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17 Oct 2026

Mission Sunday 2026

This weekend we celebrate Mission Sunday the day when we celebrate the missionary effort of the church in the world. Today, World Mission Day is celebrated  in Ireland in October. Our annual celebration of Mission Sunday gives us the opportunity to acknowledge all the missionary men and women who left everything behind in order to bring the light of faith to the far corners of the world.  All of us will have heard of someone who has joined one of the missionary orders such as Columbans, Mill Hill Fathers, St. Patricks Fathers the Medical Missionaries of Mary there are many  other missionary religious orders who along with the Lay Missionary movements have gone out into the world to bring the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. 

In our first reading the trauma of the Babylonian exile was ended by the Persian king, Cyrus.  After conquering the power of Babylon, he issued a decree that all the peoples who had been taken should be allowed to return to their home country. The author of this section of Isaiah sees God working through the king for the sake of the Chosen People.  In our Second reading from the letter to the Thessalonians suggests that Paul had spent some time in Thessalonika. His companions, Timothy and Silvanus, join him in sending greetings to the largely Gentile Christian community that he had established. From the exuberant tone of the final verse, we get the impression that Paul’s teaching had been received with much enthusiasm.  In a pagan world, the message that there was a God of love must have come as an exhilarating force for transformation in their lives.  This Sundays  Gospel  passage is built around the saying in verse 21, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”. It is a “wisdom saying” and the passage invites us to enter into it with our feelings. Its truth should touch us so deeply that we are filled with humility as we realise that we do not live up to it  as individuals, as Church and as communities when we put Cesar before God.  Perhaps Jesus’ words that the coin which bears Caesar’s image belongs to Caesar means also that those things which bear the image of God belong to God.

We have the responsibility as people of faith to speak the truth with charity, clarity and conviction.  We also have the responsibility to work and pray for peace especially when so much of the world is currently at war. God wants all of us  to  experience his saving presence in our lives. It is through God’s grace that we have received the Gospel Message of faith and then we are sent by the Holy Spirit to be ambassadors of heavenly Father. Will we accept the invitation to join in God’s mission by our prayers and support for those who are out there on the missions as well as  those who need our help closer to home on the mission fields that sadly many of  our countries  have  become.  When we think about the three parables we have heard over recent weeks, we can say that the idea of giving back to God what belongs to God can be understood as giving back the love, generosity, justice and goodness we have received from our father in heaven. Just as God did not lose anything by giving us these gifts, we don’t lose anything by making them real in our lives, so that others may also see them and share in God’s life through us. Our prayer today is that the Lord will continue to inspire many people to join the missionary effort of the Church  locally and throughout the world so that the  love of God may be passed on to each generation in its turn as it has been passed on to all of us in our own time and place.

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10 Oct 2026

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

THE WEDDING FEAST

On the 7th October we celebrated the feast of the Holy Rosary Pope Francis called the rosary a “simple contemplative prayer, accessible to all, great and small, the educated and those with little education. In the Rosary while we repeat the Hail Mary we meditate on the Mysteries, on the events of Christ’s life, so as to know and love him ever better. The Rosary is an effective means for opening ourselves to God. “Each time we pray the Rosary, he said, “we are taking a step forward, towards the great destination of life” heaven. May we take the opportunities that are given to us to join together in saying the rosary of our lady during this month of October in our families as individuals and as Parish Communities where we live.

In the First reading we hear from Isiah Although he  foresaw the destruction of the nation by the invading Babylonians, he could also offer words of consolation. The ruined Temple would be restored. God would be ‘enthroned’ on his holy mountain of Jerusalem, and the people would be invited to a royal banquet. But the prophet’s vision goes further than imagining a time of the restoration of the nation; all nations will be invited to this banquet. Death itself will be defeated.  There will be no more mourning, no more tears. So, the divine banquet becomes a metaphor for the final realisation of God’s kingdom. In the Second Reading we are told The Philippians had made a collection for Paul, brought to him by one of their number.  He says he has become accustomed to the changes in his circumstances, and he thanks them for their concern for his welfare.  God will reward their generosity, just as he gave Paul the strength to face whatever lies ahead.

