First as a deacon and now as a priest, I have always found the various secret prayers prescribed by the rubrics very consoling – the obligatory ones, which should be said during the liturgy, as well as some of those no longer strictly required. For example, as you prepare the chalice on the altar at the Offertory, you are meant to say: “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity”.
Homily for Sunday 14C, 5 July 2025: Luke 10:1-12,17-20; Gal 6:14-18
Homily for the Feast of St. Benedict, 11 July 2025
Coming down the hill on either side of the valley from the West, or turning the corner at the end of the valley from the East, you catch an occasional glimpse, between obstructing trees, of Pluscarden Abbey. There it stands, in the middle of nowhere, in this gentle and fertile valley: a mediaeval monastery. Somehow the sight is always both astonishing and stirring.
Prior’s Homily for the Nativity of St John the Baptist; 24 June 2025
Homily for the 8 o’clock Mass, Trinity Sunday “C”, 15 June 2025
Homily for Pentecost, Year C: Sunday 8 June 2025
Acts 2:1-11 Romans 8:8-17 John 14:15-16,23-26
The Polish poet Czesław Miłosz composed his personal version of the Veni Creator:
"Come, Holy Spirit, / Bending or not bending the grasses, / Appearing or not above our heads in a tongue of flame, / At hay harvest or when they plough in the orchards or when snow / Covers crippled firs in the Sierra Nevada. /
Fr. Prior’s Homily for the Ascension Year C, Thursday 29 May 2025 Acts 1:1-11 Heb 9:24-28,10:19-23 Luke 24:46-53
According to St Leo the Great, and many other commentators, Jesus kept appearing to his disciples for forty days so that they would recognize as truly risen One whom they knew as truly born, as him who truly suffered, and truly died. “The result was that not only were they not afflicted with sadness, but were filled with great joy when the Lord went into the heights of heaven” (Sermon 73:4).
Homily for the 8 o’clock Mass, Sunday 11 May 2025: Easter 4C, John 10:27-30
John 10:27-30
Introduction to the Mass:
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. A good day to celebrate our new Pope! And a day especially to pray for vocations. May the Lord send us shepherds who will truly and worthily speak of him, teach in his name, draw people to him, imitate him, mediate him, feed us with him.