Lent Sunday 3B, 7th March 2021. Having an argument is a good way of ‘creating an atmosphere’: one can enter a room and know immediately that something is going on – something bad – something not conducive to peace. But one can also enter a room after an argument and …
Lent Sunday 2B, 28th February 2021 At first sight it seems a bit of a puzzle to juxtapose two such different readings as in today’s Second Sunday Mass of Lent: we are uplifted by the wonder and promise of the Transfiguration but this is preceded by the harrowing story of …
The See of Saint Peter, 22nd February, 2021 Jesus builds his Church on the rock of Peter – and it’s still here, despite Peter not being quite the rock we might imagine or hope for. And that’s true for most of the Popes, if not all, that will follow and, …
Lent Sunday 1B, 21st February 2021 We touched last week on the concept of ‘re-wilding’ and its metaphorical use for a ‘re-wilding’ of the heart: that is, a deep conversion or change of attitude within those with the power to affect real change. I targeted Boris Johnson in this respect, …
Ash Wednesday, 17th February, 2021 The first blackbird has spoken, heard on emerging from Matins this morning, and signals an end to our winter of sin. Its tentative, and icy blasts of temptation may yet come, but it’s a beginning, and gradually, and faithfully, the dawn chorus will swell in …
Sunday 6 B, 14th February 2021 We are all lepers, now, and in need of conversion. Our leper here represents us all in this time of pandemic, but also, at all times, in need of spiritual healing. There are many reasons one could come up with for the emphasis in …
Solemnity of Saint Scholastica, 10th February, 2021 The language, in our readings today and those of last night, seems very primal – part of that side of us which we try to keep very much under control: the language of feelings, employed here to describe God’s relationship to us and …
Sunday 5B, 7th February, 2021 First, the bad news: For every patient who dies from Covid-19 in hospital, from the moment they encounter that first masked paramedic, they will never see a human face again. Not one smile, nor pair of cheeks, nor lips, nor chin. Not a single human …
The feast of Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, Candlemas day The Law is mentioned five times in this passage describing the presentation of Jesus in the Temple: firstly, for the parents,To be justified as laid down by the Law of Moses and thenobserving what stands written in the …
Sunday 4B, 31st January, 2021 There is a certain irony or tension in our disdain for authoritarian regimes and yet our desire to have leaders who speak with authority. And this tension or ambivalence, applies as much to the Church as to our political life. Interestingly, one of the marks …
