Fr Tom’s Homilies
Jesus Touches Our Loneliness An older woman and a young girl both encounter Jesus in moments of great isolation and loneliness. Two women alone in the middle of crowds! The older woman is older, because of her flow of blood, is considered by Jewish law to be ritually impure, and so is unable to attend … [Read more…]
Stormy Weather By Father David McLean, O.P. The idea of the Church as a ship has always been popular. In today’s gospel reading we can see the biblical inspiration for nautical themes. It is imagery the early church was quick to pick up on. Many of the early disciples were fishermen, and the apostles spread … [Read more…]
Sowing in Time, Sowing for Eternity The Parable of the Developing Seed has three phases. In the first phase the seed is sown. The second phase is one of growth. The third and final phase is the action of harvesting. Phase one is the arrival of God’s Kingdom. Jesus announced it as arriving with Him. … [Read more…]
Corpus Christi: The Body of Christ. Amen! Today’s reading from Exodus can be a bit off-putting: Moses splashes the blood onto the altar, and splashes it onto the people. Why? What seems repugnant to us was of central importance to them: symbolizing a new life belonging to God. For the people of Israel, blood meant … [Read more…]
We Are Baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit What an enormous privilege and dignity we receive in becoming adopted sons and daughters of the “Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” John Grondelski BlogsMay 30, 2021 From the National Catholic Register As noted in the … [Read more…]
Air gets everywhere – it fills our lungs, our rooms, our homes, and the whole world. What a fitting image it is, therefore, for the Holy Spirit, the ruah Adonai, the “Breath of God” who fills all creation and gives to it the gifts and blessings of the living and true God. For the Spirit of … [Read more…]
We tend to think along a sequence, especially when it comes to the passing of time. One hour follows another; one year follows another, and so on and so on. Ever since most of us had a watch of our own, the passing of time becomes noticeable to us. We glance at watches and clocks … [Read more…]
Back in the Middle Ages alchemy was popular. It believed that transmutation, the changing of some essential element into a superior form, could be possible. For example many alchemists tried to change lead into gold through various experiments using heat and the mixing of liquids. They also tried to concoct various elixirs to cure diseases, to … [Read more…]
By Father Dominic Ryan, O.P. We Christians like to use images to better understand the relationship Christ has with us. Sometimes, for example, we speak of Christ as the head of the body which is the Church and ourselves as members of that body. Other times we describe ourselves as people who have heard the … [Read more…]
By Father Aidan Nichols, O.P. Being compared with sheep is not generally regarded as highly complimentary. As reflected in the phrase ‘as silly as a sheep’, sheep have a reputation for being over-docile, following each other snout-to-tail in an uncritical fashion. There are even those who maintain that speaking of the Church’s faithful … [Read more…]