Gospel (Page 5)

The Gospel for today is a difficult one to hear. It is even more difficult to live out in our day to day lives. Today Jesus says to his followers, to us: “Love your enemies! Be kind, be good to those who hate or persecute you!” What is your instinctualRead More →

The Christian view of life is that we should never forget that things cannot be brought with us into eternal life. Rather, we only take with us the things we have given away – even if it’s only a cup of water given in the name of Jesus (Matthew 10:42).Read More →

Today’s Gospel begins with Jesus getting into a boat and teaching the crowds from offshore. After he finished teaching, Jesus tells Simon to put out into deep water and to lower their nets. However, that was the last thing Peter wanted to hear. They had been fishing all day longRead More →

On that day, Anna the prophetess also was in the temple. When Anna saw Mary, Joseph and Jesus she also came to them and prophesied that this tiny baby would bring about the redemption of Jersualem. I wonder how the people in the Temple reacted to this prophecy? Did theyRead More →

So, there was a time when Jesus was just one of the crowd – an everyman in the everyday; versed in the scripture and the tradition of Israel. A good Jew, an ordinary Jew, who fitted into the society that he belonged to. Like us, he had gone to school,Read More →

In the 25th chapter of Isaiah we find a beautiful vision of what happens when God’s victory is made manifest: On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-agedRead More →

I wonder if expectancy was also growing in Jesus?  If his faith, that had taught him love, trust and integrity, had also told him that there was something else, a place waiting to be filled. And then he set out to find the One who would change his life. TheRead More →

The Magis’ role in the story of the Nativity can be adapted to our own journeys and lives. As human beings who are born into this life with free will and the ability to choose whether or not to follow God’s Word, it is inevitable that we too will encounterRead More →

There is something very reassuring about Luke’s Holy Family. For him, the most important element was not the ‘holy’ but the ‘family’. What made Jesus the man he grew to be was not an environment of closeted privilege but the sacramental ordinariness of peasant life. The lineage back to DavidRead More →

Mary moves from those who would gossip and doubt to the arms of a kindred spirit. Her soul’s friend, Elizabeth, is filled with the goodness and grace of God rather than the accusation and judgement of her neighbours. After all, Elizabeth has something in common with Mary – Elizabeth knowsRead More →