18th January 2026, 2nd Sunday Ordinary Time

Why do we call Jesus the Lamb of God?

1. Biblical foundations: The primary background for the Lamb of God is the Passover in the book of Exodus. An unblemished Lamb is sacrificed, It’s blood smeared on the door posts top frame of Israelites homes which saves Israel from death, and the eating of the lamb forms part of the deliverance from the angel of death.The earliest Christians saw in this through a typological lens, in other words, they saw Christ in this event. Christ is unblemished, his blood shed for us saves from death and he is the food which gives us new life. 
2. Sacrifice and Satisfaction: Our Lord is the definitive sacrificial lamb. The old sacrifices needed to be repeated in order to repent of sin. Our Lord’s sacrifice is once for all and it is infinitely meritorious, meaning it makes satisfaction on our behalf. This same sacrifice is made present again in the Mass. Thus the priest declares “behold the Lamb of God.”
3. The hour of the Cross: Book of Exodus mandates that the Lambs for the passover are to be killed “between the evenings” that is just before sunset, at 3pm. John’s Gospel places the death of Christ at the exact date and time the Lambs are slaughtered in the temple for passover, indicating Christ to be the definitive Lamb.

 

11th January 2026, The Baptism of the Lord

Why is Jesus Baptised?

We know that John’s Baptism was a baptism of repentance, and its this fact that makes the Lord’s baptism such a confusing event. If Jesus is God and God is perfect and sinless, then he has nothing to repent of. Yet he still undertakes this baptism of repentance. Why?

There are 5 reasons:

• To fulfil all righteousness. It was his Fathers will that the human person be redeemed in a manner that demonstrates his love. Thus Christ does not save from a distance, but saves by coming close to man. His willingness to be baptised follows his Fathers will, fulfilling righteousness and signifying this closeness. 
• To Sanctify the Waters of Baptism: To make the element of water fit for purpose. St Ambrose of Milan in his tract on the Sacraments, says that Jesus descends into water for baptism, not to be transformed, but to transform the water. From the moment of Christ’s baptism, water becomes one of the essential elements in efficacious blessing and purification.
• His baptism is an acceptance of his mission: That is his mission to be the suffering servant of the Father to redeem the human race. This acceptance is communicated by the Holy Spirit’s anointing presence and the Father’s voice. 
• To give an example: In his humility, Christ gives us an example to follow, emboldening us to be baptised with His baptism
• To foreshadow the cross: Christ comes so close to man that he goes into the waters in which many others have been baptised to, repent and express the desire for cleansing. As one who is innocent, Christ does not descend into the waters to divest himself of sin, but to foreshadow his taking upon himself the sin of the world.

In short, Jesus is baptised to follow his Fathers will, to make water a fitting element for the sacrament of Baptism, to lead us to the Sacrament of salvation and to foreshadow his saving work on the cross. 

28th December 2025, Holy Family Sunday Year A

What does the Church teach about the Family?

• The family is founded on marriage. Marriage is the union of one man and one woman, equal in dignity and complementary by nature. This union is ordered toward the mutual good of the spouses and the procreation of children. When established between a baptised man and woman, the marriage is a sacrament – a visible sign which communicates grace. Sacramental marriage is a supernaturally established indissoluble bond which communicated grace and is a visible sign of Christ’s love for the Church. A valid sacramental marriage can never be dissolved under any circumstances. 

Marriage is not a contract. A contract establishes an agreement between 2 parties which is founded upon the obligation to uphold the terms of the contract. If the terms are not honoured, the contract may be declared null and void. By contrast, in the context of marriage, a covenant is not an agreement between two people based on mutual exchange of benefits, rather it is a mutual gift of self that creates a bond which is free, faithful, fruitful and life long. “That which God has joined, let no man put asunder.”  

• The family is the basic cell of society. The family is the necessary cell for the upbuilding of any civilisation, in fact the family is the first natural society, that is the first communion of persons called forth by God. The community of the family is the fundamental cradle of life, love and education in which people grow. If the family is not protected and promoted in broader society, the entire social structure of a civilisation suffers grievously. The family does not exist for society and the state; society and the state exist for the family. 
• The family is the domestic church. The family home is the first place where the faith is lived and taught. What the church is universally, the family is locally and concretely, that is a visible structure which is a source of grace for its members and the world. 

25th December, Christmas Day. 2025

May God Bless you this Christmas

There are many things which make Christmas an exciting season for us. Catching up with family, decorating houses and businesses, the feeling of expectation and anticipation which seems to fill the air. All of these things are good and enjoyable. However, when our eyes are fixed only on these things, Christmas takes a sentimental and secular form. Far from being a sentimental affair, Christmas is a reality which goes to the very core of what it means to be human. It is the celebration of God the Father, sending his Divine Son into the drama of human existence in such a way that the Son takes upon himself our human condition. Eternity takes on time, infinity takes on finitude, power takes up weakness, the source of all life takes upon himself the capacity for suffering and death. The incarnation (i.e. the birth of Jesus we celebrate at Christmas) is the inauguration of the salvific work Jesus carries out through the Holy Spirit, which culminates in his death, resurrection and ascension, liberating us from sin and restoring our relationship with the Father. 

