Monday, 22 September 2025
When Gifts Are Shared, God’s Light Is Revealed – Monday Week 25 in Ordinary Time
‘No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar … but puts it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.’ (Luke 8:16)
In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds us that no one lights a lamp to hide it away. The light is meant to be seen, to guide, and to give hope. Each of us carries a unique light, a grace entrusted to us by God. Some graces shine in teaching or building,…
Saturday, 20 September 2025
The Soil of My Heart – Memorial Sts Andrew Kim Tae-gon, priest, martyr, Paul Chong Ha-sang & companions, martyrs
‘But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.’ (Luke 8:15)
In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us that the Word of God is like seed: generous, abundant, and scattered everywhere with hope. But its growth depends on the soil it lands in. We know what it is like to live on rocky ground, when faith feels shallow and struggles quickly overwhelm…
Friday, 19 September 2025
Women hold up half of the Sky – Friday Week 24 in Ordinary Time
Some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities….and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.’ (Luke 8:2,3)
Today’s Gospel passage offers a brief but profound glimpse into the inclusive and transformative nature of Jesus’ ministry. As Jesus travels from town to town proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom, He is accompanied not only by the twelve disciples but also by several women who had been healed…
Thursday, 18 September 2025
True Worship – Thursday Week 24 in Ordinary Time
‘She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.’ (Luke 7:38)
I always think first of the smell that must have filled the room when this woman poured ointment over Jesus’ feet—the way it would have disrupted the senses of everyone present. Her behaviour, too, was disruptive: a woman of low reputation engaging in an act, so intimate, so vulnerable. That…
Wednesday, 17 September 2025
Children of Wisdom – Wednesday Week 24 in Ordinary Time
“The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” (Luke 7:34-35)
In today’s Gospel, Jesus responds to the restless, critical spirit of His generation. John the Baptist came with austerity, and people dismissed him as possessed. Jesus came with joy and welcome, and they labelled him a glutton and a drunkard. Nothing was good enough because their hearts were closed. Jesus’…
Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Compassionate God – Memorial of Sts Cornelius, pope, martyr and Cyprian, bishop, martyr
‘He had compassion for her.’ (Luke 7:13)
In today’s gospel we have a very public miracle – a man is restored to life at the busiest and most public place in a town – at the town gates where travellers, merchants and ordinary people go in and out, about their daily lives. In the midst of this,…
Monday, 15 September 2025
He learned to Obey and became the source of Eternal Salvation – Memorial Our Lady of Sorrows
‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel. (Luke 2:34)
Yesterday was the Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross. Today, we celebrate Our Lady of Sorrows. Today’s first reading is the kerygma in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews. Paul speaks of the obedience of Jesus in accepting death on the cross for eternal salvation. The Gospel takes us…
Sunday, 14 September 2025
Standing in front of the Cross – Feast The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
‘God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.’ (John 3:17)
Some years ago, while visiting our son who was studying in Madrid, we visited the Prado Museum. Our guide invited us to stand in front of Velazquez’ painting of the Crucifixion. Looking at a copy of the picture today reminds me of the questions asked in the First Week of…
Saturday, 13 September 2025
A Tree and its Fruit – Memorial St John Chrysostom, bishop, doctor
‘For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit.’ (Luke 6:43)
In my own life, how often do I act contrary to what God is telling me to do? As part of my work, I speak with people who are discerning big choices in their lives, and often we already know what the right thing to do is. The trick is…
Friday, 12 September 2025
Pot, Kettle. – Friday Week 23 in Ordinary Time
‘First take the log out of your own eye’ (Luke 6:42)
I think we are all familiar with this reading and its common use friend ‘pot calling the kettle black.’ We seem to feel the need to comment on the faults we see in others so readily but seemingly are oblivious to the enormous clangers in our own lives. Is it…