Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (23: 1-12) in which Jesus speaks to the crowds and His disciples with a warning against hypocrisy. Fr Paul explains that this Gospel says the most cutting of things about the scribes and the Pharisees. In fact, this Gospel introduces a seven-fold curse on them. The Pharisees [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (6: 36-38) where Jesus says to His disciples “be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge and you will not be judged yourselves. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned yourselves...because the amount you measure out; is the amount you are given back”. Fr [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (5: 43-48) where Jesus says to His disciples to ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’. Fr Paul says that today’s Gospel contains the last of the six contrasts which were mentioned in an earlier Gospel and mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount. Like the [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (5:20-26) in which Jesus says to His disciples that if their virtue does not go any deeper than the scribes or the Pharisees, then they will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Fr Paul says in this Gospel, Jesus talks about the scribes and the Pharisees and [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (7:7-12) in which Jesus says to His disciples “ask and it will be given; seek and you will find; knock and the door will open to you”. Fr Paul says that today the Lenten theme of prayer continues. Prayer is where we ask God for things and we talk to [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (11:29-32) where Jesus addresses the crowd and speaks of the Sign of Jonah. Fr Paul says at different times in the scriptures, people like the scribes and the Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign. At some of these times Jesus refuses to give such a sign. In [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (6:7-15) where Jesus shares to His disciples that prayer does not require many words to be heard by our Father. Fr Paul says, in today’s Gospel, if we ask ourselves the question, ‘how do I pray?’, then Jesus gives an answer to His disciples. Fr Paul explains [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (25: 31-46) in which Jesus, through a parable, says' whatever you did to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you it did to me’. Today we hear the last of Matthew’s great parables. Basically, the world is finally divided into [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (5: 27 -32) in which Jesus says he came, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Fr Paul says as we hear in this Gospel Jesus calls the tax collector, Levi, to be one of his close associates. As if having a tax [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (9: 14-15) in which Jesus, when questioned about why his disciples do not fast, says when the time comes, they will fast. Fr Paul says this Gospel is puzzling because, at the beginning, it seems to rule out fasting, which is one of the three good [...]