The gift the Father gives to us in sending his Son, leads us to consider how we might make a gift of ourselves to those we come across. Inviting someone who lives alone to join us for dinner, forgiving someone who offends us, speaking the truth in charity, even when inconvenient to do so. These are just some of the ways we might give of ourselves to others this Christmas. What other ways do you have in mind?

We are called also this Christmas to make a gift of ourselves to God, who loves us and makes a gift of himself to us first. I suggest this gift be ongoing and have 3 components: Daily prayer to speak to God every day and share with him your deepest hopes. Weekly Mass: Holy Mass on Sunday which is the greatest act of worship we can offer God. Finally, monthly confession, in which we say sorry to God for our sins and orient our lives more closely to Christ. I pray that you, your families and friends all experience the joy of Christ’s love this Christmas.

 

Fr Sean Byrnes PP

21st December 2025, 4th Sunday of Advent

How are we meant to think about Joseph’s reaction to Mary’s news that she conceived by the Holy Spirit? When we are told that he intended to put her away privately, does this mean that believed Mary had not been faithful to him? There are two common traditions about this question which are consonant with Church Tradition.

1. The reverent fear interpretation: Theologians such as St Jerome and St Bernard of Clairvaux held that Joseph did not suspect Mary of infidelity. Rather he is struck with a fear and humility, similar to that with which Peter is struck when he meets the Lord “Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man.” Thus, his putting her way privately is a withdrawing from a mystery of which he believes himself unworthy. 
2. The perplexity interpretation. Theologians such as St John Chrysostom taught that Joseph knew the exceptional holiness of Mary, but he was uncertain as to how the pregnancy had occurred. Essentially, in this approach, Joseph could not claim the rights of an offended husband when he did not understand her condition and when he knew her to be exceptionally holy. Therefore the only action that could be taken which would fulfil both Jewish law and the law of charity is to put Mary away privately, withdrawing from the relationship and taking the shame of the separation upon himself. 

Whichever the case may be, notice that when God’s will is directly revealed to Joseph by the Angel, he accepts it as God’s word and acts upon it. Joseph does not speak a single word in scripture, yet his entire life speaks of trust in God’s will, even in the most dire of circumstances. 

14th December 2025, 3rd Sunday of Advent

Are you the one who is to come?

Some people assume that when John the Baptist asks this question, that he must be asking not for himself, but for the sake of his disciples. This is possible. However, it is not the only possibility. There is a tendency to believe that when a prophet is enlightened and emboldened to speak in the name of God that his boldness lasts until death. But this is not the case. Like all men, even prophets can have their moments of fear – Elijah in Chapter 19 of the first book of the Kings shows us this, when he crawls under the bush ready to die rather than face ongoing persecution. So it is possible that John asks this question not only for his disciples sake, but also for his own. Our Lord’s response is hope-filling yet also puzzling to us. “Tell John what you see….”The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleaned, the dead are raised to life…and blessed is the man who does not lose faith in me” (A better translation: Blessed is the man who is not scandalized by me.) The first bit makes sense..But what does the second mean? Blessed is he who is not scandalised by me? John more than any man before or after him, longed to be with Christ as he established his messianic kingdom.  John in a certain sense reminds us of Moses, who longs for the promised land but does not get to see it. Rather he looks upon it from Mt Nebo before he dies. For Moses this was a punishment for failing in a moment of trial. For John, it is not punishment, but vocation. On this side of death, John was called to remain the precursor, the herald of the Kingdom. In prison, John, in all his greatness, must have sensed the incredible injustice of it all, and perhaps in his darkest hour, he wondered if the messiah would allow such things to befall his servants. The Divine response of the Lord allows John to stay the course of the precursor – do not be scandalised, live your vocation here, and in death inherit the promised land established for you from the foundation of the world. John hears and understands, and faces his earthly destiny calmly, assured of a heavenly inheritance.

7th December 2025, 2nd Sunday of Advent

The Baptism of Repentance

Today in the Gospel, John the Baptist is offering a baptism of repentance when the pharisees and the scribes arrive, presumably to enquire about John’s ministry. John is not backwards in coming forwards in his address to the pharisees: “Brood of Vipers” which essentially means ‘Sons of snakes.’ He identifies them as belonging to the evil one, because they have not come to him for repentance, but to satisfy their inquisitive nature and to assess what threat the Baptist poses to their power. Thus the Baptist warns them to take the road of repentance, that they might bear good fruit. This advice is important advice for all of us this Advent.

What is repentance: Its a supernatural moral virtue and an act of justice by which a sinner is disposed to a hatred of their sin as an offence against God, accompanied by a firm purpose of amendment and satisfaction.

Repentance requires an internal transformation: God first moves the heart to repent, but we must cooperate with that grace to Metanoia – i.e. to change our thinking and acting that it might conform to God’s will

23rd November 2025, Feast of Christ the King

The feast of Christ the king was instituted in 1925 on the 16th Centenary of the council of Nicea, by Pope Pius XI. The feast was originally known as “The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.” The feast begs the question, if Christ is a king, then what sort of king is he? When we think of Kings, we tend to think of affluent men who exercise considerable power in the realm of political and social life. Such paltry ideas of Kingship however do not characterise the Kingship of Christ. He is king of the universe, of all that is seen and unseen, all things, all kingdoms and kings come under his rule. Yet his rule is not characterised by money or worldly influence. In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks of the ‘hour of his glorification’ that is the moment of his death which ushers in the redemption and leads to the resurrection. This hour of glory reveals a number of things about his kingship: That he is a mighty warrior king who alone confronts the powers of darkness to deal them a decisive blow; That he is the King to whom even death itself submits, as he endures and conquers the grave. And finally that he is a king whose love for us is boundless and unrivalled. 

