Homilies

“The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness.” (Mk 1:12-15) So Mark begins his account of the temptations of Christ immediately after His baptism when that Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.

Today I’m wearing my bishop’s party hat! That’s because we have three big things to celebrate.

Drought, then fires, moths, storms and floods, then plague: what a strange year or two we’ve had!

In 1820, after waiting 42 years, the Catholics of the colony of New South Wales were finally given two official chaplains…

When I was quite young,
and quite small for my size,
I met an old man in the Desert of Drize.
and he sang me a song, I will never forget.
At least, well, I haven’t forgotten it yet.

What does it mean for God to pray? More specifically, why would Jesus, who is God, feel the need to pray?

Clearly, it was not for want of confidence in His divine mission or powers.

Typecasting. If a young lawyer wins a complex case in an obscure corner of the law such as admiralty or financial derivatives, he or she may spend the rest of their life being given cases in that same area.

Some years ago I heard Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta – now Cardinal Gregory of Washington DC – give a World Youth Day catechesis on the subject of Christian joy. He observed that we Christians have every reason to be happy: we have been given life in a world full of beauty and opportunity

In 1925 the Star of the East sect of Theosophists built a 200-seat amphitheatre here in Sydney. Krishnamurti, their ‘World Teacher’, was expected to preach there. He was said to have prophesied Christ’s imminent return, walking on water through the heads of Sydney harbour, and so the theatre was built at Balmoral Beach.

Even her betrothed took some convincing not to put her out of sight (Mt 1:19-25). Months later, and now heavily pregnant, she was forced by unsympathetic authorities to take the road to Bethlehem with her husband (Lk 2:1-6).