoom back out from…
Biblical Hope at Christmas
25 December 2020
Christmas, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year B
The church tonight – only half the number of people who had booked & many others would come. Glass of water: is it half full or half empty? Those who say the glass is half empty, we call a pessimist; those who say half-full we characterise as an optimist. As a follower of Jesus, should…
The Baptism of Jesus and ours
13 January 2019
Christmas, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year C
When you come to reflect on the baptism of Jesus, the first thing that you need to take account of is how odd an event it must have been. The primary significance of the baptism that John was offering was a washing from sin and a ritual of repentance. It was in direct competition to…
Mystery revealed
7 January 2018
The key to understanding what this feast day of the Epiphany is all about is not so much in the specific details of these strange visitors from the East coming to offer gifts and worship to the newborn king of Israel, but in the bigger picture of what these magi represent. We heard last Sunday…
Covenant and Ritual
30 December 2017
When we first meet Abram, it is in Genesis 12, and he is invited by the Lord to leave his kindred and his father’s house and go from that country to a land that God will show him. Abram is mostly faithful to this – he probably brings to many of his possessions and his…
Refugee Jesus
24 December 2017
Christmas can be a very confusing time. We have mixed together a veritable plethora of traditions, myths, consumer ideals and cultural detritus along with vestiges of gospel stories and religious music and artwork to create this weird celebration of this annual holiday. The end result is not very satisfying for anyone. During the month of…
Strangers of Epiphany
8 January 2017
Although there is nothing in the Gospel of Matthew about camels, kings or even how many of the strange magi visited the child Jesus and his mother Mary – there are enough details to provide much pondering. The first chapter of Matthew’s gospel – although we are given a full (stylised) rendering of the genealogy…
How is this woman mother of God?
1 January 2017
The understanding that Mary – a seemingly ordinary teenager growing up in Judea or Galilee who happened to be visited by the archangel Gabriel to hear the announcement that she would become the virgin mother of the saviour, who would be called Jesus – thereby becoming the mother of this unique person who was both…
The child in whom we live and move
24 December 2016
So many of our Christmas traditions are based on the barest threads of details. For example, in the gospel of Luke, although we are given very complete information about the announcement of the birth of first John and then Jesus, and the details of their parents and travels, when it actually comes to the moment…
The Baptism of Jesus and ours
10 January 2016
Christmas, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year C
When you come to reflect on the baptism of Jesus, the first thing that you need to take account of is how odd an event it must have been. The primary significance of the baptism that John was offering was a washing from sin and a ritual of repentance. It was in direct competition to…
Epiphany – the choice of the Magi
3 January 2016
In considering the account of the Magi arriving in Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the gospel is already richly told. Even so, many traditions, legends and carols have added all kinds of details to the story, most of which cannot be supported by the text itself. When the magi arrive in Jerusalem, they would first have…
The Holy Dysfunctional Family
27 December 2015
Flowing directly out of the celebration of Christmas this year we have the opportunity to reflect upon not only the holy family of Nazareth, but also our own conceptions and ideas of family. In my case, I know that many of my most basic understandings of family came from comparing the idealised image of family…
Christmas Day – the Compassion of God
25 December 2015
There is an extraordinary line in the second reading today – ‘When the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of any righteous thing that we had done, but because of his mercy.’ (Titus 3:4-5) We have often understood Judaism and its focus on the laws and commandments of…
The book of genesis of Matthew
24 December 2015
All the Gospels are anonymous. But when early Christians began collecting them in the second century, they needed a way to distinguish each one from the others. So they gave them titles. The title “According to Matthew” is affixed to this Gospel because church tradition had credited it to Matthew, one of the twelve. It is fitting that…
Epiphany – the nativity in the Gospel of Matthew
4 January 2015
(00:00:00) – We arrive at this epiphany, and the Magi have now made their way and have joined the shepherds there, in around the stable, around the manger. But what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with presenting the scene in this way? Well, of course, the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew tell…
The doubt and faith of Abraham
28 December 2014
As we reflect on the place of family this Sunday, the liturgy offers us the example of four very different yet faithful people in the Gospel of Luke in Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anna. The other readings provide us with the foundational example of faith in Abram and Sarai – who were called to leave…
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