16th November 2025, 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

The end of the world

As we hurtle towards the beginning of Advent the readings the church gives to us, more and more direct our minds to the question of the second coming of Christ (Also known as the parousia – para = beside, ousia = being). Our Lord’s second coming will mark the end of this world and all those who have died will rise again – the just to everlasting glory and the wicked to everlasting shame and disgrace. Immediately following the resurrection will be the general judgement, where each person’s impact on history and participation in the plan of God is revealed. The present heaven and earth will be transformed into a new heaven and a new earth where man will experience the glories of God not only spiritually, but bodily and even through the cosmos as well. We do not know when all this will come to pass. We must not look to earthly predictions. Rather we faithfully prepare ourselves for that hour we do know.

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, 9th November 2025

All Souls Day, 2nd November 2025

The Church teaches that for those who die in God’s friendship but are still imperfectly purified, are granted the mercy of purgatory, which is a state of temporary punishment and purification in order to mercifully purify the soul and fulfil the demands of justice. In this way, both mercy and justice are brought together in purgatory.  It is often asserted by Protestants and even some Catholics that purgatory as a place of temporary punishment and purification, as well as the notion of praying for the dead was unknown to the early church and is in fact an innovation of the medieval church. History tells a different story. 

Catacombs of the early church  As early as the 1st century AD, catacombs and tombs were often decorated with depictions of the living praying for the person who had died.

By the 2nd Century Epitaphs appear, imploring the living to pray for the dead: For instance the epitaph of Abercius (Bishop of Hierapolis in the 2nd Century) states: “May everyone who is in accord with this [the life of faith Abercius lived ] and who understands it, pray for Abercius.”

St Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) St Clement states the following in his Stromata (A commentary on various subjects): “By punishment after death, men must expiate the least sin before they can enter Heaven.”

Tertullian (155-220 AD) Tertullian commenting on Matthew 5:25-26 in his tract on the soul, states the following: “…If we understand that prison of which the Gospel speaks to be hades and we interpret the last farthing to be the light offence which is to be expiated  there before the resurrection, no one will doubt that the soul undergoes some punishments in hades without prejudice to the fulness of the resurrection…”

St Cyprian of Carthage (200-258 AD) St Cyprian in his first Treatise on the faith states: “It is one thing to be cast into prison not to be released until the last farthing is paid, and another thing through the ardor of faith immediately to attain to the reward.

Eusebius of Caesarea (260-339)  Eusebius in book 6 of his Ecclesiastical history recounts the death of a Bishop. He states: “After his death, the faithful were accustomed to gather at his tomb and to celebrate the divine mysteries, offering prayers to God on behalf of his soul.”  

29th Sunday Ordinary Time, 19th October 2025

Prayer of Petition

As Catholics we frequently engage in prayer of petition where we ask God to grant some petition we bring before him. How is this kind of prayer classically defined, what should we ask for and how should we ask it?

Definition of Prayer of petition: St Thomas defines prayer of petition as an expression of desire directed towards God. 

Do we hope to change God’s will? No. Prayer of petition is not about changing God’s will. Rather is about changing our hearts to be open to receiving those gifts which the Lord has ordained to give to us through prayer.

Why do we pray prayers of petition? St Thomas identifies 3 reasons: 1. For our own sake. 2. To cooperate with God’s providence. 3. To merit grace (God’s grace precedes all merit, but prayer predisposes us to receive that grace.)

What should we ask for? We should ask firstly for eternal goods: eg. Salvation, union with God etc.. and we should also ask for our temporal goods. When we ask for specific graces and for temporal goods we should do so with the attached caveat of ‘according to your will’.

For whom should we pray: Friends, enemies, the living and the dead. 

The infallible efficacy of prayer: Prayer is always efficacious when it is made for oneself, concerning things necessary for salvation, with humility, faith and perseverance.

Conditions for rightly ordered prayer: 

1. It must be confident with a faithful trust in God’s goodness
2. It must be ordered – that is aimed ultimately at one’s eternal good.
3. It must be devout – It must be performed with humility and reverence
4. It must be persevering – The prayer should not cease until it is granted or the heart is transformed

26th Sunday Ordinary Time, 28th September 2025

Luke’s parable of of Lazarus and the rich man stands as an excellent illustration of Jesus teaching on the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, where Jesus praises those on his right (the sheep), who have met the need of their neighbour, not out of mere philanthropy, but out of a desire to love and serve Christ in their neighbour. Whereas those on his left hear condemnation rather than praise. Why are they on his left? Left in Greek is ‘euonymos’ which is literally translated as good fortune, but was frequently used as a euphemism for ‘left’ or ‘left handed, as the left side was considered unlucky or cursed. Similarly, the latin word for left-hand is ‘sinistra’, from which we get the English word sinister. Thus, Those on the Lord’s left are those who have been cursed by their self-centeredness to spend eternity separated from God. The rich man in todays parable, is in exactly the same situation. He finds himself in hell due to his self-centeredness. Some propose that the Lord’s parable is an inference to purgatory, since the rich man thinks of warning his family and residents of hell think only of themselves. However, such an interpretation is not supported by the text. The rich man has gone to hell, and our Lord wants to communicate to his listeners how isolating and permanent that reality is.  

