Traversing Emmaus

Homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, delivered in St Peter Chanel Church, Tannum Sands, Qld.

"From Rephidim the sons of Israel set out again; and when they reached the wilderness of Sinai, there in the wilderness they pitched their camp; there facing the mountain Israel pitched camp. Moses then went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel, “You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own for all the earth is mine. I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.”’..." (Ex 19:2-6).

"We are his people, the sheep of his flock." (cf. Ps 100).

"We were still helpless when at his appointed moment Christ died for sinful men. It is not easy to die even for a good man... but what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Having died to make us righteous, is it likely that he would now fail to save us from God’s anger...? We are filled with joyful trust in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have already gained our reconciliation." (cf. Rom 5).

"When Jesus saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.’ He summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness." (cf. Mt 9:36-10:8).

Artwork: an image of Christ the shepherd with his sheep, retrieved from the Soul Shepherding website. 

Homily on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, delivered in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"Moses said to the people: ‘You are a people consecrated to the Lord your God; it is you that the Lord our God has chosen to be his very own people out of all the peoples on the earth. If the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, it was not because you outnumbered other peoples: you were the least of all peoples. It was for love of you and to keep the oath he swore to your fathers that the Lord brought you out with his mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery...'" (cf. Deut 7).

"The Lord’s kindness is everlasting to those who fear him." (cf. Ps 103).

"... let us love one another since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love. God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son; since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another. No one has ever seen God; but as long as we love one another God will live in us and his love will be complete in us." (cf. 1 Jn 4).

"Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’" (Mt 11:25-30).

Artwork: an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, retrieved from Pinterest. 

Homily for Thursday in the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time, delivered in Chanel College Chapel, Gladstone, Qld.

"Even today, whenever Moses is read, the veil is over their minds. It will not be removed until they turn to the Lord. Now this Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, with our unveiled faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect; this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit." (cf. 2 Cor 3-4).

"Mercy and faithfulness have met; justice and peace have embraced." (cf. Ps 85).

"Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court; if a man calls his brother "Fool” he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and if a man calls him “Renegade” he will answer for it in hell fire. So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. I tell you solemnly, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.’" (Mt 5:20-26).

Artwork: a depiction of the Apostles at Pentecost, from a Nestorian Peshitta Gospel, (13th Century).

Homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, delivered in Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"Do not become proud of heart. Do not forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery: who guided you through this vast and dreadful wilderness, a land of fiery serpents, scorpions, thirst; who in this waterless place brought you water from the hardest rock; who in this wilderness fed you with manna that your fathers had not known." (cf. Ex 18).

"He established peace on your borders, he feeds you with finest wheat." (cf. Ps 147).

"The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all have a share in this one loaf." (cf. 1 Cor 10).

"Jesus said to the crowd: ‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven... my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him. As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me. This is the bread come down from heaven; not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.’..." (cf. Jn 6).

Artwork: "Gathering of the Manna", Master of Hours of Catherine of Cleves, (c. 1440).

Homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, delivered in St Peter Chanel Catholic Church, Miriam Vale, Qld.

"Moses said to the people: ‘Remember how the Lord your God led you for forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, to test you and know your inmost heart – whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, he made you feel hunger, he fed you... to make you understand that man does not live on bread alone..." (cf. Ex 18).

"The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ, and the bread that we break is a communion with the body of Christ." (cf. 1 Cor 10).

"Jesus said to the crowd: ‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day..." (cf. Jn 6).

Artwork: unnamed, retrieved from an episode on the Thomistic Institute podcast.