In the Gospel reading we hear about the king sending his servants out to call all those who were invited to come to his son’s wedding but none of the invited guests would come. So, the king told his servants to go out and invite everyone on the road to come to the wedding feast.  Jesus tells the parable because his ways doing and saying things had been criticized by the “the chief priests and the elders of the people.”  They rejected him so now he turns to  everyone on the road, and he welcomes the outcasts the poor, the sinners, and the outsiders. Matthew emphasizes, not only the importance of the meal, but the urgent need we have to respond to God the fathers  invitation to his feast.  In the parable those who did respond to the invitation,  did so with enthusiasm and joy. They knew a good thing when they heard it and grasped it immediately, filling the banquet hall just as the king had wanted for his son. Today all of us who say we are Christians are also invited to the wedding feast and this is a pointer towards our participation in the life of the Church where we are now as well as pointing to  eternal life in heaven.

This weekend’s parable reminds all of us that God’s invitation is his gift to us, and it is freely given so that we can accept or ignore it. We are invited to a feast of great joy, and we need to make sure that others feel welcome to join us on our journey to the feast, especially those who don’t get invitations to a feast very often if at all. Those who gathered in from the highways and byways had no claim on the king who really is God our Father. We, too, have no claim on God, We do not merit God’s invitation on our own. It is a grace the father  lovingly offers to each and every one of us. Hopefully all of us will be able to accept the invitation to come to the feast and enjoy it when we get there instead of being like the invited guests who did not come to the wedding feast who were left behind.

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26 Sep 2026

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In our first reading for this Sunday, we hear the prophet Ezekiel responding to the charge that God is unjust as god punished the individual for their own actions instead of relying  on the promises of God to Israel as a nation. He goes on to say that each individual will be judged by their own actions and that repentance from sin will win that person pardon and life. In the Second Reading St. Paul tells us that Self seeking rivalry has no place within the Christian community and that the self-emptying of Christ should serve as an example to all those who call themselves Christian. We remember that God rewarded the obedience and humility of Jesus  raised him high and gave him the name that is above all other names.

In our Gospel reading for this weekend, we hear the story of the two sons. The first son, who said no to his father, but who went and did what his father wanted. And then the second  son, who says yes to the father but does not do what his father asked him to do . The first son “thought the better of it.” He was open to change. The second son was set in his ways and closed to what he should have been doing. The ability to change one’s mind is essential to all healthy relationships.  A mind that is closed, whether from pride, stubbornness or stupidity, tends to destroy all relationships, For example when we refuse to admit a mistake, when we are unwilling to apologise and change our ways, when we persist in prejudice against an individual person or group, and when we think we know it all when the truth is that we don’t.  Jesus surprises the people around him by responding favorably to the actions of the tax collectors and prostitutes who may have gotten it wrong at first but have come to their senses and come back with all their hearts.   All of us can truthfully say, “I have made mistakes.” But here now and we are doing our best to follow the ways of the Lord. We try our best to receive the strength of Christ, the power of the Gospel, and try to integrate this into our daily lives.

This parable is Good News for those who think it is too late to change as it points out something very important about faith and religion. Religious practices have to be based on and animated by faith in god the Father. If we really want to honour our God, we must find ways to do the will of the Father. Sometimes it won’t be easy, sometimes it will be very hard.  The Lord calls us to a living faith where we enter into a real relationship with God and that requires an authentic desire to follow Christ, whatever the cost is for us. Through this parable of “the second chance,” grace is given to enable us “to change our minds.” so that we can start anew. Jesus  who tells this parable to us assures us we have his help to redirect our lives  to say “Yes” to the God who calls and enables us to change our hearts and our minds in order to bring about his kingdom in our world where we are today.

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22 Aug 2026

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the First Reading  from Isaiah The LORD declares that He will remove Shebna from his position and replace him with Eliakim. Eliakim will have authority and be like a trusted peg, honoured by his family. In the Second Reading  from Romans declare that the vastness of God’s wisdom and knowledge is incomprehensible. No one can fully understand His mind or advise Him. Everything originates from and exists for Him. Glory to Him eternally. This weekend in our gospel reading Jesus asks the apostles “who do you say the Son of Man is?” Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi in the northeastern corner of Palestine. There no one would not look for Him. He had much to teach the twelve before He could leave them this was quality teaching time.

