At creation , God conceived humanity in family: creates man, then woman and commands that they fill the earth. Sadly, sin, the choice of self-will over God-will, came before children. Cain a murderer. At redemption, God did “take two”: this time he chose first a woman, then a...
I remember once, when I was a little boy, walking with my family to Christmas Midnight Mass at St. Peter-in-Chains church in Ardrossan. We used to go to the church over the “canon hill” in Ardrossan which was a rather dark thoroughfare at that time. It was a cold and...
Continuing with our look at the significant human relationships of Jesus, I wanted to reserve the slot nearest Christmas for his Blessed Mother, Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth. In that constellation of stars gathered around Christ, the brightest is unquestionably she. She is the brightest, of course, by the...
The Christ Constellation (2) – Saint Joseph The second star in that bright constellation of holy people closely bonded with Christ is St. Joseph. As it happens, Pope Francis issued an Apostolic Letter last Monday, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, to mark the 150thanniversary of the declaration of St....
A famous theologian called Von Balthasar wrote some years ago that just as Jesus can only be understood better as God in relation to the Father and the Spirit, so he can only be understood fully as man by the key human relationships of his earthly life. I suppose that’s...
This homily is directed to parishioners in Largs, Fairlie and Sklemorlie! I want to appeal to your sense of holy defiance. Covid has had us pinned down, restricted and constricted since March. In both parishes, it has deprived many of the spiritual lifeline of Holy Communion and Reconciliation. It has...
Sacraments are encounters. Scriptures. Prayer. Creation. People, “even the least of these brethren” – the unborn, the terminally ill. Conscience, “vox Dei.” Hard to think of a situation where a meeting with Christ is not possible, is not already happening, at least from His side. All of the above are...
No less than four times, Jesus bids us stay awake in today’s Gospel. We need to sleep, of course, so he’s not saying that Christians are to be insomniacs. He is urging us to be ready for Him, but only because He desires that we will want to be ready...
Is there a connection between Christ the King and Catholic Education? Well, first, let’s remember that the full title of today’s Solemnity is: Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King. The word universal gives us the link to Catholic Education. Catholic means universal. Turning that around, we could also stretch it...
