11th Sunday Ordinary Time A 14 June 2016 Sermon

11^th Sunday A 14 June 2026  Mercy at its fullest

June is the month of the Sacred Heart, the source and centre of Divine Love for mankind.

The Heart of Christ burns with great love for each person, in the hope that each one will accept the offer of mercy, while there is still time.

When we look on a crowd of people, we may not feel great love towards them (traffic jam, crowded shops etc!), but each one of them is very important to God.

He can see what is wrong in a person, but He can also see the potential goodness that He has planted there. God did not make anyone to be bad; only good. He hopes for that goodness to emerge from the depths.

This is what we hope for whenever we pray for others.

We ask, invoking the Sacred Heart, that people everywhere will ask for the mercy of God, and so come to a better and a happier life.

We do not have to like people before we pray for them. We might like them afterwards, but to begin with, just ask for mercy; and this will have good effects. When we pray we come into God’s way of looking at things.

God sees the positive while we can be too much with the negative.

It is our own sin which makes us focus on the faults of others. Freedom from our own sin will enable us to see other people in a more generous light.

We will have a larger vision of what salvation is possible and necessary.

We must not resent the salvation of others, as in the parable of the Prodigal Son (the older brother), or the Labourers in the Vineyard (the early workers).

We cannot begrudge to God if He reclaims those He has created. It is His affair more than ours.

In the meantime we ask mercy for ourselves. It may be other people do bad things, but so do we. We will not try to work out who is better or worse, but merely pray that all can come to a better state.

We still have areas of weakness that need attention. Otherwise we fall into the old and familiar patterns that lead to sin.

We want to be people for whom the reflex action is the Christ-like one. So come and kick me, or crash into my car, and I will not be enraged, and will not curse and swear, or seek revenge!

We will not do those things because we have in us the mind of Christ.

The Sacred Heart is burning for us too, and we want to return some of that love – so that we do not grieve Our Lord by further sin of any sort.

So that we can be agents of His love and mercy for others - by our own merciful and patient attitude, our own Christ-like presence and behaviour, bringing healing and encouragement into circulation.

We have to work on this every day, not just here and there. Being here at Mass helps us to focus, but we have to carry these attitudes with us every day.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

Corpus Christi 7 June 2026 Sermon

 Corpus Christi  7 June 2026 Communion with God

 We honour the Eucharist  on this feast today. There are  many aspects we could consider.

The Eucharist is God's way of being present to us, and it is the most direct way that He makes that presence.

He comes in this way to console us, to give us joy, hope, motivation, mercy among other good effects.

It is the most intimate union He has with those who receive Him in this way, usually described as Communion. In Holy Communion we achieve Communion with God the Son, and thence the whole court of Heaven.

People who love each other want to be as close as possible for as long as possible.

So does God want this with us, each of us. He want to ‘marry’ us, to achieve oneness of heart, mind and soul.

He wants to bring us to a better state than whatever we are at the moment.

He wishes for our good and can do much to bring it about.

As love invites a mutual response, Jesus wants us to understand what He is doing and concur with it.  In which case we will be returning love to Him.

Some think they can do without the Eucharist. They can be good or do good in their own way, and that should be enough, they reason.

Our faith is not just about doing jobs or getting things done, but growing in a communion of love.

Imagine two lovers agreeing that it was not necessary they should ever meet but they could do jobs for each other! Not very romantic.

We need Communion with Christ, from which state there will be tasks and actions of many kinds, but the union itself is always the most important thing going on.

Some hide from God for fear that He will ask them to do difficult things, like proclaim the Gospel, for instance.

Yes, He will ask a great deal of us, but no more than we can handle at one time. And our capacity to do things in His service will increase with familiarity.

So we do not hide from His gaze but let it take hold and see where it leads us. An adventure story, to be sure.

Better still we seek Him out and work from our side to achieve a fuller Communion with Him.

As with the story of Martha and Mary, we see that Jesus wanted Mary’s listening more than the practical work of Martha.

Loving God more does not mean we love others less. It is not a competition. Loving God in the right way will make us more charitably inclined to love others and tend to their needs.

Divine love enhances human love.

Two people who love each other reflect the love of God upon the other, and both will benefit.

As to Holy Communion we can receive in ever increasing responsiveness to God's self-offering to us.

Reverently, to value the moment of such an important encounter.

Worthily, none of us is ever fully worthy, but we can at least be free of grave sin, and should go to Confession first if we have such sin.

