The Joy and New Life of the Resurrection Today is Easter Sunday; today is the day of New Life and Resurrection. Sadly though, perhaps in our own families, parish, countries and certainly the wider world, people are facing and dealing with the effects and reality of the Corona virus. How do we experience and celebrate...

The Drama of Holy Week begins – 5th April Palm Sunday Today is Palm or Passion Sunday; the beginning of Holy Week. It is the climax of our Lenten journey and the most important week in the Churches liturgical calendar. It will be to use a word with which we are now very familiar ‘unprecedented.’ He will...

Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life Next Sunday is Palm or Passion Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week when we recall and participate in the final week of Jesus’ earthly life. So it may seem a little premature to be talking about resurrection and new life. The gospel today, which is very long, tells us...

The man who was born blind The gospel today is very long; but it is also full of detail and well worth reading slowly. It concerns the man who was born blind whom Jesus healed on the Sabbath. A major theme in John’s gospel is light versus darkness. The first few verses of John’s gospel...

The Woman at the Well John’s gospel is known for its long passages of dialogue, but of all the gospels, the conversation Jesus has with the woman at the well is the longest Jesus has with anyone. It begins with a very ordinary description of Jesus; ‘tired by the journey, Jesus sat by a well.’...

The Transfiguration: It is good that we are here In the gospel this Sunday, Jesus takes some of his friends away from the noise and business of the market place and walks with them up the mountain. The mountain in the bible is the place from where God speaks and where God is experienced. It...

Do not lead us into temptation Lent is a Pilgrimage, a Journey, and it begins with Jesus being led into the wilderness of the desert by the Holy Spirit. The desert for the Jewish People is a very scared and symbolic place. It was in the desert that the Israelites encountered and experienced God. It...

An eye for and eye? There is the old military that says the best form of defence is attack. Meaning, do to someone before they do it to you! Jesus begins the gospel by quoting the Jewish Law; ‘You have learnt how it was said: an eye for eye and tooth for a tooth.’  This...

The Heart of the Matter  The Scribes and Pharisees never missed an opportunity to attack and criticise Jesus. They just didn’t like the people with whom he ate, drank and befriended; the poor, the sick, the outcast, those they considered to be sinners. But Jesus in return was never in shy in challenging them for...

Salt to the earth and Light to the World Frequently we hear ‘experts’ say that too much salt is bad for us; this is probably true; too much of anything is not good for us. But food without any salt is bland, tasteless and just not very nice! Since ancient times salt has been used...