Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (2: 36-40) in which the prophetess, Anna, who came across Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in the temple and began to praise God. She spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.Fr Paul says, in today’s Gospel we are introduced to [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (2: 22-35) in which Mary and Joseph present Jesus at the Temple where they encounter Simeon who had been awaiting the arrival of the Messiah.Fr Paul says, this Gospel is dominated by the figure of Simeon who welcomes Jesus by taking him in his arms [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (2: 13-18) which tells of the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt to avoid Herod’s efforts to find and do away with the baby Jesus. Fr Paul reminds us that today’s Feast of the Holy Innocents, is for all the children who were killed by the [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (1: 26-38) in which Mary tells the angel Gabriel, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord let what you have said be done to me’.Fr Paul thinks we need to keep in mind that Mary was a young girl preparing to be married so, no [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (1: 18-24) which tells of how Jesus came to be born. Fr Paul says Matthew begins his Gospel with the birth of Jesus, with the Genealogy of Joseph that we heard yesterday. Joseph is hesitant about adopting Jesus. Joseph thinks he is unworthy to acknowledge [...]
Fr Paul says the Church changes the readings as we begin the countdown to Christmas and these readings are used from 17 to 24 December. So, today, he reads from the Gospel of Matthew (1: 1-17) on the Genealogy of Jesus (There are a lot of names in this Gospel that are difficult [...]
Fr Paul reads today from the Gospel of Luke (7: 24-30) in which Jesus speaks to the crowd about John. Fr Paul says Jesus in the Gospel today gives John the Baptist the highest possible praise - John was not just a prophet, but he was, in fact, a messenger of the Lord [...]
Fr Paul reads today from the Gospel of Luke (7: 19-23) in which John the Baptist sends two of his followers to Jesus, to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or must we wait for someone else?’. Fr Paul says John the Baptist is now in prison and he sends [...]
Fr Paul reads today from the Gospel of Matthew (21: 28-32) in which Jesus tells the chief priests and elders of the people a parable about two sons and then says to them ‘John came to you, a pattern of true righteousness, but you did not believe him’. Afterwards, Fr Paul shares a [...]
St Lucy As we celebrate the memorial of St Lucy today, Fr Paul reads today from the Gospel of Matthew (21: 23-27) in which the chief priests and the elders question the authority of Jesus. Fr Paul says, unfortunately, we don’t know very much about Lucy at all. She was martyred in Syracuse [...]