25th Sunday Ordinary Time, 21st September 2025

Jesus, in telling the parable of the dishonest steward is not trying to exalt shonky accounting practices, nor is he trying to suggest that we should buy favour or be dishonest. Nor is this parable primarily a commentary on not charging with interest. Since charging interest on oil and wheat was against Jewish law, it may well be pointed out that the dishonest steward, by his clever dealings, made his master keep the law. However, there is nothing in the text that would indicate this is the main point of the text. So what is the main point? There are two:

1. We as Christians (Children of the light) need to exercise prudence in our dealings, to ensure we are preparing ourselves for the eternal life. If the dishonest steward is prudent to plan for a place to lay his head, we should be even more prudent in planning for the next life. 
2. Money and wealth will eventually fail. They must not be the centre of our lives. 

Exaltation of the Cross, 14th September 2025

The exaltation of the Cross is the feast we celebrate which acknowledges that the cross was the means by which Christ drove away the darkness of sin and made satisfaction on our behalf to the Father, whose goodness was offended with the original sin of our first parents. Below are some important things for us to remember about the redemption that Jesus won for us from the Cross. 

• The human race stood in need of redemption: God is an infinite person. The first sin offended God’s goodness which is infinite, meaning that the character of the offence caused by original sin and indeed every sin thereafter, is infinite. Finite creatures like human beings cannot make up for an infinite offence. We needed someone who was infinite, yet, to fulfil justice was also able to make up for the offence on our behalf.
• Jesus Christ is true God and true man: The Church has long battled heresies which propose that Jesus is only Divine or only human. Jesus is both God and man. In this way he is an infinite person who can atone for our sin and he has a finite human nature in which he can make satisfaction for sin on our behalf.
• The Cross and Resurrection go together: Jesus saves humanity by offering his life to the Father and by taking up his life again in the resurrection he enables the human person to live for ever. Thus he conquers the two great enemies of humanity – sin and death.

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time 31st August 2025

HUMILITY

What does Catholic teaching have to say about this virtue?

Humility is the opposing virtue to the vice of vainglory. Humility moderates the desire for excellence, so that excellence in all things is pursued not for one’s own glory, but for the glory of God. 

Humility is not the same as self-deprecation or thinking less of ourselves. Rather it involves thinking of ourselves less and thinking and serving God and others more.

Humility is considered the beginning of Christian virtue since it removes pride, which is a stumbling block to accepting Divine Revelation and receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Humility assists us in developing a realistic view of ourselves. We often view ourselves in a more positive or negative light than is actually warranted. Humility helps us to grow in self-knowledge, which leads us to understand both our strengths and virtues, our weaknesses and vices and our opportunities for growth in the spiritual life. 

Humility requires a submission to God and our legitimate superiors. A Priest must be obedient to his Bishop, a child obedient to his parents, husband and wife are subject to each other in obedience to Christ.

Humility disposes the Christian to Fraternal Correction. Because the virtue of humility always leads a person to have regard for the truth, it opens up the Christian soul to the possibility of being corrected by others and of correcting others, even when it’s uncomfortable to do so.

Humility is not weakness. To be humble is not a weakness. Genuine humility will always lead us to pursue the good, even when it’s difficult. To be a humble Christian is not for the faint of heart.

Humility enables a disposition of openness to the working of divine grace. Humility is a stable disposition of conforming our will to the will of God. This opens us up to the growth in holiness that the Holy Spirit wants to generate in our lives.   

21st Sunday Ordinary Time 24th August 2025

Heaven and Hell

The afterlife is one of those topics that has no small number of mistaken ideas floating around about it. So what are some of these common misconceptions?

Misconception #1 Heaven is going to be boring, just looking at God. No, Heaven will not be us just staring at God. Rather it is a communion with him. In heaven we will see the Father through the eyes of the Son. The word see here means more than just to behold with one’s eyes. In the ancient world, to see God was to share his own divine life. Heaven will be ever new and constantly awe inspiring.

Misconception #2 When people die, they become angels. This is not correct. Human beings and angels are two different beings. Angels are pure spirits, that is they have no body at all and every angel is its own species. Human beings are body-soul composites, and at the end of time, in the new heaven and the new earth will receive our bodies back, in a glorified state. 

Misconception #3 Heaven isn’t  a place, its a state in our minds. Again this is untrue. Yes, heaven is the state of being in communion with God, however heaven is also a place without being a particular space, since time and space are finite concepts which are not present in heaven, at least not in the same manner in which we experience them here on earth. 

Misconception #4 Hell is a mediaeval invention to keep the masses in line. Hell is the eternal separation of man or angel from God due to misused freedom. It is clearly articulated by Christ in the scriptures, and subsequently by the early church fathers. For instance, Justin Martyr, Ignatius of Antioch and Theophilus of Antioch all talk about the eternal punishment of hell. 

