Category Archives: The Christian life

Up the mountain (Sunday II of Lent)

As we persevere in our Lenten observance, a week in now, we hope to carry through until the sixth week, and this weekend we have in our readings two episodes that take place on high mountains. Ascending towards a sanctuary was very significant in both the old and the new testaments. A sanctuary has nothingContinue reading “Up the mountain (Sunday II of Lent)”

Funeral Mass for Dom Adrian Convery OSB

Father Adrian, whom many of us know so well, was buried this afternoon. These were the arrangements, and fortunately for those of us who couldn’t find our way up to Ampleforth Abbey, the Mass was live-streamed and is available on Youtube…

Forty days and forty nights (Sunday I of Lent)

And so we begin the forty days, or so, of Lent. As the gospel story indicates, our forty days is a shadow of His forty days, the period in which He prepared for his three-year mission of preaching and teaching and for His great Sacrifice with the retreat into the wilderness. “At this time, JesusContinue reading “Forty days and forty nights (Sunday I of Lent)”

The leprosy of sin (Sunday VI of Ordinary time)

“A man may lose the hair on his crown, and still be clean; may lose the hair on his forehead, and still be clean, despite his baldness. But if in the bald patch on crown or forehead a white or reddish tinge is shewing, the priest who finds it there will hold him unclean beyondContinue reading “The leprosy of sin (Sunday VI of Ordinary time)”

Duty bound as Apostles (Sunday V of Ordinary time)

If I were to pull out a message from our readings this weekend, it would be about hard work and dedication in the midst of great difficulty and terror. And I do not mean hard work at labour, or a profession of this world. The greatest work at this moment in history for men andContinue reading “Duty bound as Apostles (Sunday V of Ordinary time)”

The Teacher above teachers (Sunday IV of Ordinary time)

We have recently heard in the Sunday readings about how, when S. John the Baptist very daringly established a ritual baptism of repentance for sin, he was accosted by priests and zealots from the Jerusalem Temple. It was at the Temple where God forgave sin through the sacramental system of the animal sacrifices. How dareContinue reading “The Teacher above teachers (Sunday IV of Ordinary time)”

Disciples of Christ (Sunday II of Ordinary time)

We could talk about vocation and mission this weekend, with the help of the Sunday readings. These days, there is a lot of talk about mission, especially in these formerly Christian lands, because we can see the Faith withering before our eyes, and too often among our own family and our circles of friends. So,Continue reading “Disciples of Christ (Sunday II of Ordinary time)”

Being prepared

I thought I’d play around with an AI image function, which produced this ‘watercolour’ of the basilica of S. Peter, at Rome. The little verse I’ve added to the image is from the second letter of S. Peter, which urges us to be well-behaved and religiously observant in preparation for the second coming of Christ,Continue reading “Being prepared”

Manifested to the world (the Epiphany of the Lord)

Today, Saturday, is the calendar day for the Epiphany of Our Lord to the three kings who came from the East; however, the liturgical festival has been transferred by the bishops to the Sunday for your ease, possibly so that you wouldn’t have to come to Church on two consecutive days. An epiphany is aContinue reading “Manifested to the world (the Epiphany of the Lord)”

The Holy Family of JM&J (Sunday within the octave of Christmas)

Our festival this weekend centres on the Holy Family in Bethlehem, and then in Nazareth, and then in exile in Egypt to escape the wicked king Herod, and then in the later flourishing in Nazareth. In the circle of the Immaculate Virgin, her silent but certain protector S. Joseph and the God-man Christ passing graduallyContinue reading “The Holy Family of JM&J (Sunday within the octave of Christmas)”

‘Integrity His cloak…’ (Sunday III of Advent)

Our readings this weekend invite us to compare our Lord the Messiah with His forerunner or herald, S. John the Baptist. For the first reading gives us a rather vivid picture of the Messiah the Jewish people were expecting and the gospel message gives us a picture of the rather fiery character that John was/is.Continue reading “‘Integrity His cloak…’ (Sunday III of Advent)”

The herald of the King (Sunday II of Advent)

As Advent proceeds we see new images of the Shepherd King in the prophecies of Isaiah. If we remember that Isaiah lived some seven hundred years before Christ, this is the voice of the God Who saves, Who has plotted His moment in time when He should arrive as the Shepherd of the people. HeContinue reading “The herald of the King (Sunday II of Advent)”

