It’s so easy not to notice or listen to people calling out for help, especially those on the margins of what might be thought of as “normal” living. Parents of children in poverty and those forced to use food banks, the homeless, those suffering domestic abuse, prisoners crammed into tiny cells with no chance of …
In the Gospel for this Sunday which is also “World Mission Day in the Catholic Church, we hear something quite startling. James and John who along with Peter were the inner circle among Jesus’ apostles, ask Jesus for a favour. They ask if they can sit on either side of him in his glory. Jesus …
How can we have eternal life? For those who believe in God, this is the key question. We cannot earn eternal life by good deeds as a right. We cannot achieve that state of life or righteousness which is necessary to be acceptable to God. We are just not good enough and never will be. …
Answers to the really big questions of life can be found in the teaching of Jesus Christ. In last Sunday’s gospel we find the following; “But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. This is why a man must leave father and mother, and the two become one body.” (Mark 10:1-19) …
“Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.” (Mark 9: 38) So begins the gospel reading for this Sunday’s Mass. Jesus replies, “You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle …
In the Sunday Gospel at Mass this week Jesus speaks of service when he hears that the apostles had been arguing about who is the greatest. Instead, Jesus says, if anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all. (Mark.9: 30 – 37) This stands in stark contrast …
This quote from the prophet Hosea chapter 8; 7 which was the first reading in Catholic churches today, refers to the Godless actions of the people of Israel. God is a God of mercy, but, mercy can only be received by repentant hearts. God is not a permissive God. Those who transgress the immutable laws …
On Tuesday 28 November 2023, Labour MPs Dame Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy tabled amendments NC1 and NC2 respectively to the Government’s Criminal Justice Bill. Both amendments would decriminalise abortion. On 25 January 2024, these amendments were debated at Committee stage and withdrawn. Now, Diana Johnson has tabled a very similar amendment, in the hope that it will be …
In this Sunday’s Gospel, the third Sunday of Lent, we hear about how Jesus drove the money changers out of the Temple with the words, “Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.” When challenged by the Jews and asked for a sign to justify this, Jesus says …
Today Lent begins where there is special emphasis on prayer, fasting and almsgiving. For those with no relationship with our loving heavenly Father and Jesus, the only begotten Son sent into the world to save us, prayer is not possible – for those desiring such a relationship, our first prayer might be “speak Lord your …