Reflections

Once upon a time I had the privilege of belonging to a Choral Society. It sounds flash but it was a real challenge. The music dots on the page never made much sense. But still I persisted and there was no test at the end. It was a different group of people who had no...Continue reading→

During this advent season I have offered  a mini series of homilies entitled “Gifts for God” using the gifts the magi brought to Jesus. Gold, Frankincense and myrrh. Today, on the 4th Sunday of Advent, we will be pondering on the mystery of Mother Mary, because she gave her very self. Her whole being,  Body...Continue reading→

We usually  think that the only time Jesus was offered myrrh was when the magi came to visit the Christ child. The reality is that Jesus  was offered myrrh several times in his life and in his death. The other interesting discovery is the people who offered it to him. Almost always, it was the...Continue reading→

I learnt a new phrase off the Television the other night. The phrase is ‘Cancel Culture’. Great! This is really good news. There are times in our life when we need a fresh start and to have our past cancelled. A culture of forgiveness and reconciliation. But no.. that is not what ‘Cancel culture’ is...Continue reading→

On a crisp early morning around the lake, I was jogging steadily. Not at lightning speed, just fast enough to sustain the momentum and the stamina. Some folk were doing the same thing except they were going in the opposite direction so we crossed paths twice. On the second time one of them called out...Continue reading→

During this advent season I’m offering a mini series of homilies entitled “Gifts for God” reflecting on the gifts the magi brought to Jesus. Gold, Frankincense and myrrh. On the 4th Sunday of Advent, we will be pondering on the mystery of Mother Mary, because she gave her very self. Her whole being,  Body and...Continue reading→

During this advent season I’m offering a mini series entitled “Gifts for God” reflecting on the gifts the magi brought to Jesus. Gold, Frankincense and myrrh. On the 4th Sunday of Advent, we will be pondering on the mystery of Mother Mary, not just because it is very close to Christmass, not just because the...Continue reading→

I was reading something rather insightful the other day. It was about trying to adjust to the ‘new norm’ when we are not quite sure what the ‘new norm’ actually is. The new norm is rather slippery and changes even before we have begun to get our head around it. No wonder there is a...Continue reading→

The usual path for the intrepid preacher for today is to encourage the patient listener to reach  out and care for those who are less fortunate and at this point in history there are plenty of them. In the gospel reading these are the stranger, those in prison, the hungry and the thirsty. And the...Continue reading→

Today I would like to offer you a personal story. It happened a long time ago, about 32 years to be exact. Jeanine was pregnant with our 2nd child and we were enjoying our first born Stephanie. We were in the parish of Timboon which had St. Jude as it’s patron. St. Jude is the...Continue reading→

In praise of Sir Paul The text for today “Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.” A music worm is one of those tunes that you hear and just can’t quite get out of your head....Continue reading→

If you were to sneak into the Lady Chapel a few moments before morning prayer, you probably wouldn’t see anything much. Just some old guy sitting by quietly himself. Not a lot seems to be happening. The dew of silence has deliciously settled over this space. Silence has at least two different levels. First, there...Continue reading→

A bit of background might help us understand this parable. The marriage custom in Jesus day was as follows: The Groom would prepare a place for his bride. It might be his own house or a place at his father’s house. Then he would go to the father in law's place to get her. There...Continue reading→

It happened while we were in Bright. We looked at the map and thought. “Yep that looks like a good walk to do. Oh yes, I know where that street is”. And donning our waterproofs we strode out full of confidence and vigour. The atmosphere was invigorating, the scenery was stunning. We found a couple...Continue reading→

By a happy coincidence All Saints day falls on a Sunday this year. It’s a day when we think about the high profile saints. St. Paul, Our Lady, the Big 12 and you can probably think of a few yourself. In this parish we have St. Mark, patron of Cavendish, St. Peter patron of Glenthompson...Continue reading→

This is a bit zany so just hang in there. Zoom meetings are all the go right? If you want to have a conversation with someone legitimately, but are not in their bubble, then Zoom is for you. So what if we could have a Zoom meeting with You Know Who? Yes…Him..The Almighty… The Master....Continue reading→

I’ve just come from the stimulating experience of vacuuming the car. Something that I have putting off for far too long. Why is that? It's not painful, it didn’t cost anything and yet for some indiscernible reason I was happy to let the grime, the grit and the lolly papers accumulate in nasty dark corners...Continue reading→

From the comfort of the 21st century we might be tempted to think that Jesus was popular all the time with all the people. All that healing and feeding surely won friends. This wasn’t actually the case. But Jesus did not make a lot of friends with the two major religious parties of the day....Continue reading→

The year 2020 has been one like no other. The whole COVID catastrophe has meant that we have had to rethink our Annual Fete so that it has become ‘A Fete like no other.’ Due to the health restrictions, we have to abandon the usual format and instead we are simply asking folk to see...Continue reading→

It is a well known secret that Moses is one of Fr. Davids pin up boys. In the beginning Moses was just minding his own business,  he naively turned aside to go and see what the problem is with the burning bush.Moses argues strenuously with God that he doesn’t want to deal with Pharaoh  and...Continue reading→