Misconception #5 Hell is only for those evil people like cruel dictators, warmongers and murderers. Hell is the place for those who willingly choose to reject God. There is a tendency today to justify oneself using the sentence “I am a good person, I don’t kill or steal and I try to be nice and accepting of everyone.” The question that needs to be asked here is by what standard do I judge myself to be good? God gives me 10 standards. Am I measuring myself against those or my own?

20th Sunday Ordinary Time 17th August 2025

What does Our Lord mean when he says he comes to bring fire to the earth and that he wishes it were burning already? The first thing to note is that Jesus’ words should cast our minds back to before his Baptism, when John the Baptist tells his disciples that there is one who will come after him who will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John the baptist also warns of a punishment of fire for sin should there be no repentance. So, on the one hand, our Lord’s statement about fire is an expression of his desire to send the Holy Spirit and begin the age of the Church, which will only happen when he goes through his ‘Baptism’, by which he means his passion and resurrection. On the other hand, it refers to the second coming of the Lord, when he will judge the living and the dead and the world by fire.

What about the Lord’s words on division? We aren’t used to hearing Jesus speak this way, saying that he has come to bring division, especially since, in the Gospel of John, he prays his high priestly prayer, in which he asks the Father to help the nascent Church  be as one. Yet here he is speaking of bringing division not only in border society but even within the society of the family! Our Lord is telling us that he will be the cause of division. For we who are Christian, Christ is our first love. Thus we cannot pretend that God doesn’t exist, or pretend that man is not made in the image and likeness of God, and therefore has a dignity which may not be trampled on. If we are loyal to Christ, then we will be loyal to the truth he communicates in and through his Church. This loyalty will be challenged, sometimes by members of our own family. And when it is, we must hold fast to Christ and pray for our family. Such loyalty is all too often interpreted as treachery, and thus division is sown. 

However, we must be cautious that we do not attribute all division to our loyalty to God. Division can also be a product of sin. It would be an unwise man who would justify both his sin and the division it causes by claiming loyalty to God. This is most often the case with the deadly sin of pride. 

19th Sunday Ordinary Time 10th August 2025

The reading begins with a separate three verses which once again warn of the danger of worldly possession. This is a danger against which Luke, writing to a prosperous audience, continually warns. Then comes a series of warnings to be alert for the final meeting with the Lord, and a series of blessings on those who are so ready. Luke does not have a great scene of a universal final judgement, like Matthew’s parable of the sheep and the goats. There is no need to wait for a great final judgement-scene at the end of the world. Luke, with his Greek frame of mind, is more interested in the individual judgement, for each of these parable concerns a single individual who is rewarded or punished. This is fully compatible with the notion that each individual’s final judgement is at death, rather than all together at the end of the world. The most wonderful and startling is the first promise that the Master will himself serve the faithful servant. A second parable concerns the thief who (literally) ‘digs through’ the wall of the house when the master is off his guard. A third lesson is framed in terms of a slave who misuses his authority over other slaves, and so concerns the misuse of authority in the Church. Fr Henry Wansbrough Commentary from Universalis.

18th Sunday Ordinary Time, 3rd August 2025

What is death and are we ready?

Death is a reality we all have to deal with in one way or another, whether we experience the loss of loved ones or we ourselves meet the final agony. Firstly, what is death? It is the separation of body and soul and is an affront to the sacramental order written into earthly existence by God himself. By this I mean that death is something completely contrary to human life as God designed it. He made us  with a sacramental design, where our bodies are the visible sign of the invisible soul and thus, body and soul were always meant to be together. Their separation, a punishment for sin, is something which is completely contrary to our nature. However, we have the promise that beyond death we can live eternally with God and we also have the promise that at the end of time we will receive back our bodies and they will be perfect and free of every imperfection.

We know neither the day nor the hour of our death. When the day comes, will our treasure be on earth or in heaven? How do we prepare for that day, when we will meet God in the particular judgement?  

• An active sacramental and prayer life: Daily Prayer, weekly Mass (daily is even better!) and monthly confession. Make time to speak with God every day and consider that time as having top priority in your day. The more we know God, the more we love and trust him. The more we trust him, the more we’re ready to meet him after death.

 

• A nightly examination of conscience: an examination of conscience is normally associated with confession, but we should do one every night, thanking God for our virtues and spiritual growth, asking Him to enlighten our minds and hearts to see what vices have taken root in our lives and which virtues we’re developing. Doing this helps to discern the question if our treasure is found in heaven or on earth. It also assists  us in cooperating with God’s graces which draw us closer to Him.

 

• Asking St Joseph’s intercession: St Joseph is the patron saint of a happy death. We should ask his intercession frequently to help us in becoming ready to face our final moments here on earth.

