Freedom
Forgiving Flow
17 September 2023
“The only way to let go is the way of mercy, the way of forgiveness, the way that doesn’t say that it didn’t matter, that thing is not significant. Yes, it happened and it was crucial and it was awful, but still from my side of the street, I have that obligation to let it…
Freedom Parable
18 September 2022
Sunday 25, Year C First Reading ‡ Amos 8:4-7 The Lord God spoke against those who buy the poor for money. Responsorial ‡ Psalm 112:1-2.4-8 Praise the Lord who lifts up the poor. Second Reading ‡ 1 Timothy 2:1-8 Let prayers be offered to God for everyone; he wants all people to be saved. Gospel…
Freedom for slaves
4 September 2022
Sunday 23 in Year C As a child – I really didn’t think about slavery. Later, after studying a little history, I thought slavery no longer existed – but I was wrong! In fact – although estimates and exact definitions vary – there are more slaves in total now than in any period of human…
Generous giving and freedom
14 October 2018
The Gospel today should probably carry a warning message before it is read. So many saints across the centuries have been cut to the heart when they have heard this proclaimed, and realise that Jesus is looking at us, no gazing with love at them and you and me. He is going to redefine the…
Generous giving and freedom
12 October 2015
The Gospel today should probably carry a warning message before it is read. So many saints across the centuries have been cut to the heart when they have heard this proclaimed, and realise that Jesus is looking at us, no gazing with love at them and you and me. He is going to redefine the…
Lazarus / El’Azar – Unbound and unsmelly
5 April 2014
Death is something of a problem! The Gospel today, taken from John chapter 11, tackles the very real question of the significance of death full on. Jesus is good friends with this family of Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. So naturally, when Lazarus is sick, the sisters send Jesus a message to…
Remember and believe
31 March 2013
Discipleship, Easter, Seasons, Teaching
I remember a day when I was bushwalking in the coastal range down the South Coast, and I had been walking for a while just below the ridge-line – so I was unable to actually get a view of the breath-taking coast-line. At one stage I saw a rocky outcrop that was just above the…
Holy family saints
30 December 2012
When you drive around in Sydney’s south-west, with all the road-works around, you are bombarded by an increasing array of signs – some permanent, some portable, some flashing and variable. Road signs can help you to know what the speed limit is, or if there is a sharp corner looming, or a change in the…
Ten words of freedom
10 March 2012
To soften the hard edge of these sacred commandments that are presented in Exodus 20, the Rabbis’ would often tell a joke – such as ‘when Moses came down the mountain, he began by telling the people: well, there is good news and bad news; the good news is that I managed to talk the…
Roll the stone away from the stink
9 April 2011
This most powerful healing story – perhaps the ultimate miracle with the raising of a man four-days dead – begins so simply with a description of the fact that a man called Lazarus was ill. Most of our English biblical names have come to us via the Latin Vulgate translation. In the original Hebrew, Lararus…
Garden and wilderness
13 March 2011
As we begin this new season of Lent, we are taken back to the garden of Eden to witness both the life of tranquility and peace that originally existed and then the condition during and after the fall. When the serpent entered into the picture, the lies and deception begin to flow and the consequences…
Worry, money and insurance
26 February 2011
The fact that Jesus repeats a phrase seven times in our Gospel reading today perhaps suggests that there is something he wants us to learn. In a world that values money, security and wealth much more highly than the glories of God’s creation, the words of Jesus invite us to embrace a different way of…