17th Sunday A 26 July 2026 Sermon

17 Sunday A  26 July 2026  All things working together

This Sunday we acknowledge and pray for grandparents and elderly. One thing the elderly have in their favour is that they have had the chance to accumulate wisdom.

Wisdom enables us to get everything in the right place and for the right reason. Solomon asked for it and was given more besides (1 K 3,9)

When we do not know what to ask for, when we pray, we can call on the help of the Holy Spirit and He will pray on our behalf. God speaking to God!

Today’s second reading tells us that all things work together for those who love God (Rm 8,28)

There is much we do not know or do not understand.  If we have at least the right will when we pray we can trust that God will detect our enthusiasm for the cause and the He will not let the prayer go unheeded. He will work the prayer around to what He Himself wants to happen.

On this basis we can pray as much as possible for whatever needs to happen, and the more we pray the more good will happen, even if we did not know what was coming.

When we pray we are going to the Source of all goodness and opening up more ways in which God can work with and through us.

We are all wanting certain things to happen (conversion of a relative, safe travel, the Kingdom of God to come, etc )

We bring all these to the Throne of grace and mercy, and He will co-ordinate it all.

We are operating like a good team which works together – each one contributing - and scores goals.

A good tree will bear good fruit, and cannot do otherwise. If we prepare ourselves right across all aspects of the spiritual life we can expect to have our prayers answered.

This will give us confidence in God; we will be more inclined to trust Him, and not be critical of Him for what He allows or disallows.

Shall the pot say to the potter, why have you made me thus? (Rom9,20)

Who would have the daring to question Almighty God? A lot of people, it seems. Many take the argument as far as abandoning their faith.

Others, who want to trust in God but cannot fathom His ways, will become discouraged and pray less, or  not at all.

We must persevere in our prayer, sacraments and good works. We do not allow discouragement to enter in because we understand the teamwork idea, that all can contribute for the good of all. And everyone comes out happy with that approach.

The strong should help the weak (Rm 15,1) and next time it might be the other way round. The ‘team’ that benefits we call the Church, the living Body of Christ, made up of millions of members.

Imagine the good that would follow if every Catholic would pray at the same time for whatever needs to happen. There are 1.42 billion Catholics. It would be a bit disorganised at first but the Holy Spirit would  bring it all into shape.

One of our troubles is to pray for those who do not pray!

To keep the momentum going is the idea - which is why it is good that we come here every Sunday or whatever time, but it is always on.

‘It’ is the communal and consistent struggle for God's  will to be done.

 Knowing what we know, why do we resist?

 

16th Sunday A 19 July 2026 Sermon

16 Sunday  A      19 July 2026      God and evil

One of the greatest difficulties people have believing in God is that there is so much evil in the world.

 The argument runs: If God is all-loving then He should not allow His children to undergo such suffering as they do.

And if He is all-powerful He should have no trouble eliminating all the evil.

The fact that evil remains must mean that God lacks either love or power, and therefore is not worthy of our trust or belief.

Since we do believe in a loving, all-powerful God how can we understand that He allows evil to remain in the world.

Today’s parable sheds much light on this. The darnel is allowed to remain in the crop until the final harvest. This translates as: Evildoers are allowed to remain in the world until finally removed at the last judgment.

Why does God do this? a) to give evildoers time to repent, so that they become doers of good instead. To bring people to repentance and new life is always one of God’s major concerns. As He tells us through the prophet Ezekiel: I take no pleasure in the death of a wicked man…. He wants the wicked to become good, to discover the goodness for which God created him.

 b) The process needs time. We all commit sins, so if God eliminated sinners, when would He do it? If at the first sin, we would all be finished. If not at the first fall, then when? Only God can answer how much time is enough, but we should be grateful we had enough time to get where we are now, and maybe we need still more to get ourselves right.

God gives a certain ‘tolerance’ to His creation. He offers mercy so that anything which is presently out of order can be set right.

