Boarding the Right Plane
Septuagesima Sunday Today, my dear Friends, with the Roman liturgy we enter the Easter cycle, by this Sunday called Septuagesima, being roughly the 70th day before Easter. A number of significant things change today: we leave aside the celebratory green in favour of the penitential violet vestments; we abandon the chant of the paschal alleluia, […]
Get to Work on Your Garden
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany In today’s Gospel, we hear the parable of the wheat and the cockle. Our Blessed Lord sows His good grain, that is to say, His word through the preaching of the Gospel, through the inspirations of His grace, and through any number of providential occurrences in and through which the devout […]
Guard Your Flame
Candlemas Forty days after the birth of Our Lord at Christmas, we celebrate with joy the triple feast of the Purification of Our Lady, the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple and Candlemas. It is the day on which the Divine Child is brought to the Temple and offered by the Immaculate Virgin […]
Remaining in Our Place
Third Sunday after Epiphany Today’s Gospel presents us with our Lord encountering a leper as He comes down from giving the Sermon on the Mount. Leprosy, which in our day is curable, was in former times considered to be a curse of God. It ate away the skin and ultimately led to an atrocious death. […]
Holy Families
First Sunday after Epiphany The feast of the Holy Family is a recent addition to the Church’s liturgy. The reason is obvious. It wasn’t until modern times that the human family, as instituted by God and sanctified by Christ, came under virulent attack. What are the aspects of this attack? In brief: the father has […]
Seek and You Shall Find
Epiphany The three wise men, otherwise known as the Magi, were God-seekers. They had studied the stars, for they had heard of the prophecy of Balaam, that a star would rise out of Jacob (cf. Num 24:17). Their gaze is ever turned towards Heaven. In this, they are our models. Modern man looks down on […]
The Holy Name and St Joseph
The Most Holy Name of Jesus This Sunday we honour the Holy Name of Jesus, the Name given to the newborn Babe on the day of His circumcision. Last Sunday we noted in the Gospel within the octave of Christmas the prophecy of Simeon about the sword of sorrow that would pierce Our Lady’s heart. […]
The Crib, the Cross and the Tabernacle
Sunday within the Octave of Christmas What do these three have in common? They all contain the same Person. The Babe in the crib of Bethlehem, the condemned Man on the cross of Calvary, and the Prisoner of tabernacles around the world are all the same Person, that is to say, Jesus Christ, the Son […]
The Baptist and the Virgin
4th Sunday of Advent With the glorious feast of Christmas now at our doorstep, Holy Mother Church brings before the eyes of our contemplation two biblical figures. First of all, St John the Baptist, the Precursor. He appears on the scene with an austere message, calling to repentance. He himself lives an austere life in […]