Three times in today’s Gospel Jesus calls on us to stay awake. Here we are, once again, at the beginning of Advent: so once again we have a new start, and with it a new wake-up call. Advent issues us a new summons, or a new invitation : to sharpen our focus, to break out of our spiritual sloth; to direct all our attention ever anew towards Jesus.
Homily for the 8 o’clock Mass, Sunday 28A, 15 October 2023, on Matthew 22:1-14
Through the parable of the Royal Wedding Banquet we hear the thrilling invitation of Jesus: Come to my feast! Put on your glorious attire! Enter into my joy! This is God’s invitation to us to enter eternal life; to clothe ourselves in the incomparable dignity of divine Sonship; to join the communion of all the Angels and Saints in heaven, eternally rejoicing. And yet: this parable does not make us feel at all comfortable, and it’s not meant to; any more than it was meant to make the Scribes and Pharisees feel comfortable. For the weight of this story falls not so much on the invitation, as on the refusal of those invited. It ends uncompromisingly, on a note of harsh condemnation: Bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness.
Homily for Sunday 27A, 8 October 2023: Esther 4:17 (13:9); Philippians 4:6
Solemn Profession of Brother Benedict-Joseph Miller
Homily for St. Cecilia’s Abbey Ryde, Sunday 24A, 17 September 2023: Mt 18:21-35
“Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?”
Readiness to forgive is taught by many of the great philosophies and religions of the world. Why? Because you can’t be happy, or have any sort of inner peace, far less inner joy, if you refuse to forgive. Dwelling on past hurts, nurturing resentment, indulging simmering anger: these things can blight or embitter a person’s whole life.
Homily for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: Quarr Abbey Chant Forum Meeting; 14 September 2023: Numbers 21:4-9; (Phil 2:6-11), John 3:13-17
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
St. Paul speaks of God highly exalting Jesus in his Resurrection – Deus exaltavit illum – we just sang (Phil 2:9). For St. John, Jesus is already exalted on the Cross.
Homily for the 8 o’clock Mass, 27 August 2023, Sunday 21A: Romans 11:33-36
I want to speak about our second reading today: 4 verses from the end of Romans Chapter 11. This is St. Paul’s outburst of wonder and awe and amazement; Paul’s bowing down in silent worship before the unspeakable greatness of God; Paul’s proclamation of his own invincible faith and confidence - even as he recognises the severe limits to what he can know and understand of the inexhaustible mystery of God.
Homily for Sunday 20A, 20 August 2023: Matthew 15:21-28
He answered her not a word.
St. Matthew doesn’t tell us why the Lord withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. St. Mark, in his slightly fuller account of the same incident, adds the detail that Jesus wanted to remain hidden there. At any rate, he certainly didn’t go to pagan territory in order to preach or teach or perform miracles. Why? Because Jesus was a faithful Jew, obedient to the law, as well as to his own mission from the Father. According to the law given to Israel, the Jews are a people set apart, a consecrated nation, a holy people of God. As the Psalm puts it: they are the sheep of God’s pasture, and the flock led by his hand (Ps 94/95:7).