Traversing Emmaus

Homily for Thursday in the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Feast of Saint Camillus), delivered in Chanel College Chapel, Gladstone, Qld.

"The path of the upright man is straight, you smooth the way of the upright. Following the path of your judgements, we hoped in you, O Lord, your name, your memory are all my soul desires. At night my soul longs for you
and my spirit in me seeks for you; when your judgements appear on earth the inhabitants of the world learn the meaning of integrity. O Lord, you are giving us peace, since you treat us as our deeds deserve. Distressed, we search for you, O Lord; the misery of oppression was your punishment for us. As a woman with child near her time writhes and cries out in her pangs, so are we, O Lord, in your presence: we have conceived, we writhe as if we were giving birth; we have not given the spirit of salvation to the earth, no more inhabitants of the world are born... awake, exult, all you who lie in the dust, for your dew is a radiant dew and the land of ghosts will give birth." (Is 26:7-19).

"Jesus said, ‘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 11:28-30).

Artwork: Jesus bearing his Cross (source unknown).

Homily for Wednesday in the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Feast of Saint Henry), delivered in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"The Lord of hosts says this: Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, the club brandished by me in my fury! I sent him against a godless nation; I gave him commission... But he did not intend this, his heart did not plan it so. No, in his heart was to destroy, to go on cutting nations to pieces without limit. For he has said: ‘By the strength of my own arm I have done this and by my own intelligence, for understanding is mine; I have pushed back the frontiers of peoples and plundered their treasures. I have brought their inhabitants down to the dust...' Does the axe claim more credit than the man who wields it, or the saw more strength than the man who handles it? It would be like the cudgel controlling the man who raises it, or the club moving what is not made of wood! And so the Lord of Hosts is going to send... a burning [that] will burn
like a consuming fire." (cf. Is 10:5-16).

"They crush your people, Lord, they afflict the ones you have chosen. They kill the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless child, [and] say: ‘The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.’ Mark this, most senseless of people; fools, when will you understand? Can he who made the ear, not hear? Can he who formed the eye, not see? Will he who trains nations not punish? Will he who teaches men, not have knowledge? The Lord will not abandon his people. The Lord will not abandon his people nor forsake those who are his own; for judgement shall again be just and all true hearts shall uphold it." (cf. Ps 94:5-15).

"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.’" (Mt 11:25-27).

"Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command. This is what man's first sin consisted of. All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness" (CCC 397); Faith in the one true God revealed in Jesus "means trusting God in every circumstance, even in adversity. A prayer of St. Teresa of Jesus wonderfully expresses this trust: Let nothing trouble you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes. God never changes. Patience... obtains all
Whoever has God... wants for nothing. God alone is enough." (CCC 227 cf 222-227).

"Lord God, you endowed Saint Henry with abundant grace and led him from an earthly to a heavenly kingdom, grant, at his intercession, that, amid this world’s changes, we may, with pure minds, hasten on our way to you." (Collect).

Artwork: Byzantine mosaic of Christ the creator of the world resting after creation, (12 Century, Montreal).

Homily for Tuesday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time (Feast of Saints Zélie and Louis Martin, the parents of the the Little Flower), delivered in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"In the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Razon the king of Aram went up against Jerusalem with Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, to lay siege to it; but he was unable to capture it. The news was brought to the House of David. ‘Aram’ they said ‘has reached Ephraim.’ Then the heart of the king and the hearts of the people shuddered as the trees of the forest shudder in front of the wind. The Lord said to Isaiah, ‘Go with your son Shear-jashub, and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the Fuller’s Field road, and say to him: 'Pay attention, keep calm, have no fear, do not let your heart sink
because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands, or because Aram, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah have plotted to ruin you, and have said: Let us invade Judah and terrorise it and seize it for ourselves, and set up a king there, the son of Tabeel. The Lord says this:
It shall not come true; it shall not be. The capital of Aram is Damascus, the head of Damascus, Razon; the capital of Ephraim, Samaria, the head of Samaria, the son of Remaliah. Six or five years more and a shattered Ephraim shall no longer be a people. But if you do not stand by me, you will not stand at all.'” (Is 7:1-9).

