Holy Spirit
Having a disciple’s mind
1 October 2023
In this message, Fr Richard Healey reflects on a theatre production they attended and draws parallels between the unity and synchronisation of the production and the desired unity within the church. They discuss the importance of actions aligning with beliefs, referencing the two sons in the gospel. The speaker then references a poem or song…
Silence and Space
28 May 2023
I grew up in the country. I don’t think I really noticed a couple of key things until much later – because often you only notice things when they’re not there anymore. But there were two things. When you would go outside, particularly on a night like this, pretty chilly kind of night. The night…
Silence and Word
28 May 2023
I grew up in the country. I don’t think I really noticed a couple of key things until much later – because often you only notice things when they’re not there anymore. But there were two things. When you would go outside, particularly on a night like this, pretty chilly kind of night. The night…
Breathing Mercy
16 April 2023
Sunday 2 in Easter – Sunday of Divine Mercy This year, during this season of Easter, we will be working our way through this first letter of Saint Peter. We don’t really know when it was written, there were no markers to kind of indicate when that happened. Peter used a secretary called Sylvanas to…
Pentecost – Reception
5 June 2022
Easter, Season of Growth, Seasons, Solemnity, Year C
More than 30 years ago while in pre-seminary formation, I was told a quote from a Russian Orthodox monk, who died in the nineteenth century, St Seraphim of Sarov (1754/1759-1833). The quote is – “the goal of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.” Seraphim goes on to say that like many…
Easter 2 – Breath and life
23 April 2017
On the second Sunday of Easter (or the eighth day of Easter), the church always offers before us John 20 for our Gospel reflection, commemorating both the first appearance of Jesus to the church on Easter Sunday, and then his second appearance eight days later, on the second Sunday. To appreciate the full beauty of…
Pentecost as promise of a new life
24 May 2015
To fully appreciate the significance of the celebration of Pentecost you need to remember the origins of the Jewish festival of Shavu’ot. Although according to the Book of Leviticus the festival celebrated a week of weeks after Passover (the fifty days) was a Harvest festival where the first fruits of the seven kinds of grain…
Connected to Life
3 May 2015
Today we hear the final of the seven “I am” declarations that punctuate the Gospel of John – “I am the true vine.” This declaration is also unusual because it is the first time one that is explicitly relational: I am the vine; you are the branches. We should be in no doubt after hearing this declaration…
Pentecost – renewing the face of the earth
9 June 2014
When I was a kid it was uncommon for my parents to come and visit the school; in part this was because we lived on a farm and caught the bus to and from school almost every day; the exception was on Tuesdays which was mum’s shopping day and we could go home with her…
Longing for a new breath of life in the Holy Spirit
25 May 2014
It can be the case that when we think about the early experience of the Church, that we compress it into a rather monochromatic history. In fact the disciples were probably more like us than we think. Even though Jesus gives them rather clear instructions that they are to wait in Jerusalem upon the Holy…
Becoming the people of God
26 May 2012
About a month ago I accepted the invitation of one of our parishioners – Peter – to go gliding with him. It is certainly an incredible experience as you are towed up a couple thousand metres by an old crop-duster, and then once you reach the designated height the cable connecting you to the plain…
God is love
18 June 2011
When you read through the scriptures, one thing that modern readers might expect are passages that point to proofs for the existence of God. And yet there is not a single place that we can turn to to find something even remotely close to a De Deo Uno (Concerning One God) treatise that you find…
Come Holy Spirit
11 June 2011
Easter, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year A
This feast is a demonstration of the unique Christian understanding of grace and salvation. Before this day, although the disciples knew of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus and the fulfillment of the many prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures, they were still huddled together in fear – until the Spirit comes – then they…
Signs of the Spirit
28 May 2011
Easter, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year A
As we move through the Easter season, the liturgy today moves in its focus from looking back to the events of Easter, to looking forward in anticipation of the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out upon the Church at Pentecost. All the readings today provide insights and guidance concerning the life in the Spirit…
Pentecost and Mount Sinai
23 May 2010
In the first reading from Acts 2 we hear a whole series of quite bizarre events – most of which we probably have no idea what they mean. To get a better sense of what we celebrate, we need to revisit the Jewish festivals of Pesach and Shavuot in the book of Exodus and remember…
The same power
16 May 2010
Easter, New Creation, Seasons, Teaching
Ascension Sunday (Year C) | Eph 1:15-23; Luke 24:46-53; Acts 1:1-11 I had my washed car yesterday – at one of those automatic car washes. When the weather is a bit warmer, I like taking it through the do-it-yourself section, so that I can play with the power hoses! It is amazing the difference that…
It seems good to the Holy Spirit
9 May 2010
Sixth Sunday in Easter (Year C). In Acts 15 we have a quite extraordinary moment in church history. At issue is how a Jewish community, gathered in worship at a Jewish synagogue around a Jewish Messiah, in the midst of a Jewish nation, keeping Jewish festivals and rituals – how does it welcome non Jews…
Come, spirit of life
31 May 2009
Sometimes we can become so familiar with a word, that we forget what it originally means. When we think of ‘Pentecost’ we might think of the Holy Spirit, or the birth of the church, or those brand of churches that model themselves after the experience of the charismatic gifts, especially speaking in tongues, for example….