Expectantly, what wonders the Lord has worked for us, and will work again. Prepare before and give thanks after.

Frequently,if each time improves on the last we will be looking for as much Communion with Christ that can be achieved.

O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine.

Trinity Sunday 30 May 2026 Worship of God

 Trinity Sunday 30 May 2026 Worship 

 Today we focus on God Himself, rejoicing in His perfections, and giving thanks that we are included in His plans.

We often pray to God for what we need, but we remind ourselves that prayer should not always be asking for things. We should take time to thank God, and even more fundamentally still, to praise Him.

The Scriptures abound in references to praising God…Forever I will sing the praises of the Lord; Praise God in His holy temple…I will exalt You and praise Your name…

We do praise God in the liturgical prayers of the Mass and the Divine Office; and many other prayers. Glory to God in the highest…

We need also to make that praise our own personal practice, as we meditate on the goodness of God, and make it a habit to reaffirm that goodness.

God does not need our praise but we need to give it!

In giving praise to God we are letting our souls soar aloft and we find our true place before God. My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit exalts in God my Saviour.

In Heaven they praise God without ceasing… Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus!

This might sound rather demanding to us, like being in church all day long – but in Heaven they can perceive the goodness of God, whereas here we are weighed down with doubt and fear etc. It would be no effort for those in Heaven. The praise would come forth spontaneously.

We know the joy of experiencing some form of beauty beyond the norm. Be it music, or art, or nature, or anything which draws us out of ourselves. In Heaven we see that God is more beautiful than anything He has made, more desirable than any earthly reality could be.

It is harder to praise God on earth when we have not experienced the full sight of His glory. But we can go some distance with faith and hope; the rest will come in eternity.

The praise we offer will itself lift our spirits to higher things.

Today, Trinity Sunday, we search into the inner mysteries of God's nature. What is He like? How much do we know about God? We feel very inadequate to answer such questions.

He is so much greater than we are, and it is hard for a lesser being to understand a greater.

We do the best we can with the help of God Himself, and what He has revealed to us.

Fortunately, it is not only our brains working on it; we have supernatural help. Nor is it only an intellectual matter.

By loving God we come to understand Him better. Keeping His commands, seeking to please Him, we get a sense of what God is about.

And always part of this is Praise, simple devotion to God, acknowledging His goodness even if we do not feel especially happy at every moment.

God reveals Himself to us as a Trinity of Persons, three distinct identities but so closely bound to each other that they make one God, not three.

He knows we will find this difficult to grasp but invites us to share His inner life, and at least begin to understand.

God wants us to relate to Him as He relates to Himself in the activity of the three Persons.

There is a mutual giving and receiving inside the Blessed Trinity, and we are lifted up to be part of that!

It is an honour so great that we might miss it, and many do; but it is there waiting for us whenever we do make a conscious response.

Let us take every chance to glorify God – today and all days. He does not need it, but He deserves it. And we - for once not asking for something - will benefit anyway from contemplating His goodness and glory.

Pentecost Sunday 24 May 2026 Sermon

Pentecost Sunday 24 May 2026 Enthusiasm

Those in the upper room received a great blessing from Heaven and were never the same again.

They were enthused – en theos - immersed in God and willing to tell the whole world.

Now it is our turn. How do we stir up and then keep that enthusiasm. How do we keep the kettle on the stove, so that we are in all times and places radiating the fire of God to a frozen world ?

Always prayer is helpful, and necessary. The same Holy Spirit who comes, also stays, bringing forth the right words and actions from those who receive Him.

The apostles, in their joy,  had another experience of the Holy Spirit. He guided St Peter to explain what had happened, and what was still to happen.

Most importantly, he called all present to repentance.

Now we ask the Holy Spirit to come to us. He can whip us a storm, but He can also be like a gentle breeze (1 K 19,11-12).

And with this range of options He can reach deep into our hearts and minds, and transform them.

Maybe we need shaking up, like a rushing wind. Maybe we need gentle encouragement to pursue more fully the things of God.

We do not know all that  goes on inside us, as regards spiritual matters.

We have a mixture of  factors at work. The Holy Spirit will help us to see more clearly what we need to change, what to correct, what to improve upon.

The Holy Spirit will give us a sufficiently clear way of seeing things that we will change, and be willing to do whatever God wants from us.

Anything wrong can be made right; anything already right can be made better still.

We may not always recognize the Holy Spirit’s influence, so subtle can it be, but we can benefit from it, provided we are humble.

