All Saints 1 November 2026 Sermon

 

All Saints 1 November 2026 

We have the canonised saints, like St Peter and St Therese, and many more.

Then we have the rest, who are also saints if they have reached Heaven, but we do not normally call them with a saint’s name, though we may be confident that they are in Heaven, or at least Purgatory, where souls who are saved but not yet fully purified of sin are on the way to sainthood.

This feast enables us to give more direct attention to the less famous, the unsung saints. This is where we hope our parents and grandparents and other family members are , and people whom we have known from many different spheres of life.

A view of people in large numbers, at a football match or walking down the street can remind us that each of these has a soul, is a soul, has the chance to be a saint.

We are all called to be saints. God wants everyone to receive and respond to His love.

Come follow Me, said Our Lord. He means follow forever, not just a part of the way. And so with many of His sayings: unless you take up your cross and follow Me you cannot be My disciple. (Mt 16,24)

This is for our benefit more than His. He has eternal happiness; we are still striving for it.

We are tempted to give Him less than our best.

At school we could have gone for straight As,  or we could have been happy with just over the pass mark, usually set at 50%.

There is always that temptation to say, I have done enough, I am good enough, but this is not how we are made. We are called to be saints, to seek more, to give more. In the hope of a reward later on, but even that is not our main motivation.

It is a joy to follow Christ, to know the one true God. It is not meant to be seen as a burden.

Saints have often been considered rather odd characters. Odd because they put so much emphasis on ‘religion’ when they could have been living a ‘normal’ life.

But  the religious idea is the main reason God created us  and went to great lengths to save us from sin and death.

We might get to heaven with 51%or even less, but it will be a bumpy ride, whereas if we go the way of holiness, we will have a purer more straightforward road.

Think of Our Lady and how she lived. No sin, no imperfections, only desire for God.

When she faced crises she would have found instant relief in her ongoing reservoir of grace.

Full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Full of grace, free of turbulence, always serene in the presence of God.

This serenity is a sign of the happiness that awaits us if we exert ourselves in coming to know God better.

The saints meanwhile are rejoicing in having found whatever level they have reached.

The Church understands that there are levels in Heaven, and some are higher than others, but all are completely happy.

For us the lesson is clear. If we are still alive we can strive for higher things.

Not just 50 per cent. Not just minimal observance.

We should have started already in seeking to discover the will of God for each of us.

If it is odd to be so religious we will have to be a little odd.

It is very odd to ignore Almighty God, our eternal destiny, when we could call upon His miraculous power.

To help us get all this right, and to join them in due course, we pray: Saints of God, come to our aid!

30th Sunday A 25th October 2026 Sermon

30^th Sunday  A  25 October 2026  Love God and Neighbour

To love God with  your whole heart, soul and mind it means to love God more than we love anyone or anything else.

It is an open-ended command because even if we did love God that much it would be possible to go further and love Him even more. Just like we can never reach infinity, so we can never fully grasp the fulness of God. Not even in Heaven. It will always be possible to love Him more than whatever level we have reached. Like adding one more to a sequence of numbers.

God wants us to know Him in an ever- increasing way.

This will mean in practice that  we would always give preference if there is some sort of conflict between what God wants and what someone else wants.

For example, St Thomas More, when pressed by Henry VIII  I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first. And this is what effectively every martyr is saying.

In the service of God we deal with many other people and things. God wishes us to love the people and use the things wisely, according to His will. God wants us to keep Him first at all times but the other things should be valued too, according to their nature.

Many will stop with the ‘people’ and the ‘things’. They think they do not need God as they can get by quite well.

This is where false gods come into operation.  A false god is anything to which we are excessively attached. It will impede us from finding the one true God.

God wants to be honoured, obeyed, worshipped, and generally be put at the forefront of all our plans and hopes. This is for our benefit not His. He already has perfect happiness; we are still searching for it.

If we consciously do these things (obey, worship etc)  that is ‘loving God’.

It can be difficult to know what to focus on when we deal with God. He cannot be seen or heard, or touched, unlike the lesser things which He has made.

We may not have sense experience of God but we can piece together what we know about Him, and come up with a workable concept of what He is like. We sense His help coming from different directions, and we work with God as He becomes clearer to us.

Other people will bring forth different aspects of God's  care for us, such as parents, teachers, doctors, good neighbours, all manner of people who convey something of God to us.

He is just, kind, compassionate, always wanting to help, but help on what we really need, not necessarily what we want.