Sleepers, Awake! (Sunday I of Advent)

The famous cantata of the German composer Bach above has the theme of the end of year and Advent: keep watch, keep vigilant, watch for the Lord, Whose coming is imminent. Our Advent readings add to that theme an increasing amount of hope that the Holy One, God our Lord, would begin a new eruptionContinue reading “Sleepers, Awake! (Sunday I of Advent)”

The King of Hearts (the last Sunday of OT)

“…just as all have died with Adam, so with Christ all will be brought to life. But each must rise in his own rank; Christ is the first-fruits, and after Him follow those who belong to Him, those who have put their trust in His return. Full completion comes after that, when He places HisContinue reading “The King of Hearts (the last Sunday of OT)”

Spiritual return-on-investment (the 33rd Sunday of OT)

Our readings this weekend focus more and more on the end of all things as we drift towards the end of the liturgical year, which takes place on the day before the first Sunday of Advent. And, just as we attempt to settle our affairs and package everything as we come to the end ofContinue reading “Spiritual return-on-investment (the 33rd Sunday of OT)”

In Remembrance

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn;At the going down of the sun, and in the morning;We will remember them.” “They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;They sit no more at familiar tables of home;They have no lot in our labourContinue reading “In Remembrance”

Wisdom on the march (the 32nd Sunday of OT)

“O God, Thou art my God; how eager my quest for Thee, body athirst and soul longing for Thee, like some parched wilderness, where stream is none! So in the holy place, I contemplate Thee, ready for the revelation of Thy greatness, Thy glory.” Psalm 62 [link] I wonder sometimes if we as a peopleContinue reading “Wisdom on the march (the 32nd Sunday of OT)”

‘And now, priests, a warning for you…’ (the 31st Sunday of OT)

We all know what damage bad and corrupted leaders can cause generally – how they can ruin not just a community but also the work of that community. But today we can talk about corruption among leaders of a religious community, because the readings of the Sunday give us the opportunity. And this is notContinue reading “‘And now, priests, a warning for you…’ (the 31st Sunday of OT)”

Tobias and the angel

Yesterday was All Souls day, and as I was walking through the cemeteries, I thought often about why our race buries their dead, and why particularly those of Jewish and Catholic communities use such elaborate ceremonial for funeral and burial/cremation. And I remembered Tobias (Hebrew, Tobi-yah), a short story in our Old Testaments that isContinue reading “Tobias and the angel”

Charity to God and man (the 30th Sunday of OT)

“Listen then, Israel; there is no Lord but the Lord our God, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with the love of thy whole heart, and thy whole soul, and thy whole strength.” Deuteronomy, 6: 4-5 [link] Above is the call of the Hebrew and the Jew, and the Catholic, from the bookContinue reading “Charity to God and man (the 30th Sunday of OT)”

The evil inclination

This is an interesting inheritance that Christians have from Jewish theology: the יֵצֶר הַרַע‎. The evil inclination. It is given by S. Paul in our reading at Mass this morning, from his letter to the Romans: “My own actions bewilder me; what I do is not what I wish to do, but something which IContinue reading “The evil inclination”

Ss. Chad and Cedd, early English bishops

This morning, we had the ordinary weekday readings, with a strong message from S. Paul on the observance of ritual purity, which is to remain within the Christian Church as it did within the Temple Judaism of Paul’s day. “I am speaking in the language of common life, because nature is still strong in you.Continue reading “Ss. Chad and Cedd, early English bishops”

Jews and Gentiles together (the 20th Sunday of OT)

“…the time had come for the promises made by God to the Hebrews to be applied to non-Jews. It took a long time for the Apostles themselves to realise this…”

The Transfiguration of the Lord

This weekend by a coincidence, the feast day of the Transfiguration falls on the Sunday and, being a feast, ranks with the Sunday and is able to ride over the Sunday, filling our churches with white, a colour that is vividly described in the gospels by the men who heard first-hand descriptions (from the ApostlesContinue reading “The Transfiguration of the Lord”

We’ve lost two clerics last weekend…

And they are both men I knew and worked with. I knew Father Gradwell when he joined my seminary during my last months there as a permanent deacon preparing for the priesthood, following the death of his wife Susan. As for the Reverend Stephen Doona, he was our active deacon at the Cathedral when IContinue reading “We’ve lost two clerics last weekend…”