FRIEND OF SINNERS Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (5:27-32) in which says Jesus calls Levi, the tax collector, to be one of his close associates. Fr Paul says, we need to understand that tax collectors were despised and shunned on religious grounds by people like the Pharisees and others. The [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (9: 14-15) in which Jesus is questioned about why the Pharisees fast but his disciples do not. Fr Paul says the Gospel we’ve heard today can be a bit puzzling because it seems to say that fasting is not to be done as we [...]
Fr Paul reads from Matthew’s Gospel (6: 1-6, 16-18) in which Jesus warns against parading good deeds before others to attract their notice. Afterwards, he reflects on the significance of Ash Wednesday as we begin our Lenten Journey. Fr Paul says Ash Wednesday is one of the most important Holy Days in [...]
Today, Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (9: 22-25), where Jesus says that to be his disciple, you must renounce yourself and take up the cross and follow Him every day. Fr Paul says our Lenten journey has begun, and these four days of Lent between Ash Wednesday and the [...]
Fr Paul reminds us that Ordinary Time will be interrupted this week with the beginning of Lent and then the celebration of Easter. Today, he reads the Gospel from Mark (8: 14-21) in which Jesus tells the disciples to watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod. In this Gospel, [...]
Today, Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Mark (8: 11-13), in which the Pharisees demand a sign from heaven of Jesus. He also reminds us that Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent is only a couple of days away. Fr Paul says we may think this little passage is puzzling. [...]
Today Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Mark (8: 1-10), in which Jesus calls his disciples to him and, again, provides nourishment for a large crowd who have nothing to eat. Fr Paul says, today we contrast the feeding of the 5,000 (with twelve baskets full of scraps) with this account [...]
Fr Paul reads from Mark’s Gospel (7: 31-37), in which a deaf man with a speech impediment is brought to Jesus for healing. Jesus takes a round about way from Sidon to the lake via the Decapolis region. As we hear, Jesus is going around doing all things well and by doing [...]
Fr Paul reads from Mark’s Gospel (7: 24-30), in which a pagan woman begs Jesus to heal her daughter, saying ‘even the house dogs under the table can eat the children’s scraps’. An important section of Mark’s Gospel now begins because Mark is writing to a largely Gentile audience, which is why [...]
After reading from the Gospel of Mark (7:14-23), Fr Paul shares a little about the life of St Scholastica, whose memorial we celebrate today. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples it is what is inside a person’s heart, rather than the food they eat, that makes them unclean. St Scholastica was [...]