So, He put the question to them that went to the heart of the matter, “Who do you say I am?” Peter acting as spokesman for the others told Him He was “the Son of the living God” Peter confesses the deep mystery of Jesus, who is the Christ and the Son of God.  In the light of this inspired confession, Peter is chosen to be the rock on which the Church is built. When Jesus told him, “ you are Peter and, on this rock, I will build my Church” Peter received the gift of being the leader of the Church. Peter was first among the apostles, first among those who were called to proclaim the Kingdom of God on earth. Peter took leadership in the Church at Pentecost. After he, the apostles and Mary, received the Holy Spirit, Peter led everyone out to the Temple and began preaching the good news to the people. After Saul became Paul, after the persecutor of the primitive Church accepted Jesus Christ, Paul spent three years in the desert reflecting on his experience of the Lord on the Road to Damascus. He then went to Jerusalem to receive Peter’s blessing and commission to bring the Good News of the Gospel to the world.  We do not know how Peter got to Rome. We know that he was there, though. We know that Peter died in Rome, crucified head down. The excavations under the Basilica of St. Peter revealed a tomb with the words, Here Lies Peter. We also know that when Peter died, the charism he was given to lead the Church remained active in Rome.  The ones who took his place were St. Linus, and those who followed him, St. Cletus, St. Clement in the Apostolic succession right through the centuries up until Pope Leo  in our present time.

All of the Holy Fathers are recognized as having received the  same charism that the Lord gave to Peter to lead the Church and this has passed down through the centuries. As time went on, these bishops of Rome would be given the title, Pope, Papa, Father of the Family, leader of the Church.  Through our baptism, all Christians have received a share in the power of the keys to heaven. With that power goes responsibility to witness to the Gospel.  God gives authority to those He chooses. Our Challenge is to Trust that God is at work through His Church and its leaders. From the very beginning we have had both saints and sinners among our popes, bishops, priests, religious and laity. But the Gospel reassures us that, in spite of our weakness and the many ways in which we may be found wanting, God is still close to us and faith is a journey, not a destination. So let us continue our Journey as we go forward together in faith.

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01 Aug 2026

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We are at the beginning of August and It will be no time until the schools reopen at the beginning of September and the summer holidays for 2026 will be a distant but hopefully a good memory. Time waits on no one and for many of us it is passing by just too quickly. The First Reading is taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 55:1-3. The prophet, living among the Jewish exiles in Babylon, utters words of consolation for the despairing exiles. Here he tells them that Yahweh is inviting them to a banquet which he freely gives them. Yahweh alone can provide for their real needs; they are foolish to look elsewhere for consolation or help. If they cooperate, he will fulfil the promise he had made to David, the promise of a future Messiah. The Second Reading is from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans 8:35, 37-39. St. Paul concludes this chapter with a hymn in praise of God’s love for us: “with God on our side,” he says, “who can be against us?” Then come today’s verses, which are rhetorical questions, showing that there is no power in heaven or on earth that can take away or lessen God’s love for us as manifested in Christ, his Incarnate Son.

In our Gospel story for this Sunday, we hear about the feeding of the five thousand. The people in this story are a crowd that realize Jesus had something to offer them in their “deserted places.” Jesus wasn’t just filling their stomachs. They were not the rich, the famous, the educated or the powerful; they were the afflicted and the marginalized people that Jesus went out of his way to seek out.  The words of Jesus were there to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted Life may have passed them by, but Jesus didn’t.  He took note of them, and they in turn saw in him a place to be nourished, a place where deep hunger and longings would be fulfilled. The physical bread of the miracle story was of temporary value. It could not satisfy deeper spiritual hungers, but it was a sign that Jesus can and that his heart is moved with pity for us. Notice how he handled the food with reverence, the same reverence he felt for the crowd whom he knew were the beloved of God. The sign for us today is that we too are the beloved sons and daughters of God and we will not be left hungry or alone for God is with us in the good, bad, happy and sad things that are part and parcel of our daily life. In this version of the story, there is no boy to provide the loaves and fishes for this miracle. The disciples have food with them. Jesus Is asking them to share out of their supplies. He Is asking them to risk it all, to take a chance with him. And they take the chance to be agents of change as the disciples’ have learned that whatever they have, it will be more than enough in their collaboration with Christ as they risk what they have in his service.

As we heard last week, the person who discovers the treasure in the field goes out and sells everything to buy the field and have the treasure. The disciples too are being invited to invest everything they have in Jesus. Are we prepared to follow Jesus wherever he leads us as we bring ourselves to the one who does not disappoint for there is no power in heaven or on earth that can take away or lessen God’s love for us shown to us through Jesus his Incarnate Son.