The perceived remoteness of God is one source of objection.

Another frequent objection is that God is cruel because someone we love has died.

God cannot be cruel as He is infinitely kind, but how can we deal with losses such as death?

We have to entrust to God that He knows better than we do, and this is one of the tests to find out.

Affirming God's  goodness in all weathers, all circumstances, we will be able to see that God is working for our overall happiness.

This life is a pilgrimage and meant to be seen as short.  We are ready to part from anyone at any time. Soon to be reunited.

Our feelings might take longer to come into line, but we can all grow in knowledge and love of God, and the knowledge will mean that we are at peace with all that happens in this life, and still on course for the next.

Blessed be God forever!

 

 

29th Sunday A 18 October 2026 Sermon

29^th Sunday A  18 October 2026  Mission

Where did our faith come from? It must have been from someone, somewhere. Someone believed these things enough to pass them on to others, and somehow it filtered down to me.

There are other stories. Some find the faith in adult life, having bypassed the usual structures.

Some had no faith and discovered it; some had the wrong faith and found the true one.

If we have the faith we should be grateful to those who had it before us, and kept the flame burning.

And we should be willing to take our part in the process, whereby we might pass on the faith to others.

Give to God what is God’s today’s Gospel (Mt 22,21). It is all His anyway, but He wants us to acknowledge that.

Whatever He gives us is for our own benefit – houses, cars, health, food, water, talents, knowledge, blessings beyond counting.

These things keep us alive and for that we are grateful.  But there is one point higher still – it is through His created gifts to us that God wants us to come to know, love and serve Him.

He wants us to be grateful but also detached, so that we do not cling to the things of this life but are ready to give them up if required.

God lends us these things, but they are still His. That we possess Him is our main concern.

He wants to be made known to the whole world – not restricted by race or location. He wants all people to be one in Himself.

Those who know Him have a duty to help others know Him - to tell of His promises and to call to repentance.  

First stage: to tell of the promises: that we can have Heaven in eternity, and even in this earthly life a large  degree of happiness because we are living in right balance, where we have enough but not too much. All that we need, not necessarily all we want. Giving to Caesar, and to God.

Second stage: the call to repentance is necessary because people commit sin. If things are out of balance they need to be set right. This happens in confessing our sins. We are forgiven and then sent forth renewed.

To proclaim the life we could have, and to call to repentance where it is not happening.

This is Mission, proclaiming, protecting; addressed to each person in whatever way it is possible.

Discouragement looms as a temptation but we can transcend it.

Some would say that Mission is no longer about which religion we belong to; more about fraternal equality and a more material view of salvation.

But if we look at the Gospels and Church history it is plain that Jesus wants to be proclaimed as the one real God. I am the way the truth and the life. Jn 14,6)

If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me (cf Mt 16,24)

The concern is that if we preach the Gospel we are patronizing our listeners. We do not think ourselves superior to others, but we do think that Jesus Christ is superior!

Are we not bound to make Him known as far as is possible, for the benefit of those who have not yet encountered Him?

Do we not find the answers in our own situation? We would not be here but for missionaries who convinced some people back sometime, and somehow we end up with the faith.

Would we want it any differently?

 

 

 

 

28th Sunday A 11 October 2026 Sermon

28^th Sunday A  11 October 2026 Come to the banquet

Why must we come to the banquet the Master has prepared for us? It is because we cannot live without this special food. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, you have no life in  you (Jn 6, 53).

Normal food affects the body. This heavenly food affects the soul. It works at a level we cannot see or measure, but we do see the effects.

The signs of a healthy soul are found in the various ways we have of describing goodness:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self‑control.(Gal 5,22-23)

To benefit from this special bread we need to be expectant that it will have good effects.

Expectancy can vary across a wide range. We have saints like St Therese yearning for her First Communion. At the other extreme it is possible to receive the Sacrament mechanically and without any particular expectation of anything resulting.

St Therese wrote of her First Communion that she felt a profound spiritual union, describing it as a fusion with Christ, where she ‘vanished as a drop of water is lost in the immensity of the ocean’  leaving Jesus as the Master and King in her heart.

It will be argued that one does not need this special food, it being possible simply to have good intentions. So I can stay home from Mass and just have good thoughts, and that will be enough!

We will do much better if we follow the way the Church has established. It is always tempting to water down the commitment required, but never as good as actually doing what the Church asks.

Although it is spiritual food, we are physical beings and physical interaction is essential for some things. This is why we have all the sacraments, which help us to receive spiritual benefits through our bodily identity.

