The Prophets Simeon and Anna By now the Christmas tree is gone and the decorations have been packed away until next year. All the energy, activity and excitement of Christmas is over; now what? Today, in union with the universal Church we celebrate The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. Today’s Feast is takes...

Repent and believe the Good News… The gospel for this Sunday begins with John the Baptist having being arrested and then we read, from that moment Jesus began his preaching with the message, ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’ We can’t and shouldn’t reduce the life Jesus to that of a...

Jesus the Lamb of God In some way, our gospel today is a continuation of last Sunday’s when Jesus was baptised. It begins, ‘The next day, (John) saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world…I saw the Spirit descending on him like...

Becoming  a member of God’s Family It may seem a little unusual that just after celebrating his birth as a child, we now suddenly jump to marking the baptism of Jesus as an adult. The gospels are not recorded history; they’re not a running detailed history of the life of Jesus. It was once said...

 All is now Revealed We continue these early days of the New Year with the Feast of the Epiphany; Jesus is revealed to and for the entire world and the whole of creation. The word ‘January’ comes from the name a Roman god; Janus. His statue had two faces; one that looked backwards and the...

World Day of Peace Happy New Year! More than likely there were plenty of parties and celebrations on New Year’s Eve as the old year ended and the new one was ushered in. As we continue the sacred season of Christmas, today we mark and celebrate this important day in the company and presence of...

All Families are Sacred and Holy Today in union with the whole Church, we honour and celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, Mary, Joseph and Jesus. After the unfolding events Jesus’ birth, the gospel today tells us about the dreams of Joseph through which God speaks to and leads him as he cares for...

Emmanuel: God is with us The shopping is done; all the presents are wrapped, the house is clean, all the decorations are up, fully lit and shining brightly. So what has all this hectic shopping and business over the last fours week really been about? It was my nephew Daniel’s birthday last week. With his...

We’re almost there – but not just yet! Waiting for Christmas can be so hard and not just for children! For the last number of weeks, we have been surrounded by all the signs, sounds, symbols of Christmas; lights, decorations, carols, trees, gifts and presents. These are all very important parts of our festivities and...

Look, our God is coming to save us. There is one pink candle on the Advent Wreath which is lit today because this is Gaudete Sunday. The word ‘Guadete’ means joy or rejoice. The opening antiphon for today mass gives us the message of our liturgy; ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice....