“The imagery of marriage between God and Israel is now realized in a way previously inconceivable: it had meant standing in God’s presence, but now it becomes union with God through sharing in Jesus’ self-gift, sharing in His Body and Blood.”
Author Archives: Father Kevin
The saga of salvation history (Pentecost Sunday)
“We tend to focus on extraordinary things, like the Apostles being able to speak in many languages and everybody’s surprise about this. But the Holy Ghost doesn’t come to give us extraordinary powers for the sake of giving us extraordinary powers.”
The commandments of God
“If a man has any love for Me, he will be true to My word; and then he will win My Father’s love, and We will both come to him, and make our continual abode with him”
Picture post: S. Gemma Galgani (1878-1903)
“Oh Jesus!…Jesus, I love Thee! Open Your heart to me…”
As soldiers of Christ (Sunday VI of Easter)
“Having an answer implies an intellectual part to the Christian struggle – we are to study the Scripture and the teachings of the Church. But! But not all of us are Scripture scholars or have the time in our busy lives to…”
Picture post: the little shepherdesses of Fátima
“Jacinta remembered that we could eat the ones on the oak trees instead, and thus make a sacrifice by eating the bitter kind. So it was there, that afternoon, that we enjoyed this delicious repast!”
The Way, the Truth and the Life (Sunday V of Easter)
When we say that God is Love, what do we Christians actually mean? We don’t mean some mushy sentiment of love that can last for a day, or a year, or a few years. We mean an intentional and self-giving love, such as the ones many of us hopefully have found in marriage. Such aContinue reading “The Way, the Truth and the Life (Sunday V of Easter)”
Picture post: the Holy Father Pius XII (1939-1958)
This good and holy man guided the Church through the turmoil of the second World War. Much careful guidance he has left us, for example in his letter of the sacred liturgy, Mediator Dei. Some excerpts… “It is unquestionably the fundamental duty of man to orientate his person and his life towards God. ‘For HeContinue reading “Picture post: the Holy Father Pius XII (1939-1958)”
Brothers, what must we do? (Sunday IV of Easter)
“What must we do?!” This is cry of the repentant, the penitent; the cry of the men in our first reading today who were duped by the Temple priests into forming a mob and calling for the death of Christ. S. Peter, who is himself not shy of acknowledging that he had denied Christ (threeContinue reading “Brothers, what must we do? (Sunday IV of Easter)”
Picture post: the Holy Father Paul VI
Read his ‘Credo of the People of God,’ in his famous apostolic letter Solemni hac liturgia, given motu proprio. He lamented (in the 1960s) the uncontained desire for novelties among several influential Catholics, which was causing great danger (‘disturbance and perplexity’) to the Faithful, even challenging the very basics of the Catholic Faith such asContinue reading “Picture post: the Holy Father Paul VI”
Picture post: SS. Leo XIV
“I am indeed very happy to visit once again the land of Saint Augustine. He represents a very important bridge in interreligious dialogue…”
The road to Emmaus (Sunday III of Easter)
“…true religion is not about letters in a book – readings and homily only go so far. True religion is about communion with a Person.”
Belief in God in the modern world
“…the Church knows that her message is in harmony with the most secret desires of the human heart when she champions the dignity of the human vocation, restoring hope to those who have already despaired of anything higher than their present lot.”
Picture post: S. Maksymilian Kolbe (1894-1941)
“…we realise his great devotion to the Immaculate, who had only just appeared to the little shepherd-children of Fátima, in Portugal. He tried his best to spread this devotion.”
The Christian priesthood (Sunday II of Easter)
“…you are children new-born, and all your craving must be for the soul’s pure milk, that will nurture you into salvation…”
The prayer of Nehemiah – seeking Divine Mercy
“That’s what Divine Mercy Sunday is all about – restoration and renewal. For are we not servants of the Holy One, His own people, won for Him by the extraordinary sacrifice on the Cross?”
Picture post: Saint John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
Learn more about the English cardinal.
And the King returns (Palm Sunday of the Passion of OLJC)
“This is a fate that He has chosen for Himself however, for at no time does it seem as if He is taken by surprise or unprepared for the horrors of it.”
Hail, Full-of-Grace (Annunciation day)
“A very significant feast day today, now precisely nine months before Christmas Day.”
Resurrection! (Sunday V of Lent)
We’re quite near now to Holy Week and Easter, and we can permit ourselves to look beyond the grimness of suffering and death to the glory of the resurrection beyond. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel with the Hebrew religion. In the days of the prophet Ezekiel, all was darknessContinue reading “Resurrection! (Sunday V of Lent)”
Faith and blindness (Sunday IV of Lent)
“Some of the Pharisees heard this, such as were in His company, and they asked him, ‘Are we blind too?’ ‘If you were blind, Jesus told them, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, We can see clearly, that you cannot be rid of your guilt.'”
‘Thou hast no bucket’ (Sunday III of Lent)
We have readings about thirst this weekend, and when this occurs in Sacred Scripture, the real thirst of the Israelites in the desert can speak also of a spiritual thirst of that same people. And then there is the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. “Then the whole people of Israel left theContinue reading “‘Thou hast no bucket’ (Sunday III of Lent)”
Scripture embodied (Sunday II of Lent)
“Peter said aloud to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is well that we should be here; if it pleases thee, let us make three arbours in this place, one for thee, one for Moses and one for Elias.'”
Materialism, prodigality and Lent (Sunday I of Lent)
Let’s begin the Lenten fast again with good grace, and not make it only about giving up one thing or another. Lent is not to be a season of privation only or a negative thing, but rather a positive thing. We remember when Christ said that we should make up our treasures not on earth,Continue reading “Materialism, prodigality and Lent (Sunday I of Lent)”
Perseverance (Sunday VI of Ordered time)
“…if you do not avoid that sin for love of the person who may be hurt by it, out of love for that person, then you have not followed the Law at all.”
Practical charity (Sunday V of Ordered time)
“…although he could have exhibited all this vastness of knowledge, eloquence and piety to the new Christians of Corinth, he chose instead to tell them simply about a God Who humbled Himself to the point of being crucified for the sins of the people He loved…”
Integrity and humility (Sunday IV of Ordered time)
“All of this implies that, in our spiritual lives, we become like little children, humble before our common Father, desirous to do His will, to become like Him.”
The Bishop’s pastoral letter
“”My invitation to each one of you would be to read the plan, pray for its implementation and actively look for an opportunity to contribute your gifts and talents to bringing it to life in your part of our diocese.”
The devotion of S. Paul (Sunday III of Ordered time)
“It is quite clear from the history and tradition of the Church that this indefatigable man did more to spread the Church throughout the Roman world than did any other of the Apostles in their own missions.”
Two recent publications of the Holy Father Leo (December, 2025)
Document post.
Faithfulness (Sunday II of Ordered time)
What is it to be Christian? Most people these days seem to be repelled by the idea of religion, to begin with. But after centuries of anti-Catholicism, and in the last two centuries anti-Christian rhetoric, there is a gloom that arises in the typical Western mind about the Church. But the oldest sentiment of theContinue reading “Faithfulness (Sunday II of Ordered time)”
The Baptism of the Lord (Sunday I of Ordered time)
“…that’s what baptism is all about. Purification. Reaching back in history behind sin and death to remove mankind from the tyranny of the devil, and put them back into the Garden of Eden…”
S. Anthony on virtue and vice
“…great and virtuous powers
have been given to us by God
and are opposed to and help us
against their corresponding vices…”
A Light shining in the darkness (Sunday II of Christmas)
I thought I’d say something today about the run-up to the Epiphany. There have been in the times of the Bible – and also throughout the history of the Christian church – manifestations of the divine, often to individuals, sometimes to groups of people. A manifestation of the divine is quite literally an epiphany. InContinue reading “A Light shining in the darkness (Sunday II of Christmas)”
Love and humility within the family (Holy Family Sunday)
As we meditate upon the Holy Family created at Bethlehem (where the Child was born) and Nazareth (where He grew up), we turn our minds to the very concept of family and family life as the Church looks at it. We look at the Holy Family as the ideal that we all reach for, while weContinue reading “Love and humility within the family (Holy Family Sunday)”
S. Anthony on human suffering
“…recognising that everything happens as it should
and for our benefit according to His providence…”
Giving and receiving (Christmas Day)
We once more celebrate Christmas Day, with the popular and commercialised figures such as of ‘Santa Clause’ – or the Coca-Cola man, as I sometimes call him, after those television advertisements – and reindeer, and mistletoe and wine, and children singing Christian rhyme. I’m really glad, there are still children singing Christian rhyme, because asContinue reading “Giving and receiving (Christmas Day)”
Let Him enter! (Sunday IV of Advent)
“…why the Holy One took flesh and walked as a Man among them. And so we celebrate Christmas as everything else at the foot of the Cross. Christmas had to be, so that Good Friday could be.”
Waiting patiently (Sunday III of Advent)
On this third Sunday of Advent, we water down the purple of the Advent vigil to a more joyous rose pink, as we rejoice in the Lord. Because of that first word of the Mass this weekend – rejoice – this liturgical Sunday is called Rejoice Sunday, or in the Latin Gaudete Sunday. So, asContinue reading “Waiting patiently (Sunday III of Advent)”
Fear of the Lord (Sunday II of Advent)
“If God can raise children of Abraham – our father in the faith – out of the stones in the desert, it doesn’t matter at all that we may be Jews, or indeed that we are of any race, that our families have been Christian and Catholic for x number of centuries, or decades or years…”
Keeping vigil (Sunday I of Advent)
We could say to ourselves: last weekend was the last Sunday of the liturgical year, and so this Sunday must be the first Sunday of the new liturgical year. And we would be right. And we could suggest that, since the readings of the last two Sundays had apocalyptic, end-of-the-world-type themes, this Sunday should haveContinue reading “Keeping vigil (Sunday I of Advent)”
Who is the lord of my heart? (solemnity of OLJC sovereign king)
“…prophets told them that David would return, a son of David, another man ‘after God’s own heart,’ who would resolve the question not only for them but for every tribe of mankind: who is your Lord?”
Last things (Sunday XXXIII of Ordered time)
“The things of this world can vanish in an instant, but God will remain. False teachers, false prophets, false christs will appear, but the Christians must fasten their hearts to Him.”
Remembrance Sunday
Image by annaklein from Pixabay The thirty-second Sunday of Ordered (or Ordinary) time was suppressed again, as last weekend (with the Solemnity of All Saints), this time because of the feast day of the dedication of the Holy Father’s own cathedral in Rome, the arch-basilica of the Most Holy Saviour, called after its location inContinue reading “Remembrance Sunday”
Blessed are they (Solemnity of All Saints)
“And I saw a second angel coming up from the east, with the seal of the living God. And he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who were empowered to lay waste land and sea; ‘Do not lay waste land or sea or wood, until we have put a seal onContinue reading “Blessed are they (Solemnity of All Saints)”
Hypocrisy is easy (Sunday XXX of Ordered time)
“We can never be religiously smug, like the bad pharisee of the gospel story, ticking away the sins we have not committed, in order to tell the Holy One that we are best of men and women…”
Dilexi te: the new exhortation from Rome
“The Holy Father Leo XIV has published his first encyclical, entitled Dilexi te, on the virtue of charity and assistance of the poor.”
The Rosary and persistence in prayer (Sunday XXIX of Ordered time)
“…out with our beads, our arms are heavy… with laziness or reticence, or with the cares of life, which exhaust us and distract us, and there is no time for any prayer, certainly not the toil of the Rosary…”
Jews and Gentiles again (Sunday XXVIII of Ordered time)
“Then He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and He went into the synagogue there, as His custom was, on the sabbath day, and stood up to read; the book given to Him was the book of the prophet Isaias; so He opened it, and found the place where the words ran,Continue reading “Jews and Gentiles again (Sunday XXVIII of Ordered time)”
‘How long, o Lord?’ (Sunday XXVII of Ordered time)
“Lord, must I ever cry out to Thee, and gain hearing never? Plead against tyranny, and no deliverance be granted me? Must I nothing see but wrong and affliction; turn where I will, nothing but robbery and oppression; pleading at law everywhere, everywhere contention raising its head? What marvel if the old teachings are tornContinue reading “‘How long, o Lord?’ (Sunday XXVII of Ordered time)”
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 