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 [...]
As we celebrate the life of St Gregory the Great, Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (22: 24-30) in which a dispute arose between the apostles about which of them was the greatest; Jesus said, ‘the greatest among you must behave as if he was the youngest; the leader as [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (4: 16-30) in which Jesus goes to the synagogue in Nazareth, where he had been brought up, on the Sabbath day and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (25: 14-30) in which Jesus tells the parable of talents about a man who gave his wealth to his servants to invest, each according to their ability. Fr Paul says this is a long and detailed parable by Matthew. The central message though is [...]
Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (25: 1-13) in which Jesus tells the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids. Fr Paul says the principal moment of a wedding in the time of Jesus was when the groom went to pick up the bride from her father’s house and take [...]
On the feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist, Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Mark (6: 17-29) in which tells how Herod came to have John the Baptist beheaded. Fr Paul says Saint John the Baptist has two feasts. This one, in August, which celebrates his death, and the [...]
As we celebrate the life of St Augustine, Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (23: 27-32) in which Jesus continues to call out the scribes and Pharisees, saying ‘you appear to people from the outside like good honest men but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness’. Fr Paul [...]
As we celebrate the life of St Monica Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (23: 23-26) in which Jesus calls out the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees for neglecting the weightier matters of the Law. Fr Paul says Monica was born at Thagaste in Africa of a Christian family. [...]