The communal element we have at a banquet is also experienced in the Mass and other sacraments. This should increase our unity with each other.  

The more we expect from the Eucharist, the more good results there are going to be.

We can increase our desire, and so receive more. Not more in quantity but in depth of interaction.  There is no limit on how far we can go with this; it is up to us to come ready for action.

Even if the reception is not perfect in terms of the individual’s attitude, there can be many good effects as the receiving soul is transformed at least partially in the process.

It comes down to how healthy the soul is, how much the person is willing to change or be changed as we encounter this greater force for good.

We can resist change for the better, so we need other sources of grace to transcend whatever limitations there are, and gradually we build up expectation. Christ gives Himself to each person as much as He is welcomed.

Those who receive unworthily (symbolised by the missing wedding garment) will be making it worse, because they are accepting the invitation on their own terms when complete submission is required.

In humility we need to confess any mortal sins first, and then receive the sanctifying bread.

God will not abandon us. If received wrongly before that can also be forgiven.

He still has the same burning desire to reach sinners as He had on the Cross. He can forgive today’s sins as well as those of past times.

He will be hoping to get through to each person as soon as possible, to induce a true repentance, and a hope-filled receiving of this very special food.

 

 

 

 

 

27th Sunday A 4th October 2026 Sermon

27^th Sunday A      4 October 2026 Accepting the Son

The vineyard owner tries to collect his rent and all his messengers are mishandled. Finally he thinks, I will send my son – they will not abuse him. And then the bitter irony is that they are even more outrageous with the son than with any of the preceding messengers.

This parable is applicable firstly to the Jews and Gentiles. The Jews had the privilege of receiving God the Son into their midst and they rejected it, even going as far as to kill Him.

We can shake our heads at the Jews for rejecting Our Lord but are we any better? In spiritual terms all nations of the world have rejected God's  message, and His Messenger.

If Jesus came again in a similarly vulnerable form would they kill Him again? Certainly many would.

And we could be said to kill Him by our sins. If we were present when Jesus made His way to Calvary, we would not have struck Him, or spat on Him, and we would not do that now.

Yet, if He died for our sins, it is our fault that He is being led away to death. And all the insults etc. only add to the wrongness of the event.

Anyone who sins adds to the wounds of Jesus. (Fortunately, anyone who does good in His Name, will be consoling Him.)

We learn how merciful God is, that He can put up with this behavior and still be willing to forgive, and to save those who do this.

God loves us enough to die for us. God the Son takes the sin of the world on His shoulders and turns it into a perfect sacrifice. He makes Himself the Victim, more pleasing to the Father than multiple animal sacrifices.

Thus He atones for the sin of the world, and releases many graces for mercy on the human race.

And this mercy can change us, so that if at first we would have killed the Son, now we will receive Him in due honour. When the landowner says, Surely they will respect my son, it turns out that eventually he was right. It took a lot to happen but they do respect the son now, a few millions at least!

This parable, so much like human history with its violence and self-seeking, can be happily resolved after all.  The malice in human hearts can be turned into love and goodwill instead.

We can look on our past sins and weep for them. Regret is not a pleasant feeling but it can lead to peace of soul, and that is pleasant.

If we regret our past sins we can confess them and receive the mercy that is always available.

Better still, we can acquire a more genuine sorrow as we come to understand what God has done for us.

We deserved to die, but He died in our place. We were sorry before, but now we are really sorry. True and complete contrition will result if we follow this through.

It might be proposed that it is better to forget past sins, but if we can learn from them, and if we can develop a deeper contrition then that is a good thing to happen.

We remember all the sins of the human race, particularly those who were among the chosen group - first the Jews, then the Christians. The ones who are closer have extra responsibility to get it right. As His disciples, we show to the world that we have received the Son of God, not turned him away, nor ever will do that again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26th Sunday A 27 September 2026 Sermon

 26^th Sunday A  27 September 2026 Choosing good 

It is understood that the angels had a choice as to whether they would remain angels under God’s authority, or break from God and become devils instead. They valued their freedom from authority that much. I will not serve, said Lucifer.

Humans also get to choose whether or not they will serve God. Either go with Him and be led to eternal life, or defy Him and live an eternity of loss.

We are different from the angels in that they had only one choice while we can have a lot more than one. We can change whether we are in the light or the darkness, back and forth.

When we sin in a major way we have broken contact with God. When we confess that sin and make amends, we are back to life.

