Sunday, 27th July 2025

Transactional to Transformative – 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

‘So I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.’ (Luke 11:9)

Prayer is not something that comes easily or naturally to everyone. Our relationship with prayer can also change overtime depending on our stages of life or circumstances. While at one time prayer could be lifegiving and fruitful, at other times it could feel empty and fraught with negative emotions. Different types of prayer also resonate differently from one person to the next. Considering all the subjectivity around prayer, it makes sense then that the disciples would ask Jesus to teach them to pray and that Christians have continued to learn different ways of praying ever since..

Saturday, 26th July 2025

The Line through the Heart – Memorial Sts Joachim and Anne, parents of Blessed Virgin Mary

‘Let both of them grow together’ (Matthew 13:30)

In his monumental study of the Soviet prison system, The Gulag Archipelago, Alexander Solzhenitsyn recounts a revelation that came to him during his long years of captivity. ‘Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts.’..

Friday, 25th July 2025

The Request – Feast St James, apostle

‘Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant’ (Matthew 20:26)

In today’s Gospel, we witness an emotional lesson on service and humility. The mother of James and John requests major positions for her sons in Jesus’ kingdom. Jesus responds by emphasising that greatness comes not from power or status, but from serving others. He challenges them to drink from his cup, symbolising the trials and sacrifices inherent in true discipleship. This passage is particularly resonant on the feast of the apostle, James, highlighting his journey from ambition to humble service..

Thursday, 24th July 2025

Truly Blessed – Thursday Week 16 in Ordinary Time

‘But blessed are your eyes for they see, your ears for they hear!’ (Matthew 13:16)

Jesus became incarnate to inaugurate God’s kingdom, on earth as it is in Heaven. His Father’s plea at Jesus’s Transfiguration was ‘Listen to Him!’ (Luke 9:35). His gift of the ‘Our Father’ proclaimed that truth. His life, giving the very last drop of his blood, enacted that truth. Are we seeing and hearing with spiritual insight to absorb and enact our role in this Kingdom reality?..

Wednesday, 23rd July 2025

Sow Christ deeply within you – Wednesday Week 16 in Ordinary Time

‘A sower went out to sow.’ (Matthew 13:3)

A man once decided he was going to ‘grow the Kingdom of God’—literally. He went out, bought packets of seeds labelled ‘Faith,’ ‘Hope,’ and ‘Love,’ and planted them in his backyard. He watered them, sang hymns over them, even preached to them. Weeks passed… and nothing happened. Confused, he told his priest, who smiled and said, ‘Maybe try growing it in people, not your lawn.’..

Tuesday, 22nd July 2025

From Grief to Mission – Feast St Mary Magdalene

‘Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord.’ (John 20:18)

As we celebrate the feast of St Mary Magdalene, today’s gospel takes us to Mary weeping at the tomb, not only for the loss of her Lord but for the loss of hope itself. Yet in this moment of desolation everything changes. She moves from grief to joy, from confusion to clarity and from clinging to letting go. The risen Jesus comes to her and calls her tenderly by name: ‘Mary.’..

Monday, 21st July 2025

Signs of Jesus’ Presence – Monday Week 16 in Ordinary Time

‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.’ (Matthew 12:38)

How many times do we find ourselves asking Jesus ‘for a sign’? Maybe we can take the time to reflect on all the signs around us that witness to Jesus’ presence in our daily lives: the beauty of creation, the gift of love within families, the gift of compassion for those who are suffering, the strength and courage of those who reach out to those who are on the margins of society, the fidelity of those committed to living their gift of married life, the commitment of those who have responded to the call to follow Christ as disciples through ordained ministry and the living of the consecrated life, and the vision of those who commit themselves to new adventures..

Sunday, 20th July 2025

Pause and Listen – 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

‘There is need of only one thing’ (Luke 10:42)

Much like last Sunday’s Gospel of the Good Samaritan, this week’s gospel presents us with familiar figures who invite personal reflection. The story of Martha and Mary has been read, preached, and pondered over for centuries, yet still it surprises, still it stirs. That is the enduring beauty of Scripture: its capacity to speak differently into our lives depending on the season we are in..

Saturday, 19th July 2025

Dealing with conflict .. Jesus’s way – Saturday Week 15 in Ordinary Time

‘He will not break a bruised reed’ (Matthew 12:20)

How do we act when confronted with conflict, injustice, and malign resistance?..

Friday, 18th July 2025

A Temple of Living Stones – Friday Week 15 in Ordinary Time

‘I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.’ (Matthew 12:6)

Jesus was speaking of himself when he said, ‘Something greater than the temple is here.’ He also declared, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ (John 2:19–21). He was speaking of his body, but also of the mystical temple he would raise up through his death and resurrection—the temple made of living stones, confirmed by Saint Peter when he says, ‘Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.’ (1 Peter 2:5)..