Homilies

Though today is the feast of St Justin Martyr and this evening the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Ascension, our Order seems to stand outside ordinary time and space.

It’s a hard time to be a priest. First the Royal Commission, then the conviction of Cardinal Pell; the media are getting ready for further excitement around that latter in the weeks ahead. At his request I’ve said very little publicly,

שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם Shalom Aleikhem (Peace be with you) is how Jews says hello and goodbye to each other.

Jesus loved his Mum, loved her lots. We see Jesus with her on many occasions in the Gospels: his birth, presentation, flight into Egypt, finding in the Temple,

The dispute had been brewing for some time. Luke’s rather tactful description was that in Antioch and elsewhere there had been ook oligis οὐκ ὀλίγης ‘no small’

We’re all familiar with crosses. They mark churches and hospitals, pharmacies and ambulances, firetrucks, blood banks, graves and more.

Fifteen years ago Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ, was released to hostile reviews but strong audiences.

“Amen! Alleluia! Praise the Lord!” are common words of assent, even praise, amongst black American congregations as they prod their pastors to even greater heights of preaching.

The American sit-com How I Met Your Mother follows the lives of five close friends: Ted, Barney, Marshall, Lilly and Robin.

Easter morning Mass was nearly over at St Sebastian’s Catholic Church in Katuwapitiya, Negombo. The congregation had heard the Gospel account of the first Easter, renewed their baptismal promises, been sprinkled with Easter water and received Holy Communion.

If you asked people right after the First World War who was the quintessential Anzac, many would have responded Albert Jacka.Described as ‘Australia’s greatest front-line soldier’, Jacka signed up for the 14th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force, arriving in Anzac Cove on 26 April 1915.

This week the world has been mourning the loss not of a person but of a building. More than eight centuries old, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris was a wonder of Christian architecture and a centre of Western civilisation.