He does not tolerate evil as such. He is not (as some think) easygoing, as though He could not care less what we do. He cares very much what we do, but is also merciful, giving us time to learn from our mistakes and get things right.

So we have the world as it is, with lots of things going wrong, lots of evil being committed, and apparent inaction from God. Is He asleep? Has He gone somewhere? No, He is just giving us time.

 And we have a part to play in all this. Firstly, to make sure we have our lives in order with God.

 Secondly, to believe in the possibility of conversion for evildoers. Some people seem so hard, so far gone that they could never change. But grace works miracles and miracles happen every day. We must believe in the power of God to change hearts. This will inspire us to work as apostles of His mercy.

Thirdly, we must take this as far as being willing to suffer in union with Christ on the Cross, for the continued conversion of others. Jesus went through His agony just so that undeserving, unlikely types would find life, and so they did.

This process is still going on. Once we know the benefits of salvation we are willing to go further to help others know the same thing. The joy of forgiveness, of having life restored moves us to heroic levels.

We take the same attitude to evildoers as God does; we love them; we want them to ‘get better’, like recovering from an illness.

Also like God, we do not tolerate evil per se; in fact we hate it. We are all for the destruction of evil, but not destruction of evildoers.

We want them to stay alive, and discover the new life of grace.

It is likely that many of us here have had a significant conversion. We cannot begrudge the same privilege to others.

15th Sunday A 12 July 2026 Sermon

15^th Sunday A 12 July 2026 The Word goes out

Almighty God created heaven and earth with a word, no ordinary achievement! If we humans were to make something we need material to turn into a different material object. We cannot create out of thin air, but God has done so.

All creation rightly give Him praise, except humanity, and fallen angels.

God wills that some of His creation understand what He has done, so that they can give proper thanksgiving – which we are hoping we can give. We lift up our hearts to the Lord  (Mass)

God wants us to participate in His creation, to make beautiful things, even more to help create a moral environment where love and peace would predominate.

And we could help bring God’s mercy into the world, also a kind of re-creation. What was not there is here now, and can grow in its influence.

The first reading (Is 55,11) speaks of God sending out His word and it would not return to Him empty, because His word has the ability to create from nothing, or to restore what has been damaged to be fully operational (such as a soul overcome with sin).

Which brings us to the Gospel, where we hear that there are different levels of response from the human family.

The word of God will get through but not before it has been ignored, disobeyed, watered down and otherwise resisted. All these things can interrupt the flow of God's healing power, and make matters much worse than they needed to be.

We think the world looks like it does because that is what it has always been. Not so. For a time there was Eden, where there was no pain or death, no accidents or disasters – everything was in perfect order with God and with everything else.

But then sin came into the world and all that harmony was lost, not completely but it was a major loss.

God became Man to rescue us from the damage our sin had caused, and this is where we find ourselves.

Every day in every place a battle goes on between good and evil, the good seeking to restore the links with God's creation, and the evil trying to make matters even worse.

We see the evil at work in people who try to persuade us that there is no God, no greater intelligence ruling the universe, but only we humans have to run it ourselves.

It comes to us to listen for God's word and help to put it into practice.

If we pray to Him for mercy, guidance, grace and all related qualities we will be doing ourselves a lot of good and also helping to set creation free (second reading, (Rm 8,19-23))

Thus we come to our true dignity as sons of God, and achieve the status of the fourth group in the Sower parable – those who hear the word of God and keep it, and bear a harvest, some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred.

Then we go on yielding fruit, with no limit of time or capacity. In Heaven we not only contemplate God in His glory but we do this in increasing amounts.

God shares some of His infinity with us and we continue even after death to create with Him. Maybe we make things in Heaven, but primarily the sharing with God’s creation would be manly concerned with salvation. We seek to save as many souls as possible, by intercession, in Heaven and on earth. 

14th Sunday A 5 July 2026 Sermon

14th Sunday A   5 July 2026    Gentle Jesus?