When we say, Come Holy Spirit we are implying that we agree to take our part in anything required when He does come.

We do not ask Him to come to us as spectators but as participants.

He can also come to those who do not receive Him, and that has been a major part of the Church’s mission ever since the first Pentecost.

How to convert the unrepentant. Can the Holy Spirit help there? Definitely, as He can at least exert an influence on those who are resisting the truth.

He will know what to do. We can help Him succeed by adding our own prayers and sacrifices, by giving good example, by being merciful to the sinner. We never lose hope of winning new members to the Church.

It has been happening from the beginning of the Church till now. We can accelerate things by our response.

The Church is to be the Bride of Christ, arrayed in beauty for her Husband. (Rev  19,7-8). To be beautiful as a city coming down from above, all in precious stones  (Rev 21,2-3).

This Church  can be beautiful only if there are beautiful people in it, making up its numbers – people radiating the goodness of God.

This is the other side of the same coin; the Holy Spirit works both on individuals and the whole Church, at the same time.

He will hear the prayers of those who do pray; and go after the ones who do not!

He will do wondrous things, like at this first Pentecost, and small things like answering a single prayer from a solitary person.

He will ‘come’ all the more when we ask Him to – which we fervently ask today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feast of the Ascension 17 May 2026 Sermon

The Ascension  17 May 2026

It was fitting that Jesus would leave the apostles and return to Heaven.

Heaven was His true home, and where He really belonged. God attends to all the details as well as the main point.

It was necessary that Jesus complete His victory over sin and death. He was raised once at Easter, now ‘raised’ in a different way to Heaven.

But seeing it all as one process He came all the way down from Heaven and now is raised all the way back to Heaven, completing a glorious mission.

He had to rise bodily from the dead, leaving nothing for the devil to claim for himself.

There had to be this further exaltation because anything less would be undeserving. The Ascension is Our Lord’s ‘lap of honour’ as He shows to the Church (and then the world) that this phase of His mission is complete.

Benefits will flow from this event. Jesus can reach more people from Heaven than from earth.

He could have stayed on earth and healed the sick and other things that He did, but He can do more good to more people by sending blessings from Heaven.

With the Father He will send the Holy Spirit who will reveal all else that needs revealing, and guide the Church as to its mission and its teaching.

The Church will now stand in for Christ in all its aspects.

The Church will preach, the Church will heal the sick, the Church will absolve sin etc.

The Church will also share in the sufferings of Christ, and come through humble submission to the throne of grace.

Some will say that they deal with Jesus direct, and do not worry about the Church. This is to over-simplify the matter.

Our Lord wanted the Church to take His place and take His word and sacraments to the whole world (Mt 28,19-20).  We cannot improve on that process, particularly if Christ Himself set it up.

Do we come into this somewhere? We are among the saved, and the saving.

Saved insofar as we benefit from the death and resurrection of Our Lord.

Saving insofar as we reveal to others what they could have if only they would turn to God.

The Ascension was a victory; we need many more like it.

There will be another descending  by Jesus; meaning His second Coming.

There will be another ascending by Him when He takes all the saved into the glory of Heaven, now with glorified bodies.

The apostles did the most sensible thing after they witnessed the Ascension – they prayed; they went back to their base and prayed for all they were worth.

With Mary (no insignificant player!) they prayed for nine days (the origin of the Novena) to bring about whatever it was that Jesus had referred to them.

And we know what happened next. The Holy Spirit came as predicted.

But we see how much prayer was needed to bring Him to our midst.

we have a job to do, and it is to keep knocking on the door of Heaven to send the Holy Spirit.

Why do we have to pray so much for something that God Himself wants to do?  It is because there has to be someone to receive Him, to keep the reciprocal communication active.

We pray all year, but especially this week of the Pentecost Cenacle, for the victory of Jesus Christ to hold firm in every place, every time, every person.

The more fervently we pray the more good things will happen, and keep happening.

Come Holy Spirit!

6th Sunday of Easter A 10 May 2026 Sermon

 6^th  Sunday of Easter (A) 10 May 2026

‘Always have within you the reason for the hope you have’ 1 P 3,15

 This will help us and enable us to help anyone who asks us.

What is the reason for our hope?  We are promised a very happy eternity, ultimately meaning that we will see a lot more happiness than unhappiness if we see the whole span of time.

We face many difficulties  in this life but the consolations are much greater.

This is our hope and the same hope we can offer to others.

It is a real hope, not just a story someone has made up to feel good.

We love a happy ending; in this case we are headed right for one.

