BLESSED BLESSED is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled. Over the course of Advent we’ll trace the story of our salvation with all its twists and turns. It’s a story of promise and blessing, of anguish and exile. Through eyes of the prophets and biblical characters we …
Category Archives: Monastic
Advent Alphabet (A)
AWAKE As Advent begins the message is loud and clear: stay awake. Advent calls us to be awake and attentive to the many ways in which the Word made Flesh is already present in our lives. It calls us too to hope that all that weighs heavy in our personal lives, and the world, will …
Christ the King
Ezekiel 34:11-12,15-17Matthew 25:31-46 Today our liturgy opens with Ezekiel’s well-known image of God as a shepherd. God promises to tend his people as a shepherd would his flock. Shepherd imagery is often used when the Biblical writers talk about kingship, indeed, David, the most famous king of all, is called from the sheepfold to be …
Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 25:14-30 In his book The Parables of the Kingdom, C.H. Dodd refers to today’s parable as the parable of Money in Trust. I found this a helpful starting place. What the parable describes was a very normal way for the wealthy to do business in the ancient world. When property was entrusted there was …
Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 25:1-13 I have always loved this parable. It’s easy to picture the scene and to feel the excitement as the bridegroom is awaited. Commentators don’t seem to be able to agree as to whether the women were carrying lamps or torches. Either way their job to be ready and to light the path. As …
Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 23:1-12 The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they do: since they do not practise what they preach. We’ve probably both given and been this advice ourselves in the course …
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 22:34-40 ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.’ This week’s Gospel almost comes as a bit of a relief after some very difficult parables and scenes of Jesus being put on the spot. …
Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 22:15-21 Any talk of tax and taxation can very easily set up a polarity. Attitudes differ within our own political parties in the UK and across the world. As I walk into this scene in the Gospels I find myself trying to imagine what it would be like to live under an occupying power. …
Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 25:6-10Matthew 22:1-14 When I sat down to read today’s Gospel I had a few ideas about how I understood the passage and I turned to my usual commentaries. No pennies dropped and I was getting close to giving up and writing something on the First Reading from Isaiah 25 instead. Something made me persevere …
Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 5:1-7Matthew 21:33-43 When we open the Scriptures, we open a world of story, poetry and metaphor. Origen, a Third Century theologian, likens the Bible to a mansion. The various books of the Bible are doors which we need to unlock. Outside each door is a key which will unlock one door. Our task is …