31 Sunday A - Preaching without Practising

Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration

One of the great gaps in each of our lives is between intentions and actions; we often have only the best intentions but what we actually do is a lot less wholesome. We have noble words and ig­noble deeds. We make professions of faith with our lips, but not with our deeds or our wallets; we say we are willing to be disci­ples of the master, but we often find easier paths and other guides. We claim the enlightenment of the gospel and to be the people of love and peace, yet our behaviour often brings the very name of Christ into disrepute. It is this gap that is the focus of our thoughts and prayers in this assembly. Let us reflect now on this chasm that opens up between our public religious identity and our ways of living. 

Nov 2 - All Souls

Fr. John Speekman

In the eyes of many purgatory is a bit of a ‘nuisance’ teaching belonging in the same category as angels and indulgences and even hell. It’s not easy to explain because not many understand it deeply and so it’s always making us run up not only against our own ignorance but the disbelief of our modern world as well – and that’s a real nuisance. 

The word purgatory comes from the Latin "purgare" to make clean or to purify. The Catholic Encyclopedia defines it as: a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God's grace, are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions. 

30 Sunday A - Prayers for the Liturgy

A QUICK PURVIEW OF MATTHEW'S THEME OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD DURING THESE SUNDAYS: TK

Commentary: The year grows short and the questions more direct. Once again they are going at Jesus. He has just silenced the stupid arguments of the Sadducees who did not believe in resurrection or judgment. Now the Pharisees will have another go at Jesus and one approaches with the age-old Jewish question: "Which is the most important commandment in the Law?" Jesus answers with the Shema -which is both a prayer to the holiness of God and the foundational call to the covenant and basis of all the law-to love God with all your mind, heart, soul, and resources. But Jesus adds in the second (like both sides of your hand) to love your neighbor with the same passion and wholeheartedness. Everything in the law, the prophets, the history of faithfulness in the Jewish covenant is based on putting these words into practice and obeying the intent of God that all who are made in his image, live in his image as truthfully as we can. And there is no getting around it-no hedging, no rationalizing. And we-who are we like: the Sadducees playing games with theology; the Pharisees and those using the law to test, trick and make others stumble-or are we with Jesus, intent on the worship of God and the care of human beings?

30 Sunday A - Foundations of the Kingdom: The 2 Commandments

A QUICK PURVIEW OF MATTHEW'S THEME OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD DURING THESE SUNDAYS: TK

Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration

Why have we gathered here? One answer is to assemble together to show our love for God and for one another – because the whole of the Christian way can be summed up in these two commandments. But let us pause and recall that we do not always love God with our whole hearts nor our neighbors as ourselves.

29 Sunday A - Taxes to Caesar and to God

Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration

The Holy Spirit has gathered us here to offer thanks and praise to the Father through our union with Jesus. But in discovering our relationship with God, we also discover our relationship with other human beings, and our place within God’s creation. So we are called to love and serve God and we are called to love and serve others. We often think that it is enough to serve either God or humanity: serve one and ignore the other. But life just isn’t that simple: we have to give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give back to God what belongs to God. Part of our mission as Christians is to negotiate and balance these responsibilities. It is this mission we are going to reflect on today.

Michel DeVerteuil
General Comments

 

28 Sunday A - Wedding Feast and Invitees

Starter Stories:

Post-World War II Banquet:

At the end of World War II, the Russian head-of-state gave an elaborate banquet to honor the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.  The Russians arrived in their best formal wear -- military dress uniforms -- but their honored guest did not.  Churchill arrived wearing his famous zipper coveralls that he had worn during the German bomb attack in London.  He thought it would provide a nostalgic touch the Russians would appreciate.  They didn’t.  They were humiliated and insulted that their prominent guest-of-honor had not considered their banquet worthy of his best clothes.  Wearing the right clothing to a formal dinner honors the host and the occasion; neglecting to wear the right clothing is an insult.  Weddings were such an important occasion in Palestine in Christ’s days that people were expected to wear the proper clothing to show appreciation and respect for the invitation.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus demands the wedding garment of righteousness from his followers. (Fr. Tony Kadavil)

Rare Images and Quotes of Mahatma Gandhi