by John Gehring, National Catholic Reporter (USA), 23 July 2021 Media coverage of the Catholic Church can sometimes feel like a bad weather system that settles over my soul. Those hopeful days in March of 2013, when Pope Francis' election signaled a season of opportunity and renewal for Catholicism —a "springtime" for the church — can feel…
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Homily, 17th Sunday (B) 2021
When running for election or trying to become more popular when in office, some politicians like to present themselves as being in touch with the lives of ordinary people. So, for instance, they might take part in an easy interview for a popular magazine and carefully staged photographs of taking part in or helping with…
MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS FOR THE FIRST WORLD DAY FOR GRANDPARENTS AND THE ELDERLY
(25 July 2021) “I am with you always” Dear Grandfathers and Grandmothers, Dear Elderly Friends, “I am with you always” (Mt 28:20): this is the promise the Lord made to his disciples before he ascended into heaven. They are the words that he repeats to you today, dear grandfathers and grandmothers, dear elderly friends. “I am…
Homily, 16th Sunday of the Year (B) 2021
Just before the Israelites are invaded and forced into captivity in Babylon in 587, the Prophet Jeremiah in our First Reading looks back at the leadership of recent kings and condemns them, comparing them to bad shepherds who have misruled their flock. His denunciation ends in our reading today with the promise that a “virtuous…
Homily, 15th Sunday of the Year (B) 2021
For the past six weeks or so and on every Sunday until the end of November, we are reading at Sunday Mass the unfolding story of the public life of Jesus as presented in St Mark’s Gospel. This is the first of the four Gospels to be written and is dated some 35-45 years after…
The sourdough won’t fit the toaster! Oh do give the middle classes a break
From Carol Midgley in THE TIMES, 1 July 2021 I hesitate to raise this since we’ve suffered enough lately, but there is bad news on the artisan bread front. Sourdough is too big for conventional toasters. Basic. Nightmare. The slices are too long, wide and thick to fit a conventional-sized slot. And no, that wasn’t…
Homily, 14th Sunday of the Year (B) 2021
Today’s Second Reading (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) is part of a somewhat tearful letter from St Paul written at a time of controversy, if not crisis, in his life. Other teachers had followed him into Corinth and were undermining what Paul had taught the church members there. These preachers were more charismatic than Paul in their…
Homily, 13th Sunday of the Year (B) 2021
If you are old enough to remember The Two Ronnies, the BBC light entertainment programme (1971-1987), you may recall how Ronnie Corbett, the smaller one, had a spot in the show where he sat in a Mastermind-like chair to tell a funny story, only to keep deviating several time to tell other stories along the…
Don’t put laws before people
From THE TABLET, 12 June 2021 Jesus was invariably welcoming, forgiving and generous to those whose messy, complicated lives put them at odds with religious laws. He saved his condemnation for religious leaders when they acted as if those laws were more important than people. He described all this as hypocrisy: a kind of falsehood…
Homily, 12th Sunday of the Year (B) 2021
In last Sunday’s Mass we heard Jesus comparing the birth of his new community – ‘kingdom’ – to a tiny mustard seed growing into a huge tree. Today’s text – Mark 4:35-41 - describes an event which, 40 or so years after it occurred, was recorded by St Mark to encourage people belonging to that…
