Holy Week
Passionate love revealed
3 April 2023
Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday, Year A Commemoration of the Lord’s EntranceYear A ‡ Matthew 21:1-11Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. At the Mass First Reading ‡ Isaiah 50:4-7 I did not cover my face against insult and I know I will not be ashamed. Responsorial ‡ Psalm 21:8-9.17-20.23-24 My…
The Gaze of the Crucified One
9 April 2017
This week we were confronted by those horrifying images that came out of Syria of the chemical weapon attack on innocent civilians. This rightly appalled us and provoked a response. Yet, these horrors at one level are nothing new. We see this across human history, and especially in this part of the world. This basic…
Celebrating the Easter Experience
7 April 2015
Entering into the experience of Easter is always a profoundly moving event. I found this year to be no different – even though it was the first time that I have had the chance to lead the liturgies in a parish that I am responsible for which added its own stresses. The liturgies and encounters that…
Which son of the Father?
29 March 2015
The passion narratives that we are presented with each Palm Sunday are so rich, that is a great shame that the imperative of keeping Mass within the hour time limit precludes a suitable reflection. This year I decided that it seemed best once Jesus had died in the story and I knelt down, that it…
The dedication of the Lateran Basilica
10 November 2014
It is rare for a feast day to bump-off the Sunday liturgy – usually only the feast days and solemnities of the Lord or of our Lady (but only during Ordinary Time) – but today the dedication of a basilica in the city of Rome from back in the fourth century displaces the Sunday cycle…
A vineyard must be fruitful
5 October 2014
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year A
One of the things about spending the first half of September walking 320km across Spain was that it forced you to slow right down. Literally. Now that I’m home again, it can be tempting to revert back to the usual pace of life and fill every spare moment with the usual distractions. But at least…
The Friday that is truly Good
18 April 2014
Recently, I was asked an interesting question: Why is this particular Friday called good? We have Holy week, holy Thursday, holy Saturday… why not holy Friday? Why Good Friday? I guess the first thing we might notice – as Christians – is that we are meant to be bearers and proclaimers of good news. And…
Became empty on a cross
13 April 2014
The liturgy of Passion Sunday is dominated by the contrasts of the triumphant entry followed by the solemn proclamation of the Passion of our Lord. In between, the church each year provides us with two powerful texts to reflect upon – the first of the servant songs, followed by the Carmen Christi – the song…
Service and worship
31 March 2013
What an amazing night it must have been! Already the Lord had demonstrated his incredible power in the nine plagues that Pharoah and the Egyptian people had suffered because they had still not let the people of God go free, so that they may go into the wilderness to worship the Lord their God. But…
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…
New day knowing
31 March 2013
Discipleship, Easter, Seasons, Teaching
The one thing that each of the Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus begin with – is that it happened on the first day of the week. Now in Jewish reckoning, the seventh day of the week was the Sabbath day (Saturday) – the day when the Lord rested from the work of creation,…
Colours and emotions of Holy Week
28 March 2013
During this most extraordinary week that we call Holy, the liturgy of the church leads us in a confusing journey through the final week of the life of Jesus. Even the colours that the church chooses for each liturgy demonstrate the range of emotions that we are called to enter into during this week. From…