Gospel Reflection for Sunday June 2nd 2024, Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) | Mark 14:12-16,22-26 Since we celebrated Easter, we have reflected on all of the central mysteries of our faith. With the exception of creation and the Incarnation (Christmas) we have celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus, his...

Gospel Reflection for Sunday May 26th 2024 | Trinity Sunday, Matthew 28:16-20 Most people are turned off by the very mention of ‘the Trinity’. They scream “mystery” and decry anyone who talks about the Trinity as filled with pride and too arrogant to accept the fact that we can never know God and must simply...

Gospel Reflection for Sunday May 19th 2024 | Pentecost Sunday, John 15:26-27,16:12-1 In Luke’s Gospel, after the Resurrection, we read the beautiful story of the two disciples walking the road to Emmaus and meeting who they thought was a stranger. Later, when he joined them for a meal they recognised him as the Risen Jesus....

Gospel Reflection for Sunday May 12th 2024 |7th Sunday of Easter (Ascension Sunday in Ireland) John 17:11-19 Have you ever had the experience of reading a piece of Scripture you have read many times before, and hearing in it a word or phrase or sentence that suddenly takes on an importance that wasn’t there before?...

Gospel Reflection for Sunday May 5th 2024 | Sixth Sunday of Easter Our Gospel today is a direct continuation from last week’s reading. Jesus has shown himself to be the ‘good shepherd’ (two weeks ago) and the ‘vine of Israel’ (last week), and in doing so he has described an intimacy with the Father which...

Last week, it was sheep and shepherd. This week, it is vine and branches. If we admire nothing about Jesus except that he was a superb observer of people and nature and that he was an equally superb storyteller, we will have much to admire. Sheep, vines, wheat, corn, sowing, harvesting, salt, foxes, snakes, coins...

Gospel Reflection for Sunday April 21st 2024 | Fourth Sunday of Easter “Sheep are not only dependent creatures; singularly unintelligent, prone to wandering and unable to find their way to a shepherd even when he is in sight.” This was written by an animal behaviourist about thirty years ago. Luckily sheep cannot read because if...

Gospel Reflection for Sunday April 14th 2024 | Third Sunday of Easter I read somewhere that one species of whale takes twenty-five years to fully mature. That, in fact, makes us humans equal to the ‘bowhead whale’ in terms of time taken to mature, time dependant on parents and time in need of protection. These...

Gospel Reflection for Sunday April 7th 2024 | Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy) Those first days after the discovery of the empty tomb must have been chaotic. I can’t even begin to imagine how Peter and the Apostles even began to get their head around the possibility that Jesus was alive again – Risen...

Gospel Reflection for Sunday March 31st 2024 | Easter Sunday “…and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:14) On this one verse from St. Paul, writing to the small Christian community in Corinth, rests our entire faith. This is not an...