In today’s reflection, Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (7: 7-12) where Jesus says to his disciples, “Ask and it shall be given to you, Seek and you shall find and Knock and the door shall be opened”. Fr Paul reflects on how the Petitionary Prayer can often be a problem theologically as we address our prayers [...]
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 [...]
Fr Paul reads from Mark’s Gospel (7: 1-13) in which the scribes and Pharisees take Jesus to task about how his disciples live out Jewish law and customs. Today in this Gospel, Fr Paul says, we hear debate about the difference between oral law and the written law. The Pharisees, who Jesus is [...]
Fr Paul reads from Mark’s Gospel (6: 53-56) in which people laid the sick everywhere Jesus went in the hope they might touch the fringe of his cloak and be healed. Fr Paul says this reading sums up the activity of Jesus in this first part of his ministry in Galilee. As [...]
Fr Paul reads from Mark’s Gospel (6: 30-34) in which Jesus tells the apostles to go away by themselves to a lonely place so they may have some rest, and shares a little about St Paul Miki and his companions, whose memorial we celebrate today. Fr Paul tells us that Paul Miki [...]
Fr Paul reads the Gospel from Mark (6: 14-29) about King Herod ordering the execution of John the Baptist. He then shares a little about St Agatha, whose life we celebrate today. A bit like St Agnes, Fr Paul says, we do not know all that much about the life of Agatha. [...]