9th —10th December, 2017 I remember being out on my early morning walk one cold winter’s day. The sun had just come up. As I walked along I noticed also that the moon was in the sky, pale against the sun I could just see it. Through the night the moon was bright and beautiful … [Read more…]
2nd December / 3rd December, 2017 First Sunday of Advent Three times in this weekend’s Gospel ( Mk 13:33-37) Jesus encourages his followers to ‘stay awake’. We know the call to ‘stay awake’ is meant for us too. It is a very appropriate call for the beginning of the liturgical year. Habit plays a big … [Read more…]
Once, at a re-union of past pupils of a well known school run by a religious order, a senior priest attending found himself surrounded by a host of pupils, most he had not seen since they left the school many years previously. They valued highly this priest’s influence on their lives. Gracious as always without … [Read more…]
12th November, 2017 Wisdom is one of the great themes of the Bible. And it is easy to see why. Without it we are like travellers in the dark. With it we have an unfailing lamp for our steps. Acquiring it can be slow and painful. To meet people who have grown in wisdom along … [Read more…]
4th November / 5th November, 2017 True happiness The Beatitudes is a familiar scripture. We have most likely rattled off its verses in Church and the classroom since a young age. Perhaps we think of them simply as a set of moral platitudes but they are so much more than that. Saint Augustine wrote the … [Read more…]
21st / 22nd October, 2017 Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time We usually think of poverty as something that afflicts third world nations. But it is also present in Australia – shamefully so, in a nation of great wealth. We can see its effects in the lives of Indigenous Australians, with their poorer life expectancy income … [Read more…]
14th / 15th October, 2017 Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time You are giving a party! You have fixed the date, you have drawn up your list of people you would invite, you send out your invitations with RSVP and now wait for responses. There are three kind of responses. 1) Some accept your invitation every … [Read more…]
7th / 8th October, 2017 It’s a new day and a new week, so begin by thanking the Almighty God for all the blessings you have received. This was received from a friend. Fr Peter. “I dreamed that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large … [Read more…]
30th September / 1st October, 2017 One of the great things we can give another person is our word. It’s easy to give our word. It doesn’t cost anything, the cost comes later, if and when we honour our word. Some people are very generous with their word. They will promise you the sun, moon … [Read more…]
Social Justice Sunday – Chairman’s Message On behalf of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, I present the 2017-2018 Social Justice Statement, Everyone’s Business: Developing an inclusive and sustainable economy . This Statement is inspired by the teachings of Jesus and by the unswerving vision of Pope Francis: that the most vulnerable and excluded are the ones … [Read more…]