Cathedral News

Missionary to Native Americans in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, St Katharine Drexel is remembered on 3 March.

Even God made man had to face the shadow side of himself.

We are nearing the end of what is sometimes known as the “sermon on the plain,” where Luke pictures Jesus coming down from the mountain to sit among his people and to teach them.

In the first reading, David spared Saul’s life in spite of the fact that Saul intended to kill him.

Changes to our normal arrangements during the upcoming Solemn Novena (21 February - 1 March).

In St Matthew's account of the beatitudes, Jesus preaches from a mountain, which in the bible signifies the nearness of God. In Luke’s account, Jesus descends from the mountain to a level place.

The ninth-century bishop and missionary St Ansgar, patron of Scandinavia, is remembered on 3 February.

Today’s theme is the different ways in which God calls people to his service. Isaiah lived in the eighth century BC. The first reading gives the context of his vision. King Uziah had just died.

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God and the Lord has chosen you to be a people of his own possession, out of all the nations that are on the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 14:2)

One of the themes of today’s gospel and Old Testament reading is “return”. In about 536 BC Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem.