Today Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (24: 13-35) in which two followers of Jesus were on the road to a village called Emmaus, as they walked along discussing all that had happened in Jerusalem, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them but they did not recognise him. [...]
Today Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of John (20: 11-18) in which Mary, weeping outside the tomb of Jesus, does not recognise him when she encounters him. Fr Paul says, again, this is a scene of hesitation and partial recognition. One wonders if this hesitation is stressed in order to emphasise [...]
Today Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (28: 8-15) which tells what happened after the women discovered the empty tomb. Fr Paul says this Gospel reading starts after the first message of the angel to the women, telling them to give the news of the Resurrection to the disciples. Their [...]
Fr Paul does not give his usual Gospel Reflection today but instead shares what Good Friday is about and invites us to come and join in remembrance of this special and solemn day. Explanation & History Good Friday is the Friday before Easter. It is the day on which the anniversary of the [...]
Today, Fr Paul does not give his usual Gospel Reflection but instead shares a little about the history and ceremony of Holy Thursday and invites us all to join in the unique and beautiful services we celebrate at Easter. Explanation & History The Holy Thursday ceremony is the first of ceremony of the [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (26: 14-25) which commemorates the first part of the Last Supper, the preparation, and the betrayal. Fr Paul says the strange pre-planned sequence of Jesus sending his disciples to encounter a seemingly random stranger in the city occurs both for Jesus’ solemn donkey ride [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of John (13: 21-33, 36-38) which shares details of Jesus’s last meal with his disciples. Fr Paul says rather than telling us the story of the Last Supper, the Gospel give us only two incidents at the Supper, that there is traitor, and the institution of [...]
Holy Week began with Palm Sunday celebrations and today Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of John (12: 1-11) which tells the story of the anointing of Jesus’ feet with costly ointment at Bethany six days before he makes his way to Jerusalem for Passover. Fr Paul says in Mark and Matthew [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (11: 45-56) in which the Chief Priests and Pharisees meet to decide what to do about Jesus. Fr Paul says the Gospel reading takes us to the aftermath of the raising of Lazarus. It is typical of John’s contrasts that the gift of life given [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads today from the John (10: 31-42) in which the Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone Jesus. Fr Paul says this scene of confrontation between Jesus and his opponents takes place at the Festival of the Dedication. This agrees with John’s theme that Jesus takes over, or centres in [...]