17th Sunday Ordinary Time, 27th July 2025

 

 In a 1st Century Jewish context, a prayer for daily bread would of course make you think of the bread of necessity, the bread of daily life. We need bread to live, to sustain natural human life. However, the Greek word here for daily, epiousios, doesn’t literally mean daily. It literally means supernatural or super-substantial. Epi is the word for on, upon or above; ousios is the word for nature, or being, or substance. So when Jerome translated this, he gave us the word “supersubstantial” (epiousios). And that comes over into the Latin tradition and you’ll eventually see words like transubstantiation used with reference to the Eucharist. And those terms are rooted (in part) in the language of the Lord’s Prayer. So when Jesus says “give us this day our epiousios bread” (our supersubstantial bread, our super essential bread, our super natural bread), on one level he could be talking about earthly bread, but its primary meaning in context would be the supernatural bread of the kingdom of God, which is of course going to be the Eucharist that he will give to the disciples in Luke 22. It is, in other words, the new manna of the new Exodus. 

Brandt Pitre – Commentary on the Gospel for 17th Sunday Ordinary Time.

16th Sunday Ordinary Time, 20th July 2025

Why does Martha get rebuked?

It all seems terribly unfair that poor Martha is doing the hard yards, serving a whole bunch of people who have just turned up at her house, Mary is sitting by the Lord’s feet and the Lord rebukes Martha! The injustice! How are we to understand this rebuke? There are three points that might help us:

• We’re told in Luke’s Gospel that Martha was ‘Distracted with all the serving’ Distracted is an important word. Rather than seeing her service as drawing her closer to Jesus, it becomes a distraction from his presence in her life. 
• Martha’s serving and Mary’s prayerful disposition are not meant to be seen through the lens of a dichotomy, rather they are complementary to each other. To understand this more clearly, the Church has an ancient principle, developed by St Benedict, the founder of western monasticism. The principle is: Ora et Labora – prayer and work – both form part of a balanced and healthy spiritual life. Martha’s service is wonderful and necessary, but if it is a distraction from prayer, it’s not being done in the right spirit and will lead to anxiety and stress. 
• Both work and prayer should be dedicated to the Lord. When we consider the Lord’s gentle rebuke to Mary: ‘Martha, Martha, you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one…” we see that it is Christ himself who must be at the centre of all work and prayer. Whether we pray or whether we work, all should be dedicated to God. 

How can we live this out:

• Begin and end all of our work with the following traditional prayer: “Direct we beseech thee, O Lord, all our actions by thy holy inspiration and accompany them by thy grace, so that our every thought, word and deed may both begin from thee and through thee reach completion. Through Christ our Lord, amen”
• Keep a good schedule for work and prayer. When we ought to be praying, let us be praying, when we ought to be working let us be working and let both be done in Christ.

15th Sunday Ordinary Time, 13th July 2025

The parable of the good samaritan is one of the best known of Jesus parables. On the face of it, it is about meeting human needs with Christ like love, and whilst that is certainly part of the parable, there is something deeper being communicated by Jesus, beginning with the geographical backdrop of the story. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is nearly 28 kilometers long and between the two cities is a drop of about 3,300 feet. Jerusalem (a name which means city of peace) was the city in which worship to God was offered. Jericho, was a town marked by hedonism and inhabited by brigands and thieves. The traveller is journeying from the city of peace, to the city of sin and darkness. The traveller in the parable represents every man who has ever preferred the darkness to the light in some form. In short, the traveller is us.

What about the Priest and the Levite? Notice they too are on the road to Jericho, the land of darkness and sin, and as a result they do not understand the value of the traveller in God’s eyes, since they are ignorant of their own value. Wrapped up in their own descent to Jericho They have no desire to assist the traveller, and have no consideration for his plight. 

What about the Samaritan? Jesus tells us that the samaritan, upon seeing the man, is moved with compassion. In the original Greek it says the traveller was moved with splanchnizomai which means he was moved to the very core of his being. This verb has been used only once before in Luke’s Gospel, to describe the reaction of Jesus to a widow who had lost her Son and asked him to bring her boy back to life. It is clear that Jesus is identifying the Samaritan with himself. He is on the road, from Jerusalem to Jericho, in order to destroy everything that Jericho represents – sin, darkness and the power of the devil. In doing so, he cares for the wounded man, at great personal cost, and at the same time he encourages someone else, an inn keeper, to assist in the care of the traveller, using not his own means but the means of the samaritan. 

14th Sunday Ordinary Time 6th July 2025

The Labourers are Few

St John Vianney once said that the priesthood is ‘Cordis Iesu Amor’ The love of the heart of Jesus. He said this, because the ministerial priesthood is a gift from the heart of Christ to his Church, which ensures that the nearness of God in the sacraments is always present. For a young man to consider the question “Is God calling me to the priesthood?’ is marvellous. It represents a willingness to receive God’s good gifts and to make a gift of oneself to God and neighbour. I encourage all young, Catholic, unmarried men to consider that question carefully, because the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.  Below are some common questions and objections  that Vocations directors hear frequently, along with some answers which might help young men discerning a vocation to the priesthood:

• “But I want to get married and start a family, I couldn’t be a priest!”  Not true. The priest is a spouse and a father. He is a spouse to the Church to whom he gives his life and a Father to those entrusted to his care. A strong desire to be a husband and Father is required to be a good priest. 

 

• “But I’m not worthy.” Join the club. None of us are. God calls us not because we are good, but because he is. Further, although we have done nothing to earn so great a gift as redemption, God sees great worth in every human person. The Cross is proof of this. 