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06 Jun 2026

Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi is the feast that helps us remember the gift of the Eucharist. It is a day to focus on Jesus as the bread of life the source and the summit of everything we are. The readings remind us that God provides what we need, not only for our bodies but also for our souls. This celebration points us back to the desert, where God gave manna to His people. It shows us that we depend on Him for life itself. The Eucharist better known as the Blessed Sacrament is the new manna, given through Jesus, who offers Himself so that we may live forever with him. In the first reading Moses is addressing the Israelites at the end of their long sojourn in the wilderness: it was a time of testing, of humble and total reliance on God as they were kept alive by the manna from heaven.  In the second reading we are told that Paul was very fond of his little community in the cosmopolitan Greek city and very concerned about the dissensions that racked that mixed bag of people. He appeals to the focus of their Christian life: though they were many they were one in the bread that they shared.

In the Gospel John picks up the theme of manna from heaven and contrasts the bread the Jews ate in the desert with the new bread of life given by Jesus. Now the Word of God has become flesh, and the bread of heaven is Jesus himself. To eat this bread is to have a share in the life of God himself.  In celebrating the Eucharist, we celebrate the memory of Jesus passion, death and resurrection. We recall the radical values that put Jesus in opposition to so many of his own people: his talk about God and the kingdom; his insistence on forgiveness; his opposition to the religious sham of his day; his commitment to peace; his willingness to die to overcome sin. In receiving the body and blood of Christ we become his body Called to bring the values of Jesus into the world where we are. The real presence of Christ is also in the community when it gathers in his name to feast on the Word of Scripture, to recall what Jesus said and did at the Last Supper, when it shares the food of the Eucharist together, when it goes out and continues to break and pour out that food in acts of loving kindness, in soothing and nourishing words which brings others to life. The celebration of Corpus Christi reminds us that the great gift of the Eucharist is a both a gift and a mystery. Jesus is present with us in a way that is really beyond our understanding.  We take Him into ourselves when we receive communion. We are united to his sacrifice on the Cross for all of us when we pray the Mass in its fullness and eat the Bread of Life.

We come before His Presence whenever we are in Church where the Eucharist is in a tabernacle or exposed on the Altar. Jesus is present with the angels and saints in heaven now. He is present in the Blessed Sacrament, and he is with us in all the ups and downs that are part of our daily lives. The the Blessed Sacrament reminds us that Christ continues to feed, strengthen, forgive, and unite us as God’s people. We are called again to gratitude, reverence, and renewed commitment as we endeavor to live what we profess at the altar. So today we celebrate that our God has come to us and does not leave us, and in the words of a great eucharistic hymn Come, adore this wondrous presence, bow to Christ, the source of grace.

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30 May 2026

Trinity Sunday

This weekend we celebrate Trinity Sunday which is about the triune god Father, son and Holy Spirit the Father is equal to the Son, and the Son is equal to the Spirit three in one and one in three we hear this in the breastplate of St. Patrick. The feast of the Trinity goes back to 12th century England and St Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Historians say the great Thomas celebrated a Liturgy in honor of the Trinity in his cathedral. So was born the observance. In the 14th century, the feast came to be observed by the universal Church.  The belief in the Trinity goes back to the New Testament. There it is mentioned about forty times.

in the First reading God appears to Moses and speaks about His character. He is kind, patient, full of love, and ready to forgive, but He also brings justice. Moses bows down and worships Him. In the Second reading Saint Paul encourages the people to live in peace and unity. He blesses them with the grace of Jesus, the love of God, and the friendship of the Holy Spirit.In the Gospel we hear about Nicodemus who was the disciple who came to Jesus secretly. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, possibly the Nicodemus ben Gurion mentioned in the Talmud as a wealthy man reputed to have miraculous powers. Our reading today is only part of the discourse recounted by John, but it is worth looking at the whole passage 3:1–21 Nicodemus acknowledges Jesus as the one who has come from God and, in return, Jesus puts before him the whole purpose of God’s plan. Jesus’ existence in the world is proof of God’s love for his creation which extends to the whole world. Only the one who consciously rejects the name – the reality and truth – of God’s only Son is beyond redemption.

Trinity Sunday is the day when we stand back from the events that we’ve been celebrating for the previous six months Advent, Christmas, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. This is the day when we are asked to discover what the word ‘god’ might actually mean. How do we understand Trinity? The Christian belief that God is a trinity helps underscore how rich the mystery of God is. We profess that God could not be God without the “other” (the Son) and the eternal bond of their relationship (the Spirit). While some may think that the doctrine of the Trinity is negotiable, it is actually central to our faith. Moses’ personal God, “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, rich in kindness and fidelity,” emerges in St. Paul as the interpersonal Trinity that models true human relationship. Thus, Paul prays: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Spirit be with you all.” When the Church celebrates the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, it is an attempt to summarize the whole mystery of our God into one day. This is not just a “theological feast” ` but a feast which should speak to us of this simple fact of faith: the Father loves us, has revealed that love in his Son, and has called into a relationship sustained by the Spirit.

