Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Mark (4: 1-10, 13-20) in which Jesus shares the Parable of the Sower as he is teaching the crowds from a boat at the lake. Afterwards, Fr Paul shares a little about the life of St John Chrysostom, whose memorial we celebrate today.

Fr Paul says John was born in Antioch in 349. After a thorough education, he took up the ascetic life which is a life of severe self-discipline. He was ordained to the priesthood and became a fruitful and effective preacher.

He was elected Patriarch of Constantinople in 397 and was energetic in reforming the ways of the clergy and the laity. He upset the Emperor on a couple of occasions and was forced to go into exile. During the second exile, which was to Armenia, it was decided after three years of exile that he should be sent even further away, but he died on the journey, worn out by the hardships that he had to endure. He died in 407.

His sermons and writings did much to explain the Catholic faith and to encourage the living of the Christian life: his eloquence earned him the surname “Chrystostom” which is the Greek for “golden mouth”.

On this day, Fr Paul invites us to ask, ‘St John Chrysostom… Pray for us!’.