Homilies

Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration, Year A: DSP

Daniel 7:9-10.13-14 2 Peter 1:16-19 Matthew 17:1-9

We know the basic meaning of today's feast. On Mt Tabor Peter, James, and John caught a glimpse of the light of Easter, of Christ's divinity and of the glory of heaven. All that to strengthen their faith and “to remove the scandal of the Cross”, as we heard in the martyrology yesterday. I'm not so sure that “the scandal” was in fact entirely removed. You have to stumble over the humiliation of Jesus, over His suffering and over the finality of His death, in some ways that's the whole point – and all disciples would in fact stumble over it. They would be left grief-stricken, confused and utterly humiliated themselves – as those who staked their very lives on Jesus being the Messiah.

Homily for the 8 o’clock Mass, Sunday 16A: Romans 8:26-27

In today’s second reading we had just two verses from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Chapter 8. They concern how we pray in the Holy Spirit, or how the Holy Spirit prays in us.

Chapter 8 of Romans is all about Life in the Spirit, which is an essential aspect of Life in Christ. In Christ we have been redeemed, justified, adopted as Sons, sanctified and - at least incipiently - glorified. But as we’re painfully aware, we’re not yet in heaven.

Homily for Sunday 15A, July 16, 2023: Romans 8:18-23

Each Sunday, according to our current lectionary, the second reading at Mass follows its own cycle: independent of the cycle of Gospel readings. This year, from weeks 9 to 24 - that is, over 16 consecutive Sundays - we read brief extracts from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Today’s passage from Romans Chapter 8 is fraught with enormous significance and importance. Paul is here pulling together the threads of his argument so far.

Homily for St. Benedict 11 July 2023: Mark 10:17-30

Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

What a wonderful question this un-named man of the Gospel asks! He asks with such fervour, such frankness, such daring! No wonder Jesus loved him! Surely we also feel a certain instinctive attraction towards him. He puts his question not just for himself, but on behalf of all of us; on behalf of humanity as a whole.

Homily for the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A: 25th June 2023

Jeremiah 20:10-13 Romans 5:12-15 Matthew 10:26-33

There's not much Good News in today's Gospel, if we are honest with ourselves. True, I can pick out one or two highlights, focus on them and ignore the rest. It is nice to think that every hair on my head has been counted, for example, that I am valued by God.

But then one can do the opposite and quickly discover that pieces of “Bad News” significantly outnumber the highlights here. Jesus seems to ask of his disciples things that are either extremely uncomfortable or downright terrifying. And the command “do not be afraid” rings out like a refrain throughout.

Homily for the 8 o’clock Mass, 11 June 2023: Corpus Christi

Deuteronomy 8:2-3,14-16; John 6:51-58

Today’s magnificent Collect, or opening Prayer of the Mass, was written by St. Thomas Aquinas. At least; like almost all the non-scriptural parts of today’s liturgy - hymns, Antiphons, Sequence and the rest - it’s ascribed to St. Thomas. But as with the case of William Shakespeare, there are always theorists about who speculate it could have been by someone else. This Collect is anyway a work of genius: concise and clear; simple, yet profound; euphonious and strong. Of course it was written in Latin, as part of an exclusively Latin language liturgy. But even in translation it remains powerful.

Homily for Trinity Sunday Year A: 4 June 2023; John 3:16-18

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

However many times we hear this text repeated, it retains its power to astonish us, to humble, thrill, amaze, move, inspire; to bring us to our knees in worship and thanksgiving, or to lift us up in joyful wonder. John 3:16 is a good text for the Feast of the Holy Trinity, because today especially we step back, as it were, simply to praise God: for what he is, and for what he has done; to contemplate his greatness and glory, and to ponder our eternal destiny with him.