The old and the new Today in Luke’s Gospel (5: 33-39) we hear the parable of the old and new cloth and the wineskins. Fr Paul says the Gospel today focusses on fasting and the question being discussed in it is ‘Should the disciples of Jesus accept and live out the religious [...]
Pope St Gregory the Great Fr Paul reads the Gospel from Luke (5: 1-11) in which Jesus calls his first disciples and then shares a little about St Gregory the Great whose life we celebrate today. Gregory was born in the year 540 in Rome into an aristocratic family. Initially, he had [...]
Jesus heals many Fr Paul reads the Gospel from Luke (4: 38-44) in which the authority of Jesus is emphasised as we see him cure the mother-in-law of Simon Peter. Today, unlike many other times, Jesus does not touch Simon Peter’s mother-in-law to heal her. He simply leans over her, rebukes the [...]
Jesus: the Holy One of God Today Fr Paul again reads the Gospel from Luke (4: 31-37). We take up the story after Jesus spent the 40 days and 40 nights in the desert, went home and, as we heard yesterday, experienced the rejection of the people. Today, in Luke, we hear the [...]
Jesus is rejected in Nazareth Fr Paul reads the Gospel from Luke (4: 16-30) in which Jesus said no prophet is ever accepted in his own country. As we begin this week, we need to note that we have stopped reading from the Gospel of Matthew and are now reading from the [...]
The beheading of St John the Baptist Fr Paul reads the Gospel from Mark (6: 17-29) about the death of John the Baptist. As Fr Paul mentioned in a previous reflection, John the Baptist has two feasts in our Church. In June we celebrate his birth and in August his death. Fr [...]
Feast of St Augustine of Hippo Fr Paul reads the Gospel from Matthew (25: 1-13) about the sensible and foolish bridesmaids with their lamps waiting for the bridegroom’s arrival. Today we celebrate the life of St Augustine, son of Monica. Fr Pauls says that like Monica, who we celebrated yesterday, Augustine was [...]
Feast of St Monica Today Fr Paul reads the Gospel from Matthew (24: 42-51) in which Jesus tells the disciples to ‘stay awake because you do not know the day when your master is coming’. Afterwards he shares a little about St Monica, whose life we remember and celebrate today. Monica was [...]
Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites Fr Paul says today’s Gospel Matthew (23: 27-32) contains the last two of seven ‘Alas for you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites’, otherwise known as the seven woes. Fr Paul explains that in this Gospel Jesus is saying he looks through the outward appearances to [...]
Jesus challenges us to be genuinely open to God In today’s Gospel from Matthew (23: 23-26) Jesus challenges the scribes and Pharisees about the priorities they place on different aspects of their faith. Fr Paul says it is obvious that Jesus is criticising the scribes and Pharisees about their different practices, in [...]