Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (10: 16-23) in which Jesus says to his disciples, ‘I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be cunning as serpents and, yet, as harmless as doves’. Fr Paul says much of this central passage of the Missionary Discourse must be read [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (10: 7-15) in which Jesus instructs his twelve disciples as they went out ‘Proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand; Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge; give without charge’. Afterwards, Fr [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (10: 1-7) in which Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness. Fr Paul says the mission-discourse is the second of Matthew’s five great collections [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (9: 32-38) in which Jesus sees the many needs of the people and says, ‘The harvest is rich, but the labourers are few so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.” Fr Paul says to complete his series of [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (9: 18-26) in which Jesus heals a woman who touches his cloak as well as the official’s daughter who had just died. Fr Paul says in Mark’s version of these two lively little stories about the cure of two women is delightful and moving, [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (9: 14-17) in which John’s disciples ask Jesus, ‘How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Fr Paul says in these two stories about Jesus and the Pharisees we are deep within the problem of the [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (9: 9-13) in which the Pharisees, after seeing Jesus going to the tax collector Matthew’s house for dinner, ask Jesus’ disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”. Fr Paul says he thinks it is fairly universal that nobody likes tax-collectors. [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (9: 1-8) in which Jesus forgives and heals a paralysed man, saying to him, ‘Courage, my child; your sins are forgiven’. Fr Paul says Matthew’s accent is on Jesus’ power as Son of Man to forgive sins, and the reaction of the onlookers is [...]
As we celebrate the feast of St Thomas, Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of John (20: 24-29) in which Jesus says to Thomas, who refused to believe that Jesus had risen unless he saw for himself, ‘You believe because you can see me; happy are those who have not seen and [...]
Today Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (8: 23-27) in which Jesus, amid a raging storm, says to his disciples, ‘“Why are you so frightened, men of little faith?” and with that he stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and all was calm again’. Fr Paul says [...]