"... the kings assembled together, together they advanced. They saw; at once they were astounded; dismayed, they fled in fear: God upholds his city for ever." (cf Ps 48).

"Jesus began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been worked, because they refused to repent. 'Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! And as for you, Capernaum... it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom on Judgement day as with you.’" (cf Mt 11:20-24).

Artwork: unknown.

Homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, delivered in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"Moses said to the people: Obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping those commandments and laws of his that are written in the Book of this Law, and you shall return to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. For this Law that I enjoin on you today is not beyond your strength or beyond your reach. It is not in heaven, so that you need to wonder, 'Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it down to us, so that we may hear it and keep it?' Nor is it beyond the seas, so that you need to wonder, 'Who will cross the seas for us and bring it back to us, so that we may hear it and keep it?' No, the Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance." (Deut 30:10-14).

"This is my prayer to you, my prayer for your favour. In your great love, answer me, O God; the poor when they see it will be glad and God-seeking hearts will revive; for God will bring help to Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah... those who love his name shall dwell there." (cf. Ps 69:14-37).

"Christ Jesus is the image of the unseen God... for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible; all things were created through him and for him. Before anything was created, he existed, and he holds all things in unity. Now the Church is his body... because God wanted all perfection to be found in him
and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth..." (cf. Col 1:15-20).

"There was a lawyer who, to disconcert Jesus, stood up and said to him, ‘Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? What do you read there?’ He replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.’... Jesus said to him, ‘Go, and do...'" (cf. Lk 10:25-37).

Artwork: "Altarpiece of the Lamentation" by Joos van Cleef, (early 16th Century).

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

"The Lord says this: Israel, come back to the Lord your God; your iniquity was the cause of your downfall. Provide yourself with words and come back to the Lord. Say to him, ‘Take all iniquity away...' I will heal their disloyalty, I will love them with all my heart, for my anger has turned from them. I will fall like dew on Israel. He shall bloom like the lily, and thrust out roots like the poplar, his shoots will spread far; he will have the beauty of the olive and the fragrance of Lebanon. They will come back to live in my shade; they will grow corn that flourishes, they will cultivate vines as renowned as the wine of Helbon. What has Ephraim to do with idols any more when it is I who hear his prayer and care for him? I am like a cypress ever green, all your fruitfulness comes from me. Let the wise man understand these words.
Let the intelligent man grasp their meaning." (cf. Hos 14:2-10).

"My mouth will declare your praise; Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion blot out my offence. O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin... Indeed you love truth in the heart; then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom... Give me again the joy of your help; with a spirit of fervour sustain me, O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise." (cf. Ps 51).

"Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Remember, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves. Beware of men: they will hand you over to sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the pagans. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes; because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you... You will be hated by all men on account of my name; but the man who stands firm to the end will be saved." (cf Mt 10:16-23).

Artwork: "Christ in the Garden of the Olives", by Henri Eugène Paul Gauguin (1889).

Homily for Thursday in the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Memorial of Saint Peter To Rot), delivered at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"Thus says the Lord: When Israel was a child I loved him,
and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called to them, the further they went from me; they have offered sacrifice to the Baals and set their offerings smoking before the idols. I myself taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in my arms; yet they have not understood that I was the one looking after them. I led them with reins of kindness, with leading-strings of love. I was like someone who lifts an infant close against his cheek; stooping down to him I gave him his food. Ephraim, how could I part with you? Israel, how could I give you up? How could I treat you like Admah, or deal with you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils from it, my whole being trembles at the thought. I will not give rein to my fierce anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again, for I am God, not man: I am the Holy One in your midst and have no wish to destroy." (cf. Hos 11:1-9).

"Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘As you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils... And if anyone does not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, as you walk out of the house or town shake the dust from your feet." (cf. Mt 10:7-15).

Artwork: Illustration of Hosea and Gomer from the Bible Historiale, (1372).

Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2022, delivered in Our Lady Star of the Sea, Gladstone, Qld.

