One of the most important things we can learn about the gospels is the nature of the language that the writers use.  It is the language of parables – a language, it seems, favoured by Jesus himself. Jesus was a great teacher, as we know. He was a great storyteller and he constantly uses stories to communicate his message.  But the parables are not simply stories.  A parable is very particular kind of story:  it is a story that is designed to confuse us, to unsettle us, even in some cases, to shock us. We have grown used to them.  They are not unfamiliar. But yet, there is something in each of them that doesn’t make sense.…

Over this last week, throughout Australia, National Child Protection Week has been commemorated.  On this Sunday, the Church in Australian celebrates Child Protection Sunday. These are important commemorations especially given our recent history. We know only too well that those who are vulnerable in our midst suffer most when there is a culture of silence and suppression both within families and communities. Closed families and closed institutions create situations of self-preservation which place them above a sense of genuine self-examination and, on occasions, even above community responsibilities.  It is precisely this inward absorption of both families and communities that Jesus himself confronts in the gospel we hear this weekend.   Jesus calls us…

In the annals of Christian legend there is a famous story about one of the early Roman martyrs, St Lawrence. Lawrence lived in a time of persecution, and as a deacon was responsible for his community’s administration.  The Roman prefect had already taken the Bishop of Rome into custody and was about to do the same with Lawrence. However, realizing that Lawrence had the keys to the community store, and thinking that this might contain much gold and silver, the Prefect first demanded that Lawrence show him the location of the store. Being a wily administrator and not losing his cool, Lawrence said, “Give me three days and I will make…

As the football season reaches towards the Finals emotions are mixed. For the supporters of those teams that meet the Finals there is a great deal of excitement. For others, our teams have not met our expectations. We think, well next year things will be better, but we know that we are not promised such a guarantee.  Whether it is for our sporting teams, or in many other aspects of our life, we want the best that is possible, and this expectation begins to infiltrate most dimensions of our lives.  For example, in our relationships we can easily be led into thinking about how we might achieve the best partner, or…