Everyone has gifts, talents and abilities acquired through nature (our genes) and nurture (upbringing, education, formation). Do we know what our gifts are? Do we set out to discover our gifts more deeply, to grow our gifts and most importantly use them as we should? Jesus tells a parable which begins, “the kingdom of heaven …
Whether or not we would admit it, most have people they admire and even perhaps take as role models. Certainly, it cannot be denied that there are amazing examples of the best humanity has to offer. The Church wisely takes this human trait to heart in proclaiming some as saints in heaven because of the …
“Tell those who have been invited,’ he said, ‘that I have my banquet all prepared, my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding.’ But they were not interested” (Matthew 22:4-6) Jesus is telling this parable to the chief priests and elders of the people. The wedding feast is …
In today’s Gospel reading at Mass we hear Jesus words loud and clear – “…if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.” (Matthew 18: 19) …
On Wednesday this week the Church recalled and celebrated the birth and naming of John the Baptist, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets whose mission was to prepare the way for Jesus. When the Angel appeared to Mary to ask her to be the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God she was told …
When we say “Give us this day our daily bread,” in the Lord’s Prayer or “Our Father,” we can be asking God for what we need for the day. But we especially ask for the Bread which is Jesus himself – the “Body of Christ received in the Eucharist.”(See Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1384) …
“You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (John 20:29) In the Gospel reading for this Sunday we hear that Jesus appeared among his disciples who were hiding behind closed doors for fear of the Jews who had arranged for Jesus to be crucified. “Peace be …
“It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb.” (John 20:1) We see Mary of Magdala, one of Jesus’ women disciples, coming early in the morning to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. She sees straight away that the stone has …
“I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live.” (John 11 1-45) This is such an appropriate passage from the New Testament for this fifth Sunday of Lent as we approach the great feast of Easter. Jesus raised Lazarus after he had been dead for …
In this week’s Gospel for the fourth Sunday of Lent, Jesus heals a blind man. The Jewish leaders of the time, the Pharisees, were annoyed because Jesus healed him on the Sabbath which was against the Jewish law. Moreover, they believed that the man’s blindness like all sickness was because he or his parents had …