 

• “I don’t want to make a commitment I’m not ready for.” While there is great wisdom in discerning your readiness to enter the seminary with the help of the vocations director and a spiritual director, its helpful to remember that the seminary is not a commitment to the priesthood. It’s a means of discerning more deeply the question ‘Is God calling me to be a priest?’

 

• Do you have to be academically gifted to be a priest? No. There is academic study involved with seminary formation. But you don’t need to be an academic to thrive as a priest.

 

• How do I further investigate the question of becoming a priest: Talk to your Diocesan Vocations Director. (talk to your parents first if you’re under 18.) Fr Sean Byrnes 60251784 

Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul

“Before his passion the Lord Jesus, as you know, chose those disciples of his whom he called apostles. Among these it was only Peter who almost everywhere was given the privilege of representing the whole Church. It was in the person of the whole Church, which he alone represented, that he was privileged to hear, To you will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven. After all, it is not just one man that received these keys, but the Church in its unity. So this is the reason for Peter’s acknowledged pre-eminence, that he stood for the Church’s universality and unity, when he was told, To you I am entrusting, what has in fact been entrusted to all. To show you that it is the Church which has received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, listen to what the Lord says in another place to all his apostles: Receive the Holy Spirit; and immediately afterwards, Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven them; whose sins you retain, they will be retained. There is one day for the passion of two apostles. But these two also were as one; although they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, Paul followed. We are celebrating a feast day, consecrated for us by the blood of the apostles. Let us love their faith, their lives, their labours, their sufferings, their confession of faith, their preaching.”  Excerpt from a sermon by St Augustine.

Corpus Christi Sunday, 22 June 2025

We believe that Mass is the one sacrifice of Christ at Calvary made present again at the altar. In the context of this sacrifice, the priest repeats the words and actions of Christ at the last supper, and in doing so, bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This great gift is known as the sacrament of the Eucharist (a Greek word which means thanksgiving, since only the offering of the Son’s body and blood is a satisfactory thanksgiving to the Father). Lumen Gentium No. 11 identifies the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Christian life. Why is this the case? The Eucharist is the source of our whole sacramental life and the means by which we are nourished to proclaim the Gospel effectively. The Eucharist is the apex of our lives as Christians, as it is an incarnational encounter with the risen Lord for whom we long.

Holy Trinity Sunday

Throughout the centuries there have been numerous problematic and heretical approaches regarding the Trinity, for instance:

• Modalism – which proposes that the trinity is not 3 distinct person but 3 modes of being taken by one person
• Arianism: Proposes that the Son is the Father’s first created being and that the Son is responsible for the rest of creation. In this heresy, the Holy Spirit is seen as the first creation of the Son. 
• Subordinationism: Denies the equality of the three persons.
• Macedonianism: Denies the full divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is presented as a Divine force, rather than a personal being. 

These are only a few of the heresies which have crept up throughout the life of the Church. What does the Church actually believe? We believe that in the one true God there is one Divine nature shared equally by three Divine Persons. Each person is distinct from the other, yet each person is inextricably united to other persons. This gives a profound meaning to St Johns statement: “God is love” God is love precisely because his very essence is marked by intimacy and communion.

Pentecost Sunday

“This was why the Lord had promised to send the Advocate: he was to prepare us as an offering to God. Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of bread, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul.

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God came down upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his Church, sending the Advocate from heaven into all the world into which, according to his own words, the devil too had been cast down like lightning.”

St Irenaeus – Ad Versus Haereses (Against the Heresies)

6th Sunday of Easter

The work of redemption is a work of the Trinity

It would be easy to think of the work of redemption as a work of the Son exclusively. After all we talk about Jesus’ sacrifice taking away our sins and his resurrection giving us new life. However, traditional Catholic doctrine tells us that redemption is in fact a work of the whole Trinity. Here we need to be careful not to fall into heresy, It was only the Son who became incarnate. It was Only the Son who died on the cross. It was only the Son who merited the resurrection. However, while the redemption is rightly attributed to the Son, due to his incarnation, death and resurrection, the entire plan of salvation was a work of the One and Triune God. This is evident in today’s Gospel. The Father who sends the Son, will send the Holy Spirit in the name of the Son, to continue the mission of building the kingdom in the world. Thus the mission of spreading the good news, which Jesus began and fulfilled in himself, continues in the Church through the direction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the driving force of Christ’s mission on earth and he is the driving force of the Church which continues the mission of teaching all nations the good news. 

 

5th Sunday of Easter 

Do not let your hearts be troubled…

Let us trust in God lest we become fearful. Any and every form of trust implies a source of reliance or dependence. Children trust their parents. We only trust a person or institution that bears the hallmark of authentic authority. The greater the voice of authority the more likely one is to trust, listen and obey. Do people trust the Church today? Does the Church still have authority? The historical foundations of the Church cannot be shaken nor moved. The Church today is the Church of the twelve Apostles, founded by Christ, who is its Head, guided by the Holy Spirit, who is its Heart, to praise and give glory to the Father, who is its Origin. Of all the thousands of communities that claim Christ to be their Lord, only one Church can claim to have an unbroken chain that links us to Jesus, the King of kings. The more one studies Church history the more Catholic one becomes. When one probes the trials and tribulations of the Church over the centuries the greater one’s conviction that this Church is not of human origin or design. So learn your history, steep yourself in the past, so as to be convinced of the future and be able to trust in God, and not be afraid.

