Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (7: 1-2, 10, 25-30) in which Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the annual Festival of Tabernacles or Sukkoth.Fr Paul says on this festival the custom was, and still is, to spend the time not in the house but in a leafy booth probably attached [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (5: 31-47) which continues the confrontation between Jesus and the Jewish leaders of the Temple.Fr Paul says in the Gospel Jesus cites the testimonies which bear witness to him.First the testimony of John the Baptist (v 31-35). This was especially important because in the synoptic [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (5: 17-30) in which Jesus tells the Jews ‘My Father goes on working and so do I’. In the passage just before this Gospel, Fr Paul notes, Jesus was being attacked by ‘the Jews’ for working on the Sabbath. They were especially upset at Jesus claiming [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (5: 1-3, 5-16) in which we hear the story of Jesus’ marvellous healing at the Pool of Bethzatha (Bethesda) of the man who had been ill for over 30 years.Fr Paul notes, Jesus’ reflection on the healing, and on the witness it provides, will give [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (1: 16, 18-21, 24) where Joseph accepts Jesus as his son. Fr Paul says, we really don’t know anything else about St Joseph except what is said about him in the Gospels. Joseph was a carpenter; he accepted the will of God; and he supported [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (18: 9-14) where Jesus shares the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Fr Paul says, Luke is the evangelist of prayer, and he frequently hints about it within his Gospels. In this Gospel Jesus is explicitly mentioned as being in prayer more than [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (10: 1-12, 17-20) where Jesus sends out the seventy two to the towns and said ‘ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest’. Fr Paul says, Patrick was born in Roman Britain around the end of the 4th century and died [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (11: 14-23) where Jesus says to his disciples ‘any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and any house divided against itself will fall’. Fr Paul says, in today’s Gospel passage Jesus is accused of being in league with the Prince of Demons. The name [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (5: 17-19) where Jesus says to his disciples ‘do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them’. Fr Paul says, God’s covenant with Moses on Mount Sinai was the [...]
Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (18:21-35) where Jesus shares the parable of the unmerciful servant. Fr Paul says, this is a favourite parable of Matthew, and it continues and concludes his theme that forgiveness is the life’s blood of any Christian community. Matthew gathers together into one chapter the special [...]