The Feast of “Christ the King” is relatively new in Catholic terms, being established by Pope Pius XI only in 1925. That it was during the political battle for the sovereignty of the Papal States and the fight against modernism colours the nature of the celebration. Originally celebrated on the last Sunday in October (still […] The post Jesus the King as Son of Man appeared first on rmhealey.org.

Sunday 33, Year B. Daniel 12:1-3; Mark 13:24-32 Play MP3 Watch video Our final reading from the Gospel of Mark for the year (next week – John 18).Mark 13 is challenging. Filled with references from the Hebrew Bible. If you don’t get those, you will be confused and probably get the meaning wrong. In our […] The post Revealed appeared first on rmhealey.org.

1 Kings 17:10-16 The widow made a little scone from her flour meal and brought it to Elijah. Mark 12:38-44 This poor widow has put more in than all who contributed. Play MP3 Watch video Generated Transcript So we are in November and this is the 32nd Sunday in the year, so we’re definitely getting towards the […] The post Offering appeared first on rmhealey.org.

When you are caught in an emergency situation and you have to evacuate your house – what would you grab in the 60 seconds that you have available to you? Would it be a photo album, a piece of jewellery, device or memento? Sometimes it is good to be forced to boil things down to […] The post The Jesus Creed appeared first on rmhealey.org.

We have emerged from extraordinary period. After the relative freedom which we enjoyed for about a year after our first lock-down, to be plunged back into a serious lockdown crisis was jarring. Our period of isolation from the worst effects of Covid-19 also came to an end, with the disease not only affecting people in […] The post Throwing aside his cloak appeared first on rmhealey.org.

Once again we meet foolish disciples who screw up the simple and easy job of being faithful disciples. What unfolds is even more terrible when you read the section of Mark’s gospel that comes immediately before the section we read this Sunday (Mark 10:35-45).  32 They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was […] The post The Son of Man as Ransom for Many appeared first on rmhealey.org.

The man in today’s gospel is eager – he runs to Jesus full of desire – yet also caught up in self-centredness. He wants ‘eternal life’ — that is a life that knows no bounds, a life that is not limited by space and time, but that keeps on filling his heart from the fount […] The post Come with Open Hands appeared first on rmhealey.org.

Divorce is one of the sad realities of our world. There are very few families that have not been touched by the heartache of separation and divorce. I suspect that my immediate family where my parents and my four siblings are all in multi-decade first marriages makes us rather unusual. The reality is that making […] The post The two become one appeared first on rmhealey.org.

Oh hell!  This passage is the only one where Mark mentions ‘hell’ – 3 times in total.  Luke only mentions it once (Luke 12:5); Matthew 7 times. Never in John’s gospel or the writings of Paul. Once in James 3 and once in 2 Peter 2. Total of 13 mentions – always the word ‘Gehenna’  […] The post Hell and Garbage appeared first on rmhealey.org.

Sunday 25, Year B. Mark 9:30-37 Play MP3 Watch video Generated Transcript As I have grown older, my fondness for the gospel of Mark has also grown, and one of the things I really like about this gospel is the humanity of Jesus, but especially the humanity of the disciples. Yeah, they are in so […] The post Upside down life in Jesus appeared first on rmhealey.org.