For those wishing to join us at the Christmas Masses: “Midnight Mass” (preceded by Vigils) will be celebrated at 8.30 p.m. this Saturday evening, December 24. The Christmas Day Mass will be celebrated at 10.00 a.m. on Sunday, December 25.

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A, 18 December, 2022: Isaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24       Is Advent the commemoration of events past, an exercise in nostalgia? Does Advent celebrate God’s salvific engagement in the messiness of being human or is it merely a distraction from our current problems, fears, doubts and questions? Or could […]

Second Sunday of Advent, Year A, 4 December, 2022: Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12      Certainly, Jesus is never afraid to confront bigotry and hypocrisy, nor does he avoid talking about judgment or the consequences of sin. But there is a palpable contrast between the teaching of Jesus and the fiery harangues of John […]

As for me, as long as I look at myself, my eye is filled with bitterness.  But if I look up and fix my eyes on the aid of the divine mercy, this happy vision of God soon tempers the bitter vision of myself, and I say to him: “I am disturbed within so I […]

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, 20 November, 2022: 2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 21:35-43       I offer you two images of Kingship found in today’s readings and pictured in this chapel.      The first, from the Letter to the Colossians is depicted in the Madonna standing behind our choir. Here we […]

Thirty-third Sunday, Year C, 13 November, 2022: Malachi 3:19-20a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19      At the end of the Liturgical year, we celebrate cryptic gospels forecasting doom. To what does Jesus refer? The destruction of Jerusalem? The judgment of God? The advent of the Messianic age? The end of the world? By the time […]

ALL Saints, Monday 1 November, 2022: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a     There is a perspective on the Beatitudes—being poor, mourning or hungering, experiencing persecution—that could seem depressing. And then how many people do we see in our society who are actually meek, merciful or clean of heart? They would not be […]

In listening to this morning’s gospel, we perhaps find ourselves spontaneously identifying with the Tax Collector, and not with the proud Pharisee. Objectively, of course, this would be to acknowledge the truth of our situation, whereas adopting the pompous attitude of the Pharisee would be delusional. However, it is probably closer to the truth to […]

In contrast to Luke (in today’s gospel) Saint Matthew records Jesus saying that faith the size of a tiny mustard seed will move mountains—and not just a little mulberry tree! How tiny must our faith be, then, if even uprooting a mulberry tree and planting it in the sea is beyond us? Needless to say, […]

Solemnity of Saint Bernard: Sirach 3:17-24; Ephesians 3:14-19; Matthew 11:25-30      I remember an academic guest speaker, when I was a novice, who dismissed Saint Bernard’s confessions of being a sinner as something a pious writer “had to say.” But I don’t think Bernard was putting on an act since he described himself as the […]