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...
Today we celebrate the Feast of “The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ” (Corpus Christi). The body of Christ came about through his suffering, death and resurrection. When we eat his body, we proclaim the paschal mystery with the people gathered, the stories proclaimed and the priest who acts...
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...
The Bible is divided into the time before Jesus, the time of Jesus, and the time between Jesus and the final restoration of the reign of heaven. The communities described in Acts, and us too, are all lodged in this third period of time. The Acts of the Apostles is...
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...
What must it have felt like to be there on that first Easter morn? Imagine yourself a disciple. You awaken, still aching with the emptiness that comes after the death of a beloved friend. Jesus is gone. You ask yourself how you will live without Him. You might think of all the words...