Gospel Reflection Sunday 15th December 2024, Third Sunday of Advent |Luke 3:10-18 It is a sign of the greatness of John the Baptist that the Church dedicates two Sundays of Advent to him. I always think it is a pity that we know so little about him. He is suddenly there baptising in the Jordan;...

 Gospel Reflection Sunday 1st December 2024, First Sunday of Advent |Luke 21:25-28,34-36 Imagine, if you can, waking up some morning to find that during the night all the countries in the world – the ones we most dislike – had come together and in a lightning strike had conquered, not just our own country but...

 Gospel Reflection Sunday 21st November 2024, Feast of Christ the King | John 18:33-37 Seeing Jesus as King of the Universe is always, for me a difficult concept to get my head around. This is mainly due to my experience of what Kings, Queens, Princes, Dukes, etc. look like in our world. This is not a...

 Gospel Reflection Sunday 17th November 2024, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time | Mark 12:38-44 (Longer) 12:41-44 (Shorter) All of us, I’m sure have seen people standing at street corners with placards proclaiming that ‘the end is nigh’ or the world will end on such and such a date. We rightly dismiss this as rubbish and yet...

 Gospel Reflection Sunday 10th November 2024, 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time | Mark 12:38-44 (Longer) 12:41-44 (Shorter) Most of us, as we grow up, tend to develop particular dislikes for certain behaviours or ways of action that we see in others. We sometimes call them “hobbyhorses” and they can be cause for gentle teasing among friends:...

 Gospel Reflection Sunday 30th October 2024, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time | Mark 10:46-52 There is a simplicity in this week’s Gospel that I find refreshing. Jesus seems to cut-out everything that was happening around him – the noise of the crowd following him, his own concerns, his fears that even his own apostles don’t...

 Gospel Reflection Sunday 20th October 2024, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time | Mark 10:35-45 (Longer) 10:42-45 (Shorter) It is no wonder the apostles call Jesus ‘teacher’ so frequently in the Gospels. At times all of them come across as spoiled, squabbling children rather than mature adults, undertaking a mission greater than any other the world had...

 Gospel Reflection Sunday 13th October 2024, 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time | Mark 10:17-30 (Longer) 10:17-27 (Shorter) As a teacher of teenagers and principal I often listened to parents who were concerned about their child’s behaviour or academic progress. I sometimes asked them what it was they really wanted for their son or daughter. Invariably they...

 Gospel Reflection Sunday 6th October 2024, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time | Mark 10:2-16 Yet another test! Jesus must have scanned every group of people who came to hear him, wondering who it was that would try to trap him this time. If he saw Pharisees there, he would speak his message, ever conscious that...

I remember watching the horror of 9/11 live on television in San Francisco. I was there at the time, combining a little study with a lot of rest. Like everyone else in America that day I sat, glued to the news channels, in shock and disbelief as the first one and then the second tower...