When I was in USA a few months ago, I visited the Great Smoky Mountains national park in Eastern Tennessee. It is a beautiful place, and the most visited of the national parks in America, attracting millions of visitors each year. And most of those visitors first go to the main entrance and visitors station…

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew The gospel that we just heard is one of those that makes you really wonder who Jesus is? What kind of person says something as outrageous as ‘If any man comes to me without hating (miseo) his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot…

The vision that the letter to the Hebrews paints today is certainly expansive. It is an image of the new creation where everyone is welcome and treated as a first-born son and citizen. After attending a forum at the University of Wollongong this week on Refugees, it became even more apparent how far removed this…

When I was a student at Sydney University, there was one question that I was regularly asked – are you saved? Sometimes it was in the form of the “if you died tonight, where would you end up – in heaven or hell?” Perhaps this was because as an Economics student I had more time…

One of the things that never fails to amaze me – and this is a little embarrassing to admit! – is when you have been literally under the weather for a while: the sky is grey and overcast, perhaps it has rained a bit, with fog and mist thrown in and the weather is really…

The opening line of our Gospel today provides an essential description of the Christian message for us – if only we could receive it and live it. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased the Father to give you the Kingdom.” So often we live caught up in a false notion that…

“Vanity of vanities says the Preacher – all is vanity.” In the middle of the crowd of 3,700,000 pilgrims on Copacabana Beach last weekend for the World Youth Day vigil and Mass with Pope Francis it was easy to feel overawed, excited and probably more scared than I wanted to admit. Two years ago I…

There is a sense of urgency in the Gospel today as Jesus sends out this group of seventy(-two) disciples to prepare the way for him as he continues to make his pilgrimage journey to Jerusalem. He had already sent out the twelve apostles on mission at the beginning of the previous chapter (Luke 9:1); only…

The Gospel of Luke begins and ends in Jerusalem. Until the Gospel today (from Luke 9:51-62) all the action has taken place with Jesus ministering around the area where he grew up – Galilee – in places such as Capernaum, the lake, Nain and Mount Tabor. But there is a decisive shift at the beginning of…

The speech that St Stephen gives in Acts 7 is the longest speech that St Luke records in the whole of the book – so clearly it is very significant for us. It reaches a climax shortly before the members of the Sanhedrin are so incensed by what Stephen says that they begin to pick…

The theme for the World Youth Day this year, to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next month, is “Go and make disciples of all nations” from the end of Matthew 28. Which in some ways begs the question of “what is a disciple?” What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? What are…

Immediately before our passage from Galatians chapter 2, Paul takes to task several apostles for their hypocrisy. For example, although Cephas (St Peter) was in the habit of eating with everyone, including Gentiles; but when some people associated with the Apostle James arrived he then drew back and would then only eat with Jews. This…

The Gospel that we have just heard is interesting – not least because since the revision of the lectionary almost 50 years ago, this is only the second time that we have had these readings for the tenth Sunday (the last time was back in 1986) – so many preachers have probably gone scurrying for…

In this season of Random Feasts (to quote Fr Austin Litke OP) we are presented with the mysterious figure of Melchizedek as we contemplate the Body and Blood of Christ in our Mass today. Malek in Hebrew means ‘king’ and sedeq means ‘justice’, so not only is this man a king of justice or righteousness, he…

After returning today from my second trip to the US, I feel that after seven weeks and more than ten thousand kilometres [kilometers] of driving across eighteen different states – that’s about six thousand miles – I could be regarded as something of an expert. Perhaps a few observations are in order: 1. Measurement. Seriously,…

Dedicated to my mother. The first reading, taken from the opening verse of the book that we usually call the ‘Acts of the Apostles’, is clearly presented as a sequel to the Gospel of Luke. As Bishop Tom Wright says, it could just as easily be called the Acts of King Jesus, part II. For…

One of the challenges of anyone attempting to read through the Bible are the encounters with the chapters that contain bizarre laws or content that seems to offer no significant spiritual content. For example, if you start with the book of Genesis, the pace and scope of the narrative will carry you through the book…

Finally in the season of Easter we arrive at the end of the story with the final two chapters of the book of Revelation being the centrepiece of the liturgy this week and next (the second reading is in the middle/centre of the liturgy of the word). The vision that St John receives in Revelation…

After these things I looked, and behold, a great crowd that no one was able to number, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands. Rev 7:9 [LEB] Two weeks ago I mentioned that our…

The final chapter in the Gospel of John is simply fascinating – on so many levels. The fact that the beloved disciple, the author of this gospel, whom tradition has always named as John, the brother of James and son of Zebedee, clearly finishes the gospel at the end of chapter 20 is curious in…

I love going to the movies. There is something great about being in a dark theatre, waiting for the curtain to open and the movie to ‘roll’ so that you can be transported into another world. One of the most memorable experiences of this is almost twenty years ago, during my first trip overseas. It…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

Jesus demonstrates what it looks like and what is possible as a human being to say a complete yes as a servant of the perfect will of God. Most of our life is marked by living with compromise and settling for second best – or worse for addiction, failure and sin. As we walk with…

This week at the World Youth Day preparation session held in Sydney, I gave the opening formation session, breaking open the message that was given by Pope Benedict for the WYD to be held in Rio de Janeiro in July this year. While the recording on the day did not work, I have since re-recorded…

With the election this week of Pope Francis, many people have been excited by his choice of name, his evident humility in bowing and asking for the blessing of the crowd, his payment of his hotel bill, catching the bus rather than being chauffeured and many more; but others have been disturbed by this simplicity…

The parable of the lost sons (Luke 15:11-32) is so rich and so regularly commented upon, that today I will note only a few things. We perhaps miss the extent of the insult that the younger son levels against his father when he asks for the share of the inheritance – not only is he…

When we come across Moses wandering through the wilderness, caring for the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, we are not told how often he has come to this particular place. Although the text calls it the mountain of the Lord, it is clear that is anachronistic – it only becomes worthy of that designation as…