4th Sunday Easter Good Shepherd Sunday and Mothers Day

 

The family is the foundation for education and development. This development is not only physical, emotional and psychological, but also spiritual. Thus the family is referred to as the domestic church – A microcosmic expression of the Church itself. Within this domestic church there is a hierarchy. A husband and father Father leads the family, not with domination, but with a spirit of loving service and an eye for protection of his family from the dangers associated with living in the world.  A wife and mother has the role of following her husband’s lead, not in subjugation, but in loving support. She has the task of helping her husband discern the virtuous path forward for the family, and when he forgets the purpose for which he and his family are made – ie. the glorification of God and the sanctification of neighbour, she is able to boldly turn his head in the right direction. Together, as husband and wife, they will teach their family what it is to love God and be loved by him. As a mother, a woman has the task of imaging the love of Mary to her family – boldly following God’s word, and allowing that word to transform instinctual tenderness into a divine love which, when experienced by her children will open them up to the possibility of a life dedicated to the glory of God and the service of man. By following Jesus the good shepherd, Families become faithful and bold witnesses of God’s mercy and compassion.

Habemus Papam!

 

 

A brief history of Pope Leo XIV

The new Bishop of Rome was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, to Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martínez, of Spanish descent. He has two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph.

He spent his childhood and adolescence with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where in 1977 he earned a Degree in Mathematics and also studied Philosophy. 

On September 1 of the same year, Prevost entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.) in Saint Louis, in the Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicago, and made his first profession on September 2, 1978. On August 29, 1981, he made his solemn vows.

In Rome, he was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College of Saint Monica by Archbishop Jean Jadot, then pro-president of the Secretariat for Non-Christians, which later became the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and then the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

On September 26, 2015, he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo by Pope Francis. In March 2018, he was elected second vice-president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, where he also served as a member of the Economic Council and president of the Commission for Culture and Education.

On January 30, 2023, the Pope called him to Rome as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, promoting him to the rank of Archbishop. 

Pope Francis created him Cardinal in the Consistory of September 30 that year and  assigned him the Diaconate of Saint Monica. He officially took possession of it on January 28, 2024. 

On the 8th of May 2025, Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected as the 267th successor of St Peter. 

 

Link to Bishop-Elect Peter Murphy’s Episcopal Ordination – 8th May 2025

3rd Sunday of Easter 4th May 2025

In Greek, there are four word for love they are:

Storge – Familial bond

Eros – Love which seeks communion

Philia – Friendship love

Agape – Divine love

When Jesus asks Peter 3 times ‘do you love me’ (to make up for Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus at the crucifixion) he uses two different words for love. The first two times he uses the Greek word agapas. So he is essentially asking Peter, Peter do you love me completely and totally, with a divinely inspired love? The answer Peter gives in English is ‘Yes, Lord you know that I love you’. However, Peter’s response to these first two questions about his love look quite different in Greek. He actually responds “Yes Lord, you know that I philo you”. In other words he responds to Jesus’ questions of love with ‘I’m fond of you.’ The third time Jesus asks Peter ‘Do you love me?’ he does something Peter doesn’t see coming. He meets Peter in his weakness. He asks Peter ‘Are you fond of me?’ He accepts the little that Peter has to offer, but notice this: He loves him too much to leave him in his weakness. At the end of each question the Lord attaches a mission ‘feed and look after my sheep’  And the Lord tells Peter how he will accomplish his mission: “come, follow me.” Right now, Peter has only fondness for the Lord. But in following Jesus, Peter will grow in love, and will one day love Christ with an undivided love, which will cause him to give his life in offering to the Lord. 

Divine Mercy Sunday

27th April 2025

In May 2000 John Paul II established the feast of the Divine Mercy on the Second Sunday of Easter. Devotion to the Divine Mercy constitutes an authentic spiritual movement within the Catholic Church, promoted by St. Faustina, who was canonized in 2000. Sr. Faustina Kowalska died in Krakow on Oct. 5, 1938. While living her hidden, humble life, she began to be favored with mystical experiences: visions, revelations and the stigmata. At the suggestion of her spiritual director, she began to write about these experiences in her diary in 1934. Sister Faustina Kowalska’s life centered on the proclamation of Divine Mercy to every human being. Her spiritual legacy to the Church is devotion to the Divine Mercy, inspired by a vision in which Jesus himself asked that a portrait be painted with the inscription “Jesus I trust in you.” On this feast day we can receive a plenary indulgence, remission of temporal punishment, and forgiveness for all our sins by:
1. Confession – within the week;
2. Holy Communion – on the day;
3. Venerate the image of Divine Mercy;
4. Creed and Our Father for the Pope.
ABC of Mercy:
A = Ask for mercy – honour the image;
B = Be merciful to others;
C = Complete trust in God’s mercy.

 

Contributions / Collections
1st – Priest: Hume BSB 640000  Acc: 111031654

Name: Holy Spirit Presbytery

2nd- Parish: Hume BSB 640000  Acc: 111056699

Name: Holy Spirit Parish