Reflections
2021
Ascension of the Lord
Our lives revolve around clocks and calendars. Keeping track of what we have to do next is a major concern and sometimes a problem for us. Knowing what happened in the past is a matter of keeping straight what…
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Hopefully the message is getting through :) It’s all about love!! So we hear more again this week from John - in fact some of it is repeating what should be familiar by now: Jesus says “remain in my love; keep…
Fifth Sunday of Easter
John's Gospel is all about relationships - the relationship between Jesus and the Father, and our relationship with both of them. When talking about these relationships, John often uses the phrase "remain in…
Fourth Sunday of Easter
The whole Bible is an account of how everything that exists is based on God, a God we call our Father. Everything from the creation of the cosmos, to the sparrows in the sky, to each of us individually. In…
Third Sunday of Easter
OK, we have to talk about sin. Given today's readings it seems we don't have much choice. These readings all start in different places but end up with sin: - Peter speaking to the Jews who had witnessed Jesus'…
Second Sunday of Easter
As we know, John’s gospel is by far the longest, including lengthy theological passages included in the account of The Last Supper. But after the resurrection it’s as if he can’t wait to get finished. There…
Easter Sunday
Jesus has risen. A new life has started, not just for him but also for us. Sin and death are overcome. But what exactly is this new life. It’s not just the old life restarted. Jesus is clearly different from…
Good Friday
Good Friday. We hear again, in simple, unadorned form, about the pain and suffering that Jesus endured. And then it’s over. He’s dead. There is a sense of calm, of quietness, of finality. Of course we know…
Holy Thursday
In Luke’s account of the events of this Thursday evening, Jesus says: I have longed to share this meal with you. (Lk 22:15) What Jesus says to his disciples he says to all of us. And so we share that meal, the…
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
”It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...” Even if your knowledge of Charles Dickens stops at the Muppets’ Christmas Carol (one of my favorites, I confess) you might also have heard that quote.…
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Jeremiah is known as the prophet of doom and gloom - and there is plenty of doom and gloom in his writing. It was not an easy time for the Israelites. But it's not all doom and gloom - in today's reading we…
Fourth Sunday of Lent
The Book of Chronicles gives us a grand sweep of history, with the many times the people of God messed up, and in today's reading ending with a restart coming from completely outside their control, driven by a…
Third Sunday of Lent
Today we hear John's account of Jesus throwing the traders out of the Temple area. We probably associate this incident with Jesus' final arrival in Jerusalem shortly before his death. The other evangelists do…
Second Sunday of Lent
This week of Lent has a somewhat strange and otherworldly character. The world of Abraham is so far distant that child sacrifice was considered acceptable and not surprising. The shock for Abraham was not that…
First Sunday of Lent
The god of the Israelites was different. First off there was only one - this was really strange. Right through to the time of Jesus everyone else thought that was just weird. Why would you have only one god?…
Ash Wednesday
We arrive at this Lent from a place we couldn't have imagined a year ago. Some were aware that a new virus might cause problems. Within a few weeks we were unable to gather, and Easter was a strange shadow of…
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The story we hear today of Jesus curing the leper shows both his power, but also his limitations. His power because he can cure one of the most feared diseases in the ancient world. But his limitation because…
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Most of us live most of our lives between the two extremes illustrated in our readings today. On the one hand we have Job in the depths of despair, a state that looks much like major depression to our eyes, a…
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Our readings this week continue with Mark describing the early impact of Jesus as people started to see his power and authority. This is who we chose to follow. However we also know that the choice to follow…
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jonah must be one of the best known characters in the Bible, up there with Noah and his ark, recognized by pretty much everyone regardless of their religious background or lack of it. I think we have to admit…