Readings: Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 103(104):1,24,29-31,34; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13; John 20:19-23 The Holy Spirit is the breath of God. When he comes on the apostles, the first thing he does is give them the breath to speak. But to speak words about the person, death and resurrection of Jesus, who is...

Readings: Acts 1:12-14; Psalm 26(27):1,4,7-8; 1 Peter 4:13-16; John 17:1-11 In today’s particularly sublime Gospel reading, we are listening to Jesus praying to the Father as if he were already in heaven. The text is taken from chapter 17 of St. John’s Gospel which is actually still part of the...

Readings: Acts 8:5-8,14-17; Psalm 65(66):1-7,16,20; 1 Peter 4:13-16; John 14:15-21 One of the awful things about our present predicament is that we miss being with people, especially with those we love. If you look at the cover of the hymn sheet today, which can be found on the parish website,...

Note: I prepared two homilies for today. I’m not entirely sure why! I did not preach the first one at all; I preached the second one at the Vigil Mass; I preached neither at the 10am Mass! Readings: Acts 6:1-7; Psalm 32(33):1-2,4-5,18-19; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12 First Homily: Goodbye...

  Readings: Acts 2:14,36-41; Psalm 22(23); 1 Peter 2:20-25; John 10:1-10 “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” These most consoling words of Jesus are mirrored in today’s Psalm, “in the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.” In this...

Readings: Acts 2:14,22-33; Psalm 15(16):1-2,5,7-11; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35 No matter how many funerals I conduct, the grief of each and every family is unique and raw. It’s unique because we are all unique. It’s raw because the pain of separation which death causes can’t be glossed over. Think...

Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 117(118):2-4,13-15,22-24; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31 Jesus gives the Apostles the two-fold power to forgive sins and the power to retain them. His hope, and indeed the reason for which he poured out blood and water from his side on the Cross, is that the power to retain...

Romans, 6:3-11; Matthew 28:1-10   No-one witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. But, then again, no-one witnessed the creation of the world. And the resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the new creation, the new world. In Mel Gibson’s, “The Passion of the Christ”, it is moving to see Mary...

  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...