I heard a report some years ago that women in the black American population were encouraging their husbands to become Muslims. The women perceived that the men might find Christianity too weak a religion, with its insistence on turning the other cheek, on forgiving the offender etc.

But was Christ a weakling? And it is He that Christians follow.

Jesus did on one occasion, certainly, use physical force (expelling traders from the Temple (Jn  2,13-16). And on several occasions He spoke sharply to the Pharisees (Mt 23). He was not afraid of people, not afraid to speak His mind.

In fact He showed extraordinary courage in facing death so calmly. Even more so, when it was a death He could have avoided, either by human prudence or divine intervention.

Jesus was always in control of Himself, and of the situation. He was certainly not weak in terms of lacking influence or control.

What then is the perceived weakness in our religion, and how can we understand it?

We understand that Christians should not use physical force to achieve their ends unless the force is necessary, as for example, to repel an unjust aggressor, or to inflict a just punishment.

This is not weakness, but strength. To be able to control our passions to this extent shows strength of character.

It means that we (with Christ as our model) can find the right response in every situation.

Not every situation requires the same treatment. Christ was severe with the Pharisees and gentle with the woman caught in adultery (Jn 8, 1-11). It was not that He was in a bad mood one day and a good mood the next. He was dealing with each situation in the best possible way.

Our attitude to every other person is one of good will. We desire what is best for each person. Ultimately this means their eternal salvation. In the short term it may mean a whole range of things, but always with the other person’s good in mind.

It is not just in our actions that we are moderate, but in our attitude as well.

We do not hurt people physically, nor do we want to hurt them. This is another level of gentleness.

We do not hate, do not resent, do not seek revenge. All of this we learn from Christ.

Father, forgive them; they know not what they do. (Lk 23,34)

Is this weakness then? No, even more so this proves strength of character and self-control. If we can control our thoughts and feelings we can control anything.

Jesus could control His thoughts and feelings and He is teaching us how to do likewise.

He was gentle, but not weak. He was fiercely attached to the right and good. He always did what was right. He always sought the ultimate good for all concerned.

He was a far stronger and far better person than anyone else around.

If that is weakness then let’s have some more of it!

We do not have to let people walk all over us. We are entitled to defend ourselves and to restrain aggressors. We are entitled to put our case in a dispute.

But at all times we act with self-control, and with a view to the welfare of the other parties.

Certain saints have been robbed and been more sorry for the robbers’ souls than for the damage done to themselves.

So if we find robbers have been in our house, are we more worried for the soul of the thief than for the value of the goods. Can we rise to that occasion?

In any case it is not weak to aspire to that level of charity. And Jesus was like that all the time.

Let us be Christ-ian, Christ-like and take up a really strong religion.

13th Sunday A 28 June 2026 Sermon

13^th Sunday A  28 June 2026  Detachment

The woman in the first reading is rewarded for her simple act of charity.  For offering hospitality to Elisha she is rewarded by being able to conceive a child, for which she had been hoping. (2 K, 4,10)

If we are generous then God is more so again. He appreciates all that we give Him, provided we give with sincerity.

Welcome a prophet and receive a prophet’s reward (Gospel) (Mt 10,41)

To be generous we first need to be grateful. We are glad to give to others out of the abundance of what God has given us.

Freely you have received, freely you must give (Mt 10,8)

God gives us many things for our use, our enjoyment, for serving Him.

All that we would claim to be our own is really His more than it is ours.

We can become attached to things very easily and forget the higher loyalty which is expected of us.

The whole history of the human race shows us how diffiucult it is for people to be detached from their favourite things. Wars and rebellions are plentiful.

People fight to keep or acquire some asset rather than sort it out by Christian  means.

God give us things to use to serve our purposes but also to serve Him.

So we use houses, clothes, cars,  computers -  all manner of gadgets. Then there are more abstract things like our own personal talents – brains, ability to work with the hands, musicians, writers. Just about everything is from God, directly or indirectly.   These can all be used to serve God.