It is how we finish that counts. The first reading (Ez 18)  makes this clear. We can be good and turn evil, or evil and turn good.

We are different from the angels because our wills are weaker. They made once choice and that choice was binding for all eternity. We make a choice, say to give up some bad habit, and we can collapse the next day. As the man said: It is easy to give up smoking; I’ve e done it lots of times!

So we make progress by stages rather than all at once. Gradually we can become stronger.

Our Lady was one exception to human weakness. She was totally given to the will of God and in her case once was enough. She was locked into loyalty to God. Be it done unto me according to thy word. We ask her to help us in our weakness.

We hope to improve and consolidate and never look back at Egypt. I have got this far I am not going to abandon this.

We have seen enough of the goodness of God to stay on track.

It is possible to go wrong for a range of reasons.

Also the choice for evil can be gradual and not all at once. Bad habits not corrected, carelessness about obligations, chasing after false gods, such as pleasure.

We can cease to believe that change is possible.

We can  talk of choice where there is still technically a chance to choose otherwise, but we will not waver if we lock in the right choice.

For those presently lost, God encourages them to take refuge in Him, come to the Sacred Heart, fount of mercy, and all Heaven is pleased.

So much of our prayer and sacramental life is geared towards this invitation to repentance.

God shows His willingness to forgive in His word, in sacraments, in the living out of the good life by saints.

God knows that we are weak and can fall away again. So He gives us ways of not falling too far, and a way of coming back into balance.

He warns us not to delay repentance as the time is uncertain; but also because we can become hardened against the good, as per the fallen angels.

So even with heaven in view we can still stay on the wrong side, as did the fallen angels.

We repent and then we stay on that right side with smaller and more frequent repetitions of that wrong choice.

We encourage each other meanwhile as all being in the same boat, and we depend on each other for example, for mutual prayer, practical help, and forgiveness, and whatever else we can do.  We choose life and good whenever there is a choice.

 

 

 

 

25th Sunday A 20 September 2026 Sermon

25^th Sunday A 20 September 2026  Labourers in the vineyard

In the beginning there was God and nothing else.

God chose to create the world and all that is in it, including us. He had plans for us.

What God calls us to can be seen in the image of the vineyard. He wants us to work for Him.

The ‘work’ will take in many different types of activity, but all for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom. If we are doing God’s will that is working for Him.

It was easy in theory for this to succeed. God was undisputed master of all. If everyone and everything obeyed God then whatever He wanted would come about.

Something went wrong in the plan. It was nothing lacking in God but in that part of His creation which had the freedom to decide whether or not to obey – angels and humans.

A great many of both groups have decided to disobey God, to rebel against His authority, and that has left us with a lot of repair work to do.

The world is beautiful still, but it would be a great deal more beautiful if God had been respected by all.

God is  merciful, as we recall with relief. He can write straight with crooked lines, and He does a great deal of that, as He adapts His plans to take account of our contribution.

eg using the Crucifixion as a means of salvation when it was intended to be a means of obliteration of God.

The parable of the Labourers in the vineyard can be taken to represent the various ways that people can make peace  with God, even if they have been in the wrong place  before.

Some arrive early, some late.

The important thing is to be in the right place at the end, when the final reckoning takes place. How we finish is everything.

God’s intention is to bring as many people as possible to salvation and sanctification.

Salvation means being free from the guilt of our sin.

Sanctification means being free from all trace of sin.

Our hope is to arrive at  heavenly glory, body and soul. This is the ‘one denarius’ promised to the workers in the vineyard.

If we have that outcome how can we grumble if someone else has it also; even if they came in later?  If God is glad to see them, so we should be too.

Must you be envious because I am generous?  God’s generosity comes from His nature, as He was, is and will be forever.

We are drawn into His nature and transformed as we do that. If we accept the offer of ‘work’ this will happen.

It is not easy in practice because there is so  much rebellion against God, the malice of the devil is still active; and there are many people, even millions who are not in a state of union with God. They are not in the vineyard with God.

Many of them can be rescued, and set on the right path. And this the Church is always trying to do.

What about those of us who have been in the vineyard for years but not progressing as we should have done?

We come to the fountain of grace and mercy, whereby we can be forgiven of our sins and grow in sanctity. Saved and Sanctified.

We pray for each other to experience  the fulness of God's mercy. Far from grumbling that others get a better deal we rejoice when anyone comes to union with Christ. The angels in Heaven rejoice when even one lost soul is found (Lk 15,10)