Thoughts and Reflections

1 Kings 3:5-6a, 7-12/ Ps 119(118)/ Romans 8:28-30/ Matthew 13:44-52 Today we live in a time of instant answers. If we want to know something, anything at all, we simply take out our phones and ask. When I was young, things were different. We had an encyclopaedia on the bookshelf at home, along with a dictionary or two and the Bible. If those did not have the answer, we could go to the library and research the query. Today we have the whole of human knowledge in the palm of ou

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19/ Ps 86(85)/ Romans 8:26-27/ Matthew 13:24-43 Many of us may have tried to cultivate a vegetable patch in our gardens or allotments. Some of us may have become quite successful, providing fruit and vegetables for ourselves and others from our perseverance and patience. It can be a frustrating undertaking as we contend with the relentless progress of weeds that always seem to grow bigger and better without any help from us. We might have done everything righ

Isaiah 55:10-11/ Ps 65(64)/ Romans 8:18-23/ Matthew 13:1-23 Consider two people attending the same Mass on a Sunday. They hear the same readings, music, and homily. When they leave church something different has happened inside each of them. One of them is already thinking about lunch, what to do that afternoon, the emails piling up at work. By the time they reach home there is no memory of a single word of the Gospel yet alone the homily. The other person heard one line that

Zechariah 9:9-10/ Ps 145(144)/ Romans 8:9, 11-13/ Matthew 11:25-30 Think back to Palm Sunday and the image of Jesus entering Jerusalem. He did not enter the city with a flourish of kingship and splendour. He rode on a borrowed donkey. The crowds greeted their Messiah, ready to crown a great leader, only to see him approaching on a donkey, his feet almost dragging on the ground. This is what the prophet Zechariah foretold, a king, a triumphant saviour, who would come not with

Acts 12:1-11/ Ps 34(33)/2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18/ Matthew 16:13-19 Consider a parish council meeting where two members just cannot see eye to eye. One is practical, plain-spoken and has been around the parish for many years, knows everyone, but is not one for theology. The other is a sharp, university-educated newcomer who can quote scripture and church documents chapter and verse. They clash, disagree, sometimes openly, in front of everyone. You might expect one of them to sto