From an Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he...
The Coronavirus has put us all in crisis, and not just in terms of our health-care infrastructure or our employment situation or how our government is administered or our lifestyles. It has certainly put all these in crisis. But it has brought into focus, into the open, something much...
Readings: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14; Psalm 115(116):12-13,15-18; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15 I’ve only ever seen on television a celebration of the Passover in a Jewish family. It commemorates the original Passover of some 3,300 years ago, yet even today the way it is celebrated still has a strong sense...
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/04/together-in-isolation https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/04/faith-and-love-in-tandem https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/12731/the-pope-s-message-of-hope-for-a-world-in-lockdown Dancing Franciscans urge people to stay home
From a Treatise on St. John by St. Augustine (354-430) Dear brethren, the Lord has marked out for us the fullness of love that we ought to have for each other. He tells us: No one has greater love than the man who lays down his life for his...
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/04/a-call-to-ordinary-heroism https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/world-its-worst Saints and the plague: two heroes of a past pandemic
The Daily Bread, 7th April 2020 Readings: Isaiah 49:1-6; Psalm 70(71):1-6,15,17; John 13:21-33,36-38 There is “high drama” in today’s Gospel. It’s one of those excerpts which could be filmed dramatically, but with the camera stopping at certain points for a commentator to explain, or try and explain, what...
The Daily Bread, 6th April 2020 Readings: Isaiah 42:1-7; Psalm 26(27):1-3,13-14; John 12:1-11 Today, I would like to offer some words on the Responsorial Psalm we have heard. It is a beautiful psalm of encouragement and hope. It begins: The Lord is my light and my help; whom shall...
The following inspiring and challenging text is taken from a sermon of Saint Augustine (354-430). The passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the hope of glory and a lesson in patience. What may not the hearts of believers promise themselves as the gift of God’s...
Palm Sunday Benediction, 05.04.20: On Devotion to Our Lady Devotion to Our Lady in the Roman Catholic tradition has always been very powerful, very present. It has gone through periods where there have been abuses, where Our Lady has been treated as if equal to Christ himself or even...
