Pastoral

Today as we celebrate the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (1: 18-23) which tells the story of how Jesus came to be born. Fr Paul says the Church celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on its traditional fixed date of September 8, [...]

Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (5: 1-11) in which Jesus calling his first disciples says, “Do not be afraid; from now on it is people you will catch,” so bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him. Fr Paul says there were obviously several different versions [...]

Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (4: 38-44) in which Jesus heals many and says, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do’. Fr Paul says in the stories of today’s reading there is [...]

Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (4: 31-37) in which the people of Capernaum were amazed by the authority and power with which Jesus drove the spirit of a demon out of a young man there. Fr Paul says this first story of the healing ministry of Jesus is pretty well [...]

Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (4: 16-30) in which Jesus returns to his hometown Nazareth where people are too familiar with him to believe in him or his message. Fr Paul notes that, for a while now, we have been reading from the Gospel of Matthew and that from now [...]

Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (25: 14-30) in which Jesus, who tells a parable about the Master who entrusts his wealth to his servants while he is away, concludes by saying, ‘To everyone who has will be given more, and they will have more than enough.  But from the person [...]

Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (25: 1-13) in which Jesus tells the parable about the sensible and foolish bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. Fr Paul says like any good parable, this parable of the ten bridesmaids has layers of meaning. At its heart it is about waiting and [...]

Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (23: 27-32) in which Jesus draws attention to the double standards of the scribes and Pharisees, saying ‘Alas for you, you hypocrites!’ Fr Paul says in this Gospel we hear the last two of the seven ‘Woes!’ or ‘alas’ and they take on a darker [...]

Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Mark (6: 17-29) in which tells how John the Baptist came to be killed by Herod. Today, as we remember the Beheading of John the Baptist, Fr Paul shares a little about him and the feasts we celebrate in his honour. Fr Paul says Saint John [...]