Presider’s Page for 1 September (Ordinary Time 22)
Who gets the places of honour in God’s house, the pushy or the humble? The Word of God in this Sunday’s Mass teaches us that the humble are the ones who find favour with God.
Who gets the places of honour in God’s house, the pushy or the humble? The Word of God in this Sunday’s Mass teaches us that the humble are the ones who find favour with God.
The parable suggests, “Respect others; be open to them. Don’t put up barriers against others, like the Pharisees.” Another possible interpretation is that we ourselves are the poor, the lame and the blind…
Jesus reveals a God whose goodness has no limits, who remains faithful even when we are not faithful. He does not want us to fail, but rather that we launch into the deep…
Can we be assured of salvation? Only five bridesmaids were there to welcome the bridal party. Tthe others were told, “I do not know you.” The interpretation of this parable developed with time…
From his late teenage years he was Spirit-guided to lead an austere and contemplative life in the desert until he was thirty years of age, when he emerged as a preacher of reform and renewal…
Paul knows the value of his unpaid work. He is convinced that the Gospel message was more than just one man’s opinion, for it is “the word of God, at work within you who believe.”
We need to keep returning to the essentials, to the heart of the Gospel, in order to know and do what God really wants of us. It would be hard to find a better statement of the basics than the three values stated by the prophet Micah and endorsed by Jesus…
The God od life cares less about our rituals than whether we are truly alive. If our religion makes us more fully alive, more courageous, more caring and generous, then we are pleasing to God…
Our God is a gracious God, who throws open the doors to the Kingdom to all of humanity. We gather to worship this compassionate king
Today’s Scriptures speak of an orderly, self-disciplined life, a topic often ignored in a permissive society. We could reflect on this theme as part of the overall scheme of divine justice in history…
Bartholemew/Nathanael’s honesty can inspire us on this his feast day. But it is Jesus, not Nathanael, who has the final word in today’s gospel. It takes the form of that wonderful promise…
Jesus powerfully brings together these two commandments from different parts of the Bible, and declares that the way to show our love for God passes through other people…
Our Church has a long tradition of honouring Mary in parallel to Jesus. As early as the fourth century Saint Ephrem used the term “Queen” in praise of Mary, and pope Pius XII established this feast at the close of the Marian Year 1955..
When speaking in parables, Jesus used the language and imagery of his own time and place. Therefore, when he uses the parable of the vineyard workers it is irrelevant to discuss the social justice (or injustice) of the estate-owner…
We may sometimes seem to face impossible odds. We wonder how we will get through some health crisis, or a family loss or a marriage breakdown, or a severe bout of depression. In such circumstances, it’s good to know that, “for God everything is possible.”
1st Reading: Judges 2:11-19 The era of the Judges alternates between falling away and being restored Then Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and worshipped the Baals; and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other…
Following Jesus may not bring us happiness in this life, but we are challenged to follow him nevertheless. We come together to worship our gracious God and to ask for help in our Christian life this week.
The moral courage to speak out against abuse seems in short supply. It always feels safer to keep our heads down and just go with the herd; but this is not the way to which Christ calls us….
There was tension between those who wanted Jesus to bless their children and those who felt that children were a noisy distraction, who should be seen and not heard. When they blocked the parents from bringing their children to him, Jesus was not a merely impartial spectator. ..
Jesus restates God’s original design for marriage: “a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two shall become as one.” Recognising the heroic conditions for marriage that this implies, his disciples reckon that it is better not to marry….