Homilies
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Mass of the Lord’s Supper – 17 April 2025
A former parishioner of mine, recounted to me how, many years ago, she went to Mass at her local parish. It was a weekday Mass, and the priest asked for a Eucharistic Minister to assist him. And so Rachel stood up and came forward. “The Body of Christ . . . Amen . . . the Body of Christ . . . Amen.” Person after person came forward and the repetition of her statement and prayer somehow began to sink into her bones. The last person came up and with something of an exuberant glee exclaimed in a loud voice – but more than loud – a joyous voice., “Amen!” Straight after Mass, Rachel…
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Palm Sunday – 13 April 2025
Today, throughout the world, marches for peace are held. Palm Sunday has become a day on which rallies for peace are staged in many of the cities of the world. It leads us to ask what is it about this day that speaks of peace, of the hope for peace? Though many who march for peace today may not even be Christian, and though perhaps a number of people take part in the walks do so for quite a mixture of motivation, nonetheless it would seem that the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem that we commemorate on this day has something that speaks of the possibility of peace. How is this so? It…
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Fifth Sunday of Lent – 6 April 2025 – Fifth Reflection on Hope in the Year of Jubilee – Becoming Agents of Hope
Through this season of Lent, we have been exploring the theme of Hope, the focus of our current Year of Jubilee. We have reflected on how hope arises from our needs, on how hope opens us to the future, how it is guaranteed by our faith in Christ Jesus and in his Resurrection, and how it is our Christian answer to the encounter of evil because it is a pronouncement that the evil is never the final word, that something bigger is at work. And now we come to the final reflection in our series: how each of us is called to become an agent of hope. Do I offer…
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Fourth Sunday of Lent – 30 March 2025 – Fourth Reflection on Hope: Christian hope as the assertion of the absurdity of evil.
In this Year of Jubilee, from the beginning of our season of Lent, we have been reflecting on the focal theme of the Jubilee – hope. We began by reflecting on how hope rises from those situations of limit in our life. We come across a limit, as it were, and hope takes us beyond this into something beyond that limit. In this way, hope is linked to our hungers, our needs. And yet, secondly, we reflected on that we would not hope if we did not have a sense of future, that there was a future. We hope to the extent that we believe there is a future. And who…
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Second Sunday of Lent – 16 March 2025 – Second Reflection on Hope in the Year of Jubilee: Hope – doorway into the future
Through each Sunday of Lent in this Year of Jubilee, I have invited us to go on journey of reflection on the nature of Hope. Pope Francis has put to us the theme of Hope for this year of celebration with the scriptural verse, “Hope will not disappoint” (Rom 5:5), and so it seems opportune for us to reflect on this systematically. And what better time to do this than through Lent, the period of renewal and hope? Last Sunday, we explored how the experience of hope arises from our needs, of how it is connected to the hungers in our hearts, and we touched upon the power when we…
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First Sunday of Lent – 9 March 2025 – First Reflection on Hope in the Year of Jubilee: Hope born from our Hunger
This year we celebrate our Season of Lent in a Year of Jubilee. And the theme of this Year of Jubilee is that of Hope. “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5) is the scriptural verse chosen to highlight this. Therefore, this particular Lent seems an opportune time for us to explore together the nature of Hope. Over each Sunday of Lent this year, therefore, I would like to focus on Hope, and to invite us into a journey of reflection on Hope. What is hope? From where does it arise? Why is it so important in our life of faith? What is its connection to faith and charity? How can…
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Ash Wednesday – 5 March 2025
Pope Francis once spoke about the new poverties, “poverties produced by the culture of wellbeing.”[1] And in that light he defined the poor today as those who are those afraid of the future.[2] Those afraid of the future. On this Ash Wednesday, all of us are poor because for all of us the future presents with great uncertainty. The world order is changing; decisions are being made by powerful people that will have dramatic consequences for much of the world, including ourselves. The distinctions between truth and falsehood, fact and fiction, have become intentionally blurred so that the masses might not stand in the way of powerful and sinister political and social agendas.…
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Mass celebrating the 135th Anniversary of Mercy Catholic College – 3 March 2025
In 1890, one hundred and thirty-five years ago, Mercy College was established. Australia was still a collection of British colonies, not yet federated; the Australasian Federal Convention which laid the groundwork for Federation only first met in this year. It was a moment of possibility and opportunity. Yet, it was also a year of great social unrest. In the late 19th century, there had been rapid economic growth, driven by industries like wool, mining and shipping. However, the growth was uneven, and workers often faced poor wages, long hours and harsh conditions. In August 1890, the now famous national Maritime strike began, paralysing the ports of Sydney. A state of emergency…
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8th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2 March 2025
The German writer, Deitrich Bonheoffer gave us the distinction between what he called, on the one hand, ‘cheap grace’ and, on the other, ‘costly grace.’ Writing in Germany in the 1930s he lamented the way in which the Christian Churches had so accommodated themselves to the prevailing currents as to have lost their genuine sense of discipleship of the Risen Lord. And this could equally be a possibility in our own time in which we can be swayed by political forces that use the term Christian to describe their aspirations, but which, in their conduct, are in no way Christian. Of course, this is always a tendency for us. we…
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Australia Day – 26 January 2025
We often refer to the ‘word of the year’ – a word that encapsulates so much of the tenor and mood of a year that has gone. The word for 2024? “Brain-rot.”[1] Proposed by Oxford University Press, it’s a rather shocking indictment of where we. As the publishing house described, ‘brain rot’ is defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration”. Oxford University Press goes on to explain, “The first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s…