There are no pockets in a shroud. While we can accumulate external riches during our life, it’s only the internal riches that we save up which will survive the grave. Jesus nowhere teaches that money and wealth are bad in themselves, nor is he saying that we mustn’t practise...

  Just imagine the Apostles watching Jesus at prayer. It must have drawn their hearts deeply to the mystery of his Person. Jesus prayed often, for long periods, sometimes for the whole night. Together with his teaching, his miracles and just the way he was as a man, his prayer...

You’ve just got to love Martha! You can picture her standing there at the door of her house with open arms to welcome Jesus. I imagine her to be five-foot tall, on the plumpish side, of lively eyes and always on the go. I’m sure Jesus will have loved being...

Jesus outwits the lawyer in today’s Gospel who asks him two questions to trip him up.   The first is, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus turns the question back on him: you’re the lawyer, answer your own question from what the law says. The lawyer does...

No wonder the labourers for the harvest are so few if they are to be devoured like lambs by wolves! Nor does the prospect of being opposed and rejected exactly sound attractive! Yes, there would also be men of peace who would accept them, but Jesus’ forecast looked bad for...

Simon and Saul were both stubborn men. Simon was all muscle and brawn; Saul was all moralism and brain. They were both passionate men with very firm views. But all their bravado actually masked a deep fragility. Deep down, they were both cowards. They were afraid of God, the real...

The Bishops of Scotland normally celebrate the annual Day for Life on 31stMay, the feast of the Visitation. This year, however, it is being celebrated on Pentecost. That is why the second collection today will be for the pro-life activities of the Bishops.   It’s very appropriate that we celebrate...

The figure of St. Stephen the Martyr is very attractive. He was a deacon and charged, along with others, to feed the Greek widows in Jerusalem and probably to perform other practical tasks in that early Church community. He was also a very intelligent and wise man. He was able...

When someone you love leaves you, to live elsewhere perhaps or to go to God, there is no question that that is very painful. But once you get over the pain, or manage to handle it, the memory of that person and their love is still present to you. For,...

The Gospel today zooms in on Jesus at prayer. It is like a camera shot on the television screen which has Jesus stand alone in the spotlight. But, as his prayer tells us, he is not alone. As the spotlight widens, we see him with the ties he has to...