Homily for the feast of St. Andrew, 30 November 2019: Matthew 4:18-22

The scene is Capernaum, on the North West side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had recently been forced to leave the area of St. John the Baptist’s activities on the river Jordan, following John’s arrest and imprisonment. From St. John’s Gospel we know that both Peter and Andrew had…

Homily for the 8 o’clock Mass, Sunday 33C, 16 November 2019, Luke 21:5-19

There’s a great deal of violence and destruction in the pages of Holy Scripture. The Sacred History of Israel is full of murders, disasters, invasions, tyranny, oppression, slaughter. In the Hebrew Prophets we find page after page of threats and warnings of terrible things to come. And the Prophets tell us that these frightful afflictions …