Success in Failure
Palm Sunday From the perspective of anyone without the faith, the life of Christ was one gigantic failure. His obituary might have read something like this: Of spurious ancestry, born in a dirty stable, practiced a back-breaking, low-paying trade, turned himself into a rabbi without an education, had a flair for creating enthusiasm among the […]
The Friends Of The Cross
Passion Sunday In today’s Gospel we hear Our Blessed Lord point out to the Pharisees the main reason they do not understand what He has been trying to tell them. He who is of God hears the words of God; therefore you hear them not because you are not of God (Jn 8:47). They heard […]
My Body For You
Fourth Sunday in Lent – Laetare In the midst of our Lenten austerities, Holy Mother Church invites us to rejoice. Laetare, laetitia, expresses an overflowing joy, one of victory. Indeed, we are on the threshold of the greatest of victories, that of Our Lord Jesus Christ over the powers of death and hell. One of […]
Dogs Are Meant to Bark
Third Sunday in Lent Today in Sydney, hundreds if not thousands of people will gather at Parliament House in defence of unborn life. They will give a voice to those who have no voice. They will speak out by their mere presence in favour of the victims of the gravest form of injustice the world […]
Awe Before the Gift
St Benedict 1,478 years ago today, our holy Father St Benedict gave up his pure, humble soul to God. Since then, he has not ceased to gather together disciples around the world in monasteries of both monks and nuns, in every country, clime and language …. All the sons and daughters of St Benedict seek […]
St Joseph Model of Monks
St Joseph This feast is dear to all of us for many reasons, the first being that St Joseph was the God-given spouse of Mary Immaculate and the Foster-father of God’s only Son in the flesh. Joseph has also been appointed as patron of the universal Church. In the same way that he looked after […]
Avoiding Bit and Bridle
Second Sunday in Lent From the most remote Christian antiquity, the second Sunday of Lent has been dedicated to the Transfiguration of Our Lord, an event that occurred in the weeks before the Passion. Its immediate purpose was to fortify the three apostles, Peter, James and John, and to prepare them for the shock of […]
Tried By Fire
First Sunday in Lent At the onset of Lent, Holy Mother Church takes us out to the desert with Our Blessed Lord. The reasons are obvious. First of all, the idea of Lent originates in Our Lord’s fast of forty days and forty nights. It was His immediate preparation for the ministry that he would […]
Prepare Your Soil
Sexagesima Sunday The sower went out to sow his seed. And so He does, every day of human history. The seed is the Word of God which reaches us in any number of ways, but principally through Holy Scripture and the sacred liturgy. Our Blessed Lord’s explanation of the parable puts us on our guard […]