Reflections

The Ascension of the Lord  Saint Luke tells us that the Ascension of the Lord happened forty days after the Resurrection.  In the bible, forty usually refers to a time of preparation.  The Risen Lord appeared in various ways to the disciples to help them in the transition from knowing him in human flesh to…

God with us and in us Sunday by Sunday we are moving on from the Resurrection of Jesus towards Pentecost.    The forty days from Resurrection to Ascension Thursday formed a time of transition for the Apostles.  They had to advance from knowing Jesus in the flesh to knowing the unseen God in faith.  As the…

The Way, the Truth and the Life If I am conscious in my last hours on earth, my wish is that somebody will be at my bedside reading today’s Gospel, John 14:1-12.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still and trust in me.” After the Last Supper, Jesus is explaining to…

Vocation of all Christians The Fourth Sunday of Easter each year is known as Vocations Sunday.  The Gospel is about Jesus, the Good Shepherd who called his flock to follow him.  We are encouraged to pray for vocations this Sunday.   For years we prayed for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life.  Nowadays we recognise…

Our Companion on the Road Can we learn anything from Sunday’s gospel story of the Risen Jesus joining with two people on the road to Emmaus? It was the third day after the death of Jesus on Calvary.   Two of his former disciples were devastated.  They had lost hope.  They had lost direction.  In Luke’s…

Christ is Risen I like the story about an ageing flower-lady with an outdoor stall.  Her clothes were old and shabby, her face weather-beaten and wrinkled. A regular customer asked how she was always in good form.  “It’s my friend Jesus,” she replied. “Good Friday was the worst of days.  Three days later, Easter Sunday,…

Jesus the Wounded Healer “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection:  for the sake of the joy which lay ahead of him, he endured the cross, disregarding the shame of it, and has taken his seat at the right of God’s throne” (Heb….

Sharing in the Death and Resurrection of Christ The story of the raising of Lazarus from the grave is used in the liturgy of Lent because it illustrates baptism as dying and rising with Christ.  Jesus did not respond immediately to the news that Lazarus was seriously ill but he waited three full days until…

Children of the Light                                                                                            Last Sunday we had the story of Jesus sitting with the woman at the well, offering her the living water of friendship and mercy.  It is a story about the grace of baptism.  Today we have a second baptismal story from John’s Gospel, the miracle of sight for the blind. …