He lets us enjoy various things, music, wine, adventure, friendship … expecting in return not much, at least thanksgiving. How great are the works of the Lord.(Ps 111.2)

God is probing our hearts to see if we really love Him or not. Even this is generosity on His part as He knows we will be happiest when we are serving Him.

Do we then love Him more than all these things? We are working on it!

We even have to love the people we love less than we love God. Anyone who prefers father or mother to Me is not worthy of Me. (Mt 10,37).

He can look after the people we love better than we can.

It is not wrong to love our possessions, provided we love God more. We give it all to Him, in advance, should we lose it.

The temptation is to say this is mine, and Where does God come into it?

If so, we are forgetting that all of life is a pilgrimage.

We remember John the Baptist who lived in the desert as a reminder to us all that we need to keep our lives simple.

Grateful for what we have, humble in our demands, capable of ‘going without’..

The only way we can keep all this in balance is to keep in contact with God Himself. Once we get a taste of His glory we are more able to see earthly goods as very minor by comparison.

Every good thing we encounter can be seen as a taste of God's glory. Taste and see that the lord is good.(Ps 34,8)

We come to see how desirable God is.; we would rather spend a day in his courts than a thousand years elsewhere. (Ps 84,10)

We are ready even to part with life itself, as so many have done.

God values generosity so much because it is a sign of His way of operating. It is in His nature to give more than receive.

So may it be our way.

12th Sunday Ordinary Time (A) 21 June 2026 Sermon

12th Sunday A 21 June 2026 Security

We are exhorted not to fear in today’s Gospel (Mt 10,26)

God will look after us as He does for the birds of the air and beasts of the field..

Yet we see that there are times when a Christian is not safe. For example, times of persecution when many can be put to death.

Do not fear those who can kill the body (Mt 10,,28)  Jesus says.

We are not guaranteed physical safety, though if we pray for it we are more likely to receive it.

But the real battle is fought elsewhere. Jesus is talking about spiritual security, to be safe from sin and spiritual death. This is where it really counts.

Freedom from sin can be translated as  the presence of grace, the life of God, the goodness which He emanates.

He loves me, this much we know, but do we love Him? That is where the attention has to be fixed.

We cannot seek just physical and material blessings from God, but must go further in our union with Him, to live as He wants us to live.

Without fear means without sin. Perfect love casts out fear (1 Jn 4,18).

Our prayer and receiving of sacraments will not necessarily lead to a reduction of pain. We see the saints prayed all the time and with great faith, but it usually meant for them more pain!

But they were free, being free from sin and spiritual death, which they would have identified as the most important matter.

Our prayer will lead to an increase of grace; we become more alive.

We might recoil when we  hear what happens to the martyrs, not only death but torture. But that is only a preliminary part of the overall story.

The real story lies in the spiritual element. The spiritual domain is where we are defined as people, good or bad, alive or dead.

Jeremiah, in today’s first reading, describes his sufferings, and he had many. Just for speaking on God's behalf.

It is easier to kill a good man than to listen what he says. Kill the prophet if you wish, but he is the one that remains alive.

We sell ourselves short if we do not seek to have this spiritual side operating as it should.

Not recognizing God people do not recognize themselves and their true dignity. If we define ourselves just in material or physical terms we are missing the point. I am rich, I am healthy, but am I alive?

Nor do people care properly for each other when they see only the physical.

We are called to look out for each other, to be charitable, and this is essentially a sharing of spiritual graces. We pray for each other, help each other to live good lives.

This is why there is so much disregard for human life, and why something as terrible as abortions can be approved, or even seen as a right.  A baby is  just a physical object, not an immortal soul, in this thinking

When we see the full picture of a human life we think differently. If we are united with Christ we come to true life.

The kingdom of God, which we pray to come among us, incorporates the spiritual dimension. Love of neighbour becomes a joy not a burden.

To help everyone to see what they could have through the life of Christ.

This is the  life without fear that Jesus promises us.

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.