St Lawrence (225-258) deacon of the church in Rome, was martyred under the Emperor Valerian on the August 10th 258, four days after Pope Sixtus II and some others. While little is known of Lawrence’s life, he was noted for his generosity and was highly popular with the Christians of Rome. ..

Edith Stein and her sister Rosa, also a convert and an religious sister, were sent for their safety to a Carmelite monastery in Echt, the Netherlands. They were arrested by the Nazis on 2 August 1942 and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they died in the gas chamber one week later…

In the Book of Numbers a rock in the mountains becomes a water source that was vital for survival. In Matthew, a “human rock” becomes the foundation of the church…

The Israelites gave up too quickly, in face of giants and a heavily walled city guarded by a fierce and strong people. But the Canaanite woman who met Jesus would not take no for an answer…

When the darkness came over them they’d remember the light. The memory of the transfigured Lord and the voice of the Fatherl would help them to hold their nerve…

At the sight of a large hungry crowd, Jesus responds in a very different way to his followers. They wanted him to send the crowd away. He wanted them to try to feed the crowd. Even though they protested that…

John’s martyrdom foreshadows that of Jesus. As Jesus hung from the cross he too had no power. As Paul says, “he was crucified in weakness.” Yet at that moment he had great authority, the authority of a life of integrity…

They recognized him as the son of the carpenter, whose mother, Mary, and whose brothers and sisters were known to them. He is one of their own, a working man just like themselves. Yet, in ways he is not like them…

Today we have the end of Exodus, as important in the Old Testament as are the gospels in the New. We conclude a major section in Matthew’s gospel, on the mystery of the kingdom of God. Both readings speak of being drawn under God’s gracious influence…

The prospect of leaving all behind to embrace something radically new…

As Moses entered this tent, the column of cloud came down to its entrance, and there…

There is a fine appraisal of Martha and Mary by Saint Augustine, in today’s Liturgy of the Hours…

Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn..

We need to set the Decalogue alongside the parable of the sower and the seed. Morality is essentially linked to growth and development, to bear fruits of positive goodness, as God wants of us.

Today’s feast celebrates the more prominent James, the son of Zebedee, one of the twelve apostles. This “greater” James was one of the first disciples to join Jesus, in Capernaum.

Jesus had no illusions about the frailty of humankind — he met it every day. But he also recognised great potential in many ordinary people that he met…