As we celebrate the feast of The Exaltation of the Cross also known as ‘The Triumph of the Cross’ , Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of John (3: 13-17) in which Jesus says to Nicodemus ‘For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Mark (4: 1-10, 13-20) in which Jesus shares the Parable of the Sower as he is teaching the crowds from a boat at the lake. Afterwards, Fr Paul shares a little about the life of St John Chrysostom, whose memorial we celebrate today. Fr Paul [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (6:27-38) in which Jesus says, ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly’. Fr Paul says Luke’s version of the Beatitudes puts the emphasis not on Christian attitudes, as Matthew’s [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (6: 20-26) in which Jesus shares the blessings and woes of that come with trying to live a life that will be rewarded in heaven. Fr Paul says Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount and this gospel, Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, are both collections [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (6: 12-19) in which Jesus went out into the hills to pray, and he spent the whole night in pray to God. Fr Paul says prayer is important to our Gospel Writer, Luke, which may be why he shows Jesus spending the whole night [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (6: 6-11) in which Jesus is at the synagogue teaching on the Sabbath and heals a man with a withered hand. Fr Paul says this is a second story about the authority of Jesus to break the Sabbath. This story is a little puzzling, [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (6: 1-5) in which the Pharisees ask Jesus why his disciples were picking corn on the Sabbath. Fr Paul says we now come to two stories of Jesus and the Sabbath, one about threshing corn on the Sabbath, and the second about healing on [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (5: 33-39) in which the scribes and Pharisees quiz Jesus saying, “John’s disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Fr Paul says the question of fasting like the disciples of [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (5: 1-11) in which Jesus calls his first disciples, the fishermen, telling Simon-Peter, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Fr Paul says, there were several different versions in the early Church of the call of the first [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (4: 38-44) in which Jesus heals many people, with all kinds of illnesses, by laying his hands on each one. Fr Paul says, in the stories of today’s reading there is a greater sense of authority and a wider range than in the versions [...]