We need constant reinforcement of the basic pattern of our belief.

We believe all these things, but maybe not enough. Not yet but we are getting there.

The things we believe do not change, while we might change.

We can always return to base and make a fresh start, and that is why the Church offers cycles and seasons, where days and weeks can have their own way of influencing us for the good.

Our faith is the precious pearl (Mt 13,45-46) for which we would exchange all our possessions, so valuable is it.

We can share the reason for our faith without having perfect faith ourselves.

We are learning as we go. Those we share our faith with may be better at it than we are ourselves. Not a problem if it means we all reach the heavenly city.

The Church is the tree to which all the birds will fly (Mt 13, 31-32) the people that need to come in. Or call them the harvest that is waiting to be gathered.

Another reason it can be hard to share the faith is that the listener may disagree with one or more aspects and therefore be hard to convince.

Some listeners have gone so far as to kill the evangelist. We honour those who have had the courage to give up their lives in that way.

Another reason for difficulty is the perception that there is a certain arrogance in offering the faith to another. How do I know my belief is better than his? We do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ 2  Co 4,5 St Paul tells us.

Our belief is in Him not ourselves.

It does work a lot better if the one proclaiming the message is living a good life, but it is important to understand that the message remains through all weathers.  The heavens declare the glory of God. Ps 19,1

We will not force the faith on anyone to believe it, will not force it. We won’t torture you but we will seek to persuade you.

Our behaviour is our most ready form of advertising. Let your light shine Mt 5, 14-16     and 1 Peter you will convert others without a word being spoken (1 P 3,1-2)

We pray and fast; we come back again and again to the main points. All this we believe is real; we are on a winner here, and the finish line is in sight, poetically speaking.

The more we believe it the mor we will proclaim it. I should be condemned if I did not preach it 1 Co 9,16.

Today we honour our mothers. For many of us probably the most influential person in our reaching the faith would be that same person who has done so much else.

We pray for those mothers still with us, and for those who have left us, that their hope be fulfilled.

We cannot omit Our Lady, the perfect mother, who leads us all in hope as in every virtue, and whom we honour in the month of May.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

5th Sunday of Easter (A) 3rd May 2026 Sermon

 5^th Sunday of Easter 3rd May 2026 Revealing God

 Jesus came to show  us what God was like. If you see Me you see the Father as well.(today’s Gospel Jn 14,9)

 And what do we see when we look at Jesus? Tell John what you see and hear – the deaf hear, the blind see, the lame jump for joy – (Mt 11,4-5)

 This is what God is like: He saves, He heals, He lifts up from the ditch… all positive, and someone we are glad to know. He is everything that is good, kind, generous, merciful. He is all good and nothing bad.

 If we do not understand something about God’s promises, the fault will be with us, not God.

 If we can be patient we will understand all that we need to know of God's nature, and His way of acting.

 The whole idea of the Incarnation was that God would come down to the earth and start repairing things. By the time He came there was a lot of sin about - unconfessed, unrepented, unamended, which made a very murky environment for Him to work in. – so far were things degenerated that even when He came He was still not welcomed. (Jn 1,11)

 However, He did work many miracles, which were helpful to the people who received them, but also were strongly symbolic of what was achievable and what was to come.

 Amidst all these happy events, He came also to correct where beliefs and behaviour had become muddled.

 A lot of this side of His ministry struck resistance. Many preferred the dark to the light; many still do, but the offer of salvation is always there.

 He taught us that if we stay close to Him, we will be protected from the worst of the evil going round.  If we give up our false gods, amend our ways, we will know a much greater happiness.

 God is not cruel by nature, as some think, but always working for our advantage.

 Trust in Him (Jn 14,1). Stay on board and you will find all you need.

 If we approach Him He will not turn us away. A humble and contrite  heart You will not spurn (Ps 51,17)

 He came to show us what God is like. We could also say that He came to show us what we are like, or can be like. He took on our nature but without sin (Heb 4,15). He embraced our humanity but also acted to improve it, by removing the imperfections.

 We approach Him then, not in fear but trust.

 By a combination of mercy and grace Jesus will act in and around us to help us go deeper in our search for ultimate happiness; to find that place He has gone to prepare (Jn 14,2).

 At the Last Supper, when Jesus delivered these words, He was trying to strengthen His apostles, to cement them in their faith, so that they could be strong for others as well as themselves. By the time of Pentecost they were ready for that responsibility!

 As we can be ready for whatever mission the Lord has in store for us.