It is our joy that, as baptized members of the Church, we can share in that divine life and love which is the Trinity becoming children of God. God has chosen us, and we are his people, just as he chose the people of Israel long ago. On Trinity Sunday, we only scratch the surface of this great mystery of our faith. In gratitude and faith, let us begin and end every prayer with renewed faith and reverence “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

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02 May 2026

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5TH SUNDAY OF EASTER
5TH SUNDAY OF EASTER
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18 Apr 2026

3Rd Sunday of Easter

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Third Sunday of Easter
Third Sunday of Easter
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18 Apr 2026

Third Sunday of Easter

We gather this weekend after the solemn celebration of Easter and Divine Mercy Sundays, we also remember that the celebration of Easter continues until Pentecost Sunday and then Easter Time ends and the paschal candle is placed near the baptismal font.  In the first Reading we are told that Peter’s preaching on Pentecost centered on the firm belief that Jesus was the promised Messiah and had been raised from the dead by God the Father. In this reading, he proclaims these truths as the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. In the second reading from the 1st letter of st Peter the apostle reminds believers of the great price Jesus Christ paid for their redemption, helping us to remember and never forget the depth of the Lord’s love for all of us all the time.

This Sunday’s gospel recounts the Jesus appearance on the evening of Easter to two disciples who were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus, their life with Jesus had ended abruptly as all seemed to be lost after the events of Good Friday.  Jesus, their beloved Leader, friend and Teacher, had been arrested, tried, sentenced, tortured and killed. Now they are feeling that without his presence, his inspiration, his support and encouragement, they simply cannot go on.  They are so disappointed and disillusioned about what has happened that they have even decided to leave the Church, the community of his followers. Slowly but surely, they are walking away from it all. They are putting Jerusalem and the other disciples behind them. They are heading for the village of Emmaus, to start a new and different way of life. And there Jesus was walking along with them they were talking about what had happened in Jerusalem and how they had put Jesus to death. Jesus explained all the passages of scripture that were about himself, but it was only at the breaking of the bread that they recognized him. They then went back to tell the others that they had seen the Lord and told their story and how they recognized him at the breaking of the bread.

The Emmaus story is the story of you and me as the two disciples represent all of us who claim that we are Christians with all our doubts and disagreements our joys and sorrows. We come together in faith each Sunday in answer to a call, often a quiet murmur from the recesses of our hearts which calls out to us saying come to me you who are weary and overburdened and I will give you rest.  All of us are searching just as the companions on the road to Emmaus were and they were weary as a result of all that had happened to them. As we are often weary of the things that happen to us as well as the things we see going on in the world at the present time. The people of God come together for a great and good purpose and that is to seek God and what he wants us to do. All of us work together for God’s kingdom since the kingdom provides meaning and purpose. In the scripture readings we find explanations and understanding of events and relationships which have shaped the faith from the beginning. Our faith is lived out in the real world, the world of family, work, and recreation. We don’t live in two separate worlds, one spiritual and the other secular.  

Those who would have us believe that we can separate our lives into two compartments are mistaken as faith and life go together.  The fellowship we share helps us ask questions of faith.  It is the application of scriptures to the events of our own times that reveal that God is walking with us and maybe even working through us.  But it is in the breaking of bread that we recognize Jesus who is with us on our journey.  The journey on the road to Emmaus is the journey we make as gods people.  We are on this journey in fellowship with one another being led by Jesus who calls out to us to follow him from the Cross of Good Friday as well as from the empty tomb of Easter Sunday. As we grow in faith, we are led to understand those past events as we experience them in our time and place and they are as relevant today as they were when they first took place.   The Risen Lord uses so much gentleness with us! He doesn’t oblige us to ‘believe’ but He offers us the things that enable us to judge based on the measure of our own hearts. As St Augustine extraordinarily wrote in the opening of his Confessions ‘our heart is restless until it rests in you’ May our encounter with the Risen Jesus make us compassionate fellow travelers attentive to the struggles of others, ready to listen, and eager to share our faith in His Resurrection as we move forward in faith.

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