Homily for Wednesday in the Nineth Week in Ordinary Time, delivered in Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"Sad at heart, I, Tobit, sighed and wept, and began this prayer of lamentation: ‘You are just, O Lord, and just are all your works. All your ways are grace and truth, and you are the Judge of the world. Therefore, Lord, remember me, look on me. Do not punish me for my sins or for my heedless faults or for those of my fathers. For we have sinned against you and broken your commandments; and you have given us over to be plundered, to captivity and death, to be the talk, the laughing-stock and scorn of all the nations among whom you have dispersed us. Whereas all your decrees are true when you deal with me as my faults deserve, and those of my fathers, since we have neither kept your commandments nor walked in truth before you; so now, do with me as you will; be pleased to take my life from me; I desire to be delivered from earth and to become earth again. For death is better for me than life. I have been reviled without a cause and I am distressed beyond measure. Lord, I wait for the sentence you will give to deliver me from this affliction. Let me go away to my everlasting home; do not turn your face from me, O Lord. For it is better to die than still to live in the face of trouble that knows no pity; I am weary of hearing myself traduced.’ It chanced on the same day that Sarah the daughter of Raguel, who lived in Media at Ecbatana, also heard insults from one of her father’s maids. You must know that she had been given in marriage seven times, and that Asmodeus, that worst of demons, had killed her bridegrooms one after another before ever they had slept with her as man with wife. The servant-girl said, ‘Yes, you kill your bridegrooms yourself. That makes seven already to whom you have been given, and you have not once been in luck yet. Just because your bridegrooms have died, that is no reason for punishing us. Go and join them, and may we be spared the sight of any child of yours!’ That day, she grieved, she sobbed, and went up to her father’s room intending to hang herself. But then she thought, ‘Suppose they blamed my father! They will say, “You had an only daughter whom you loved, and now she has hanged herself for grief.” I cannot cause my father a sorrow which would bring down his old age to the dwelling of the dead. I should do better not to hang myself, but to beg the Lord to let me die and not live to hear any more insults.’ This time the prayer of each of them found favour before the glory of God, and Raphael was sent to bring remedy to them both. He was to take the white spots from the eyes of Tobit, so that he might see God’s light with his own eyes; and he was to give Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, as bride to Tobias son of Tobit, and to rid her of Asmodeus, that worst of demons. For it was to Tobias before all other suitors that she belonged by right." (cf. Tobit 3:1-17).

"Some Sadducees – who deny that there is a resurrection – came to him and they put this question to him, ‘Master, we have it from Moses in writing, if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers...'" (cf. Mk 12:18).

Artwork: "The Angel Raphael Takes Leave of Old Tobit and his Son Tobias" by Pieter Lastman, (c. 1603 - 33).

Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, delivered (at the evening Mass) in Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"Moses bowed down to the ground at once and worshipped. ‘If I have indeed won your favour, Lord,’ he said ‘let my Lord come with us, I beg. True, they are a headstrong people, but forgive us our faults and our sins, and adopt us as your heritage.’" (cf. Ex 34).

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." (cf. 2 Cor 13).

"God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life." (John 3:16).

Artwork: Another unique depiction of the Blessed Trinity, (date and artist unknown).

Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, delivered (at the morning Mass) in Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"With the two tablets of stone in his hands, Moses went up the mountain of Sinai in the early morning as the Lord had commanded him. And the Lord descended in the form of a cloud, and Moses stood with him there. He called on the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘Lord, Lord, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness.’..." (cf. Ex 34).

"Brothers, we wish you happiness; try to grow perfect; help one another. Be united; live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you." (cf. 2 Cor 13).

"God sent his Son into the world
not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son." (cf. Jn 3).

Artwork: One of the most abstract depictions of the Holy Trinity, (title and date unknown).

Homily for Friday in the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time, delivered in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"Let us praise illustrious men, our ancestors in their successive generations." (cf. Eccl 44).

"Sing a new song to the Lord, his praise in the assembly of the faithful. Let Israel rejoice in its Maker, let Zion’s sons exult in their king. Let them praise his name with dancing and make music with timbrel and harp. For the Lord takes delight in his people. He crowns the poor with salvation." (Ps 149).

"Next morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered to the roots. Peter remembered. ‘Look, Rabbi,’ he said to Jesus, ‘the fig tree you cursed has withered away.’ Jesus answered, ‘Have faith in God; everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours. And when you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your failings too. But if you do not forgive, your Father in heaven will not forgive your failings either.’" (cf. Mk 11).

Artwork: an image of Teresa's Interior Castle. 

Homily for the Feast of Saint Justin Martyr, delivered in the Chanel College Chapel, Gladstone, Qld.

"The Lord has not granted to the holy ones to tell of all his marvels... who could ever be sated with gazing at his glory?"

"Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp, with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs. O sing him a song that is new, play loudly, with all your skill. For the word of the Lord is faithful and all his works to be trusted. The Lord loves justice and right and fills the earth with his love." (cf. Ps 33).

"As Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus (that is, the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting at the side of the road. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and to say, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.’ And many of them scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he only shouted all the louder, ‘Son of David, have pity on me.’ Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him here.’ So they called the blind man. ‘Courage,’ they said ‘get up; he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus. Then Jesus spoke, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Rabbuni,’ the blind man said to him ‘Master, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has saved you.’ And immediately his sight returned and he followed him along the road." (Mk 10:46-52).

Artwork: an icon of Saint Justin Martyr, retrieved from the 365 Saints blog.