Easter

Easter Vigil 2022 When you set out and walk east from the old city of Jerusalem through the Lion Gate, you move first through the shallow Kidron Valley before beginning to climb up the lower sections of the Mount of Olives. You pass first through the Garden of Gethsemene, complete with its old olive groves…

Good Friday – Solemn Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion First Reading ‡ Isaiah 52:13-53:12 He surrendered himself to death, while bearing the faults of many. Responsorial ‡ Psalm 30:2.6.12-13.15-17.25 Father, I put my life in your hands. Second Reading ‡ Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 He learned obedience and became the source of eternal salvation for all who…

Holy Thursday reflection Something amazing happened in the life of the beloved disciple. Tradition holds that John, the author of the fourth gospel, was the youngest of the 12 apostles. He is the only apostle who died in old age. The others were all martyred. The gospel that carries his name is an extraordinary achievement,…

One of the truly wonderful aspects of the TV series called The Chosen. It’s a multi season series on the Life of Jesus and his disciples. But one of the wonderful things about this series is it’s very biblical but it tries to look at the different characters in the life and ministry of Jesus and develop some of their…

Easter 5BJohn 15:1-8Play MP3Watch video (Generated Transcript from Vigil Mass) Whenever we read any passage in Scripture, but especially one of the Gospels, an important thing is to know: Where are we in the story? What’s happening? Here, we’re essentially in the middle of this long section of the Last Supper. The final discourse that Jesus gives to his disciples begins…

The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd has been one of those images that has captured something in our hearts and lives, and we know that it’s from the earliest days of Christianity.  But one of the favorite images of the ways to portray Jesus has been exactly as this.  Jesus there with the…

The Road to Emmaus: Jesus shared with the two disciples along the road. “Didn’t our hearts burn within us?” They recognised Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Now, as they gather together in Jerusalem, Jesus himself stands among them: “Peace be with you!” The meal that the two disciples shared at Emmaus was about…

There are 3 kinds of seasons in the church year: Seasons of Preparation, Seasons of Celebrations, and the Season of Life. The main and longest season is prosaically called Ordinary – yet this is such an ordinary name for the period of time which is all about growing as disciples and followers of Jesus. ⇒…

Happy Easter! “Until this moment, they failed to understand.”  I think we are on the side of the disciples in this. People who die and then rise from the dead, is not part of our ordinary human experience. You know, that’s not the kind of thing that we’re used to happening. It is not as though that we are now in our 21st century…

The gospel proclaims that there is no place for triumphalism in the Christian community, for it is a gospel of “little ones,” of women who were considered so insignificant that their witness had no social or religious validity. By the end of the day of crucifixion, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses had…

Every one of us have a central story that has shaped us and fashioned us; something that continues to define us and help us to understand who we are and how we have become that person. The Passover and the transformation of that ritual that Jesus enacted in the Last Supper is for us this…

On Good Friday we read the story of the broken God – the passion of Jesus from the Gospel of John. It a story that invites us to reflect on our own brokenness and how God in Jesus can begin the work of bringing healing to us and to those around us who are broken….

Today is the feast of Pentecost. A powerful, but strange collection of images surround us. Tongues of fire; strange languages; Cretans; mighty winds; thunder; lightning; holy Spirit gifts; smoke … and more. The word Pentecost comes from the Greek language, where it simply means the ‘fiftieth’ day. It is the name for a Jewish feast, which in…

Our Gospel today for the Ascension of the Lord, is taken from what is called the longer ending to Mark’s gospel. Verses 9-20 of Mark 16 were added by another scribe or author who didn’t like the abrupt original ending of the gospel in verse 8. This author wants us to know certain things about…

Sometimes there are passages of scripture that continue to leap out of the pages of the bible (or as is usually the case for me – to jump off the screen). This section of John’s Gospel is one of those – and it has been for some thirty years. You may have had some kind…

The image of the vine was very significant across the history of Israel. It is used as a symbol of all that was good about Israel – the fruitfulness and capacity to enjoy life in all its fullness – but also of all that had gone wrong across her history. For example in Psalm 80,…

Jesus appears to the disciples today, joined by the two disciples who have been transformed by their journey to the village of Emmaus (Luke 24). He appears as quickly and easily inside the locked room as he disappeared as they recognised him in the breaking of the bread. Just as Jesus had explained to Cleopas…

Doubt. Belief. Fear. Peace. Joy. Sending. Breath. Spirit. Sins forgiven. So much happens when the young church is gathered and huddled behind locked doors trying to make sense of all that has happened over these days. All of this happens on that same day, the evening of the first day of the week – Sunday….

One of the great privileges of having a month in Jerusalem last year was visiting many of the places that are associated with the final days in the life of Jesus. Stepping on the same ground that Jesus had walked over, prayed in, wept in, offered his laments and called his disbelieving disciples deeper into…

The Commemoration of the Passion of Jesus in the Gospel of John is very different to the other gospels. Although it is brutal and heart-breaking, Jesus is always in control of his destiny and he exerts a regal air over all that he interacts with. In contrast to the Gospel of Mark that we heard…

The ending of the Gospel of Mark is very intriguing. There are no stirring words, no great commission, no story of faith to motivate belief and response. Only a rather dark and foreboding conclusion: And the women came out and ran away from the tomb because they were frightened out of their wits; and they…

The ending of the Gospel of Mark is very intriguing. There are no stirring words, no great commission, no story of faith to motivate belief and response. Only a rather dark and foreboding conclusion: And the women came out and ran away from the tomb because they were frightened out of their wits; and they…

The Gospel today (from John 20 verses 19-23) takes place on the evening of Easter Sunday. Mary Magdalene, who is the first apostle to see the Lord tells them about her encounter with Jesus. Now these disciples also see him. By saying it happens on “that day” perhaps the author also wants us to remember…

The first question that emerges on this feast of the Ascension is why sometimes it is better for a person to leave. For parents, that day when a child leaves home to go to university or on their first big European back-packing working-holiday, the absence can be heart-wrenching. Yet we all know that there is…

As we move towards the great feast of Pentecost, the readings begin to focus on the expectancy and hope of receiving the holy Spirit. We have the first of four passages in the Gospel of John regarding the coming and promised Paraclete. As Jesus tells the still-misunderstanding disciples about what to expect, he makes a…

One of the interesting things about the season of Easter – and to a lesser extent, Advent and Lent – the ordinary pattern of our Sunday readings is changed. For example, in Year A, when we read from the Gospel of Matthew, our Sunday readings are taken (more-or-less) sequentially from Matthew’s gospel, and the first…

Whenever you read a gospel passage, one of the first things to keep in mind is that the division of the text into chapters and verses is historically recent – and sometimes is not the best. So in reading any given passage, we need to always begin with the section before our passage to get…

The story of two disciples walking along the 60-stadia road from Jerusalem to Emmaus is rightly considered one of the greatest examples of resurrection life and discipleship-in-community ever written. One of the problems with this text is just how rich it is. There is so much material here that followers of Jesus are able to join…

On the second Sunday of Easter (or the eighth day of Easter), the church always offers before us John 20 for our Gospel reflection, commemorating both the first appearance of Jesus to the church on Easter Sunday, and then his second appearance eight days later, on the second Sunday. To appreciate the full beauty of…

This year our parish celebrated the Easter Vigil early on Easter Sunday morning (beginning at 5am) as a Dawn Mass, rather than early in the evening on Holy Saturday night as has been the custom. In part this was because I never liked the fact that during the Easter Vigil celebrated at that time, you…