Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (2: 36-40) in which prophetress, Anna, who worshipped in the temple constantly with fasting and prayer, came up to the Mary and Joseph and gave thanks to God for their child. Fr Paul says Anna, the prophetess, is slightly forgotten in the longer accounts [...]
On the fourth day of the Christmas Octave, Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (2: 13-18) in which tells of the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod. After reading the Gospel, Fr Paul shares a little about the Feast of the Holy Innocents, which we [...]
On the third day of the Christmas Octave, Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of John (20: 2-8) in which Mary of Magdala runs to tell Simon Peter and the disciple Jesus loved that the body of Jesus is no longer in the tomb. After reading the Gospel, Fr Paul shares a [...]
On the second day of the Christmas Octave, Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (10: 17-22) in which Jesus says to his apostles, ‘Beware of men; they will hand you over to Sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues; you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (1: 67-79) in which Zechariah praises God saying ‘Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, for he has visited his people and come to their rescue’ and, of John, says ‘you shall be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (1: 57-66) in which Elizabeth gives birth to a son, whom Zechariah named ‘John’. Fr Paul says the birth-stories of John the Baptist and of Jesus are told in such a way as to bring out the parallels between the two figures, and the [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (1: 39-45) in which Mary goes to visit her pregnant older cousin Elizabeth who lives in the hill country of Judea. Fr Paul says this Gospel concentrates on Mary’s bodily attention to the bodily needs of her elderly relative. With her own baby on [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (1: 26-38) in which Mary, visited by an angel, accepts God’s will for her and agrees to be the mother of Jesus. Fr Paul asks ‘What was the young girl Mary doing when the message came? Kneeling piously? Feeding the sheep? Fetching water? Sweeping [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (1: 5-25) in which Zechariah is told by an angel, when on duty in the temple, that his wife Elizabeth would have a child even though they were both getting on in years. Fr Paul says with this reading from Luke we begin a [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (1: 18-24) in which Joseph follows through on his pledge to marry Mary and accepts Jesus as a son. Fr Paul says Matthew begins his gospel about the birth of Jesus with a long and elaborately formal genealogy of Joseph. But we need to [...]