"The Lord said to Elijah, ‘Go, you are to anoint Elisha son of Shaphat, of Abel Meholah, as prophet to succeed you.’ Leaving there, Elijah came on Elisha son of Shaphat as he was ploughing behind twelve yoke of oxen, he himself being with the twelfth. Elijah passed near to him and threw his cloak over him. Elisha left his oxen and ran after Elijah. ‘Let me kiss my father and mother, then I will follow you’ he said. Elijah answered, ‘Go, go back; for have I done anything to you?’ Elisha turned away, took the pair of oxen and slaughtered them. He used the plough for cooking the oxen, then gave to his men, who ate. He then rose, and followed Elijah and became his servant." (cf. 1 Kngs 19:16-21).

"When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery." (cf. Gal 5:1).

"As the time drew near for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely took the road for Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead of him. These set out, and they went into a Samaritan village to make preparations for him, but the people would not receive him because he was making for Jerusalem. Seeing this, the disciples James and John said, ‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?’ But he turned and rebuked them, and they went off to another village. As they travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus answered, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ Another to whom he said, ‘Follow me’, replied, ‘Let me go and bury my father first.’ But he answered, ‘Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say goodbye to my people at home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’" (Lk 9:51-62).

Artwork: "Elijah's firey ascent into heaven" (16th Century).

Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2022, delivered in St Agnes Church, Agnes Waters, Qld.

"The Lord said to Elijah, ‘Go, you are to anoint Elisha son of Shaphat, of Abel Meholah, as prophet to succeed you.’ [Elisha] followed Elijah and became his servant." (cf. 1 Kngs 19:16-21).

"You are my inheritance, O Lord. Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you. I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God. O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup; it is you yourself who are my prize.’" (Ps 16).

"When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. My brothers, you were called, as you know, to liberty; but be careful, or this liberty will provide an opening for self-indulgence... Let me put it like this: if you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger; If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you." (cf. Gal 5:1,13-18).

"As the time drew near for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely took the road for Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead of him. These set out, and they went into a Samaritan village to make preparations for him, but the people would not receive him because he was making for Jerusalem. Seeing this, the disciples James and John said, ‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?’ But he turned and rebuked them, and they went off to another village. As they travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus answered, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ Another to whom he said, ‘Follow me’, replied, ‘Let me go and bury my father first.’ But he answered, ‘Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say goodbye to my people at home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’" (Lk 9:51-62).

Artwork: "Elisha the Prophet" by Giorgio Vasari (c.1566).

Homily for the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, (Readings from the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart), feast day Mass for St John the Baptist Primary School, Gladstone, Qld.

"The Lord God says this: I am going to look after my flock myself and keep all of it in view. As a shepherd keeps all his flock in view when he stands up in the middle of his scattered sheep, so shall I keep my sheep in view... I myself will pasture my sheep, I myself will show them where to rest – it is the Lord who speaks. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them." (cf. Ez 34:11-16).

"Jesus spoke this parable to the scribes and Pharisees: ‘What man among you with a hundred sheep, losing one, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the missing one till he found it? And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours? “Rejoice with me,” he would say “I have found my sheep that was lost.” In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.’" (Lk 15:3-7).

Artwork: "Zacharias Writes Down the Name of his Son" by Domenica Ghirlandaio, (1486-90).

Homily for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, (Friday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time), delivered in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"The Lord God says this: I am going to look after my flock myself and keep all of it in view. As a shepherd keeps all his flock in view when he stands up in the middle of his scattered sheep, so shall I keep my sheep in view. I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered during the mist and darkness. I shall bring them out of the countries where they are; I shall gather them together from foreign countries and bring them back to their own land. I shall pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in every inhabited place in the land. I shall feed them in good pasturage; the high mountains of Israel will be their grazing ground. There they will rest in good grazing ground; they will browse in rich pastures on the mountains of Israel. I myself will pasture my sheep, I myself will show them where to rest – it is the Lord who speaks. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them." (Ez 34:11-16).

"Jesus spoke this parable to the scribes and Pharisees: ‘What man among you with a hundred sheep, losing one, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the missing one till he found it...? In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.’" (cf. Lk 15:3-7).

Artwork: a painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hanging above the entrance of Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church, Mt Larcom.