I want to begin today with some interesting parallels involving John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. Both the birth of Jesus Christ and the birth of John the Baptist were surrounded by angels. Each of their births were mysterious; each accompanied by special acts of God. John the Baptist and...

Reading today’s Gospel I realized or was reminded that there are Laws of Growth. What I mean by that? Firstly, that such laws do exist and they are rather rigid. They demand obedience – preparing the soil, planting, watering, composting, weeding, sunlight, and so on. Farmers know all about these...

The Gospel text set before us today is a difficult one. It doesn’t come up very often in the liturgy because the Tenth Sunday is often missed out due to the particular timing of Lent in any given year. Let us look at two problems that arise within it. First...

Before we can look at the question of the Blessed Trinity we have to decide for ourselves whether we believe or not there is a God. Most people believe in one, even if that God is themselves. The Jews, of course, believe in a God. He is the God of...

Pentecost means fifty – seven weeks plus one day – fifty days after Easter. The Jews called it Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, the feast of the Harvest, or the feast of the First Fruits. Whatever way we look at this feast it denotes the end of a period of...

Every mature Christian comes to a point in life when he realizes that none of the things he really desires are within his own reach. And what’s more, he comes to understand that the things he can achieve are not the things he really wants, or at least, not the things...

The gospel we have just read describes communion; in fact, it insists on communion. Firstly, what is communion? Communion is the oneness of love in which God lives in himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our God is not a lonely God; he is three divine persons in one...

The Holy Father is the shepherd of the universal Church. Every bishop is the shepherd of his diocese. Every parish priest is the shepherd of his parish. Parents are the shepherds of their children. Being a shepherd is not easy; being a good shepherd is even more difficult. There are...

The question of the existence of God is fundamental to the human journey. It used to be a question taken for granted: of course God exists! Men and women in past ages from every nation on the earth have raised their heads to a supreme being. They gave expression to...

After the numbing senselessness and cruelty of Friday afternoon and the bleak despair of the day and night which followed we come to the experience of Sunday morning – when life, unexpectedly, once again takes on meaning. Although the tomb is empty this is no proof that Christ is risen....