Sunday Reflections
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The image of a vineyard was used very often in both the Old and New Testaments. It described the people of Israel (Luke 13:6-9) doing God’s work (Matthew 20:1-16) or was a metaphor for the…
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus told many parables to describe his heavenly Father. It is all too easy to attribute human qualities to God like those of a stern judge, a tyrannical king or a teacher assigning grades. Much…
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Peter probably thought he was being very generous in suggesting to Jesus that he might forgive his brother seven times. Rabbinical teaching had required only three times. Forgiveness, however, was…
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ezekiel was one of the major prophets. He lived in the sixth century BC and was a priest who was attached to the temple staff in Jerusalem. He was taken into captivity by the Babylonians when…
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus is beginning to prepare his disciples for his coming death. He must have known that his challenges to the establishment of the day would bring this about. As we see constantly in our present…
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
The reading from Isaiah refers to Shebna, who was the steward of Hezekiah, King of Judah. This man was described as a “disgrace to his master’s house”: apparently, in an act of self-aggrandisement…
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
There seems to be a stark contrast between the reading from Kings and Matthew’s gospel. Elijah found God, not in the violence of natural phenomena, but in the gentle breeze. The disciples,…
The Transfiguration of the Lord
Richard Dawkins, and many atheists like him, demand physical evidence for anything to be accepted as fact. Spiritual experiences however, by their very nature, go beyond the empirical to something…
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“The Kingdom of Heaven” is a phrase used only by Matthew; the other evangelists use the expression “Kingdom of Heaven.” It seems to mean the presence or rule of God, and Matthew uses many parables…
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Darnel is a noxious weed which closely resembles wheat. Its seeds are poisonous, and eating them can be fatal. The fact that wheat and darnel grow together is symbolic of our own individual make-…