Traversing Emmaus

Homily for the Friday in the Seventh Week of Eastertide (Feast of Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions), delivered at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.
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Thank you to Yr3 from St John the Baptist Primary School, for the liturgy you prepared, and for your presence and gifts.

"King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. Their visit lasted several days, and Festus put Paul’s case before the king. ‘There is a man here’ he said ‘whom Felix left behind in custody, and while I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and elders of the Jews laid information against him, demanding his condemnation...'" (cf. Acts 35:13-21).

"The Lord has set his thrown in heaven." (cf. Ps 103).

"Peter was upset that he asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and said, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep... follow me.'" (cf. Jn 21:15-19).

Artwork: Christ's Charge to Peter by Raphael, (c. 1515).

Homily for the Wednesday in the Seventh Week of Eastertide (Feast of Saint Justin Marty), delivered Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"... ‘Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the overseers, to feed the Church of God which he bought with his own blood. I know quite well that when I have gone fierce wolves will invade you and will have no mercy on the flock. Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them. So be on your guard..." (Acts 20:28-31).

"Show forth, O God, show forth your might, your might, O God, which you have shown for us. He thunders his voice, his mighty voice. Come, acknowledge the power of God... God is to be feared in his holy place; He gives strength and power to his people." (cf. Ps 68).

"Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: ‘Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one like us; I kept those you had given me;  I have watched over them; [I] share[d] my joy with them to the full; I passed your word on to them... I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the evil one; [to] consecrate them in the truth; as you sent me into the world,
I have sent them into the world,
and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth'..." (cf Jn 17:11-19).

"... there is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle — the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes: He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows." (CCC 2015).

"Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the 'mystery of iniquity' in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh." (CCC 675).

Artwork: a pelican vulning herself, used in Christian iconography since the 12 century.

Homily for the Monday in the Seventh Week of Eastertide, delivered for one of the classes at St John the Baptist Primary School, Gladstone, Qld.

"While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul made his way overland as far as Ephesus, where he found a number of disciples. When he asked, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ they answered, ‘No, we were never even told there was such a thing as a Holy Spirit.’ ‘Then how were you baptised?’ he asked. ‘With John’s baptism’ they replied. ‘John’s baptism’ said Paul ‘was a baptism of repentance; but he insisted that the people should believe in the one who was to come after him – in other words, Jesus.’ When they heard this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, and the moment Paul had laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came down on them..." (Acts 19:1-6).

"... ‘Now you are speaking plainly and not using metaphors! Now we see... [and] because of this we believe that you came from God.’ Jesus answered them: ‘Do you believe at last? Listen; the time will come – in fact it has come already – when you will be scattered... each going his own way... be brave: I have conquered the world'..." (cf Jn 16:29-33).

Artwork: An early Christian painting of the 'agape feast', or the celebration of the Eucharist.

Homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, in Easter, 2022, delivered in Our Lady to Star of the Sea, Qld.

"In my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught... He had shown himself alive and [told] them about the kingdom of God... ‘It is’ he had said ‘what you have heard me speak about: ... you, not many days from now, will be baptised with the Holy Spirit...' As he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight." (cf. Acts 1:1-11).

"It is not as though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was only modelled on the real one; but it was heaven itself, so that he could appear in the actual presence of God on our behalf... through the blood of Jesus we have the right to enter the sanctuary, by a new way which he has opened for us, a living opening through the curtain, that is to say, his body. And we have the supreme high priest over all the house of God. So [let us] go in." (cf. Heb 9:24-10:23).

"What does 'he ascended' mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. So Christ himself gave [gifts] to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Eph 4:9-14 NIV).

‘You see how it is written... [that] the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations... Now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised. Stay...' and lifting up his hands he blessed them — [and] as he blessed them, he withdrew from them... and was carried up to heaven. They worshipped him... and they were continually in the Temple praising God." (cf. Lk 24:46-53).
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"Christ's Ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus' humanity into God's heavenly domain, whence he will come again (cf. Acts 1:11); this humanity in the meantime hides him from the eyes of men (cf. Col 3:3); [thus] God's plan has entered into its fulfillment. We are already at 'the last hour', and 'the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way; the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real but imperfect.' Christ's [second] coming in glory has been imminent [and] could be accomplished at any moment." (CCC 650, -70, -73).

Artwork: 'The Ascension of Christ' by Pietro Perugino (1448–1523).

Homily for Sixth Sunday in Easter, 2022, delivered in Mary Immaculate Church, Emu Park, Qld.

"Some men came down from Judaea and taught the brothers, ‘Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved.’ This led to disagreement..." (Acts 15:1-2).

"In the spirit, the angel took me to the top of an enormous high mountain and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from God out of heaven. It had all the radiant glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond. The walls of it were of a great height, and had twelve gates [over which] were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; the city walls stood on twelve foundation stones, each one of which bore the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. I saw that there was no temple in the city since the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb were themselves the temple..." (cf Rev 21).

"I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything..." (cf. Jn 14:21-29).

Artwork: "New Jerusalem" Armenian manuscript by Malnazar and Aghap'ir in New Julfa bible, 1645.

Homily for Fifth Sunday in Easter, 2022, delivered in St Mary's Church, Ubobo, and Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"Paul and Barnabas went back through Lystra and Iconium to Antioch. They put fresh heart into the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in the faith. ‘We all have to experience many hardships’ they said ‘before we enter the kingdom of God'..." (cf. Acts 14:21-27).

"I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth; I saw the holy city, and the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as beautiful as a bride all dressed for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, ‘You see this city? Here God lives among men. He will make his home among them'..." (cf Rev 21:1-5).

"If God has been glorified in him, God will in turn glorify him in himself...  love one another; just as I have loved you: by this... everyone will know that you are my disciples'..." (cf. Jn 13:31-35)

Artwork: Fresco in the Vatican Cappella Paolina by Michelangelo, (1542-45).

Homily for the Friday in the Fourth Week of Eastertide, delivered Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"Paul and his friends carried on from Perga till they reached Antioch in Pisidia. Here they went to synagogue on the sabbath and took their seats. After the lessons from the Law and the Prophets had been read, the presidents of the synagogue sent them a message: ‘Brothers, if you would like to address some words of encouragement to the congregation, please do so.’ Paul stood up, held up a hand for silence and began to speak: ‘People of Israel, and fearers of God, listen! ... We have come here to tell you the Good News. It was to our ancestors that God made the promise but it is to us, their children, that he has fulfilled it, by raising Jesus from the dead. As scripture says in the second psalm: You are my son: 'today I have become your father'; I want you to realise that it is through him that forgiveness of your sins is proclaimed. Through him justification [is] offered to every believer'; Paul and Barnabas urged them to remain faithful to the grace God had given them." (cf. Acts 13:14-43).

"Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God still, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house; if there were not, I should have told you. I am going now to prepare a place for you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you with me; so that where I am you may be too. You know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus said: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’ (Jn 14:1-6).
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"The characteristics of the awaited Messiah (i.e. "Isaiah said this when he saw [Christ's] glory,"), 'There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.'..." (cf. Is 11; CCC 721).

"The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit [imparted to all the faithful] are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David. They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations, [enabling "one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions."] 'Let your good spirit lead me on a level path. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God... If children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ'..." (CCC 1831, -45, 1808).

"The faithful should bear witness to [and] confess the faith without giving way to fear [or swearing false oaths, which, violating the second Commandment, 'take[s] God as witness to what one affirms, [and] invoke[s] the divine truthfulness as a pledge of one's own truthfulness: 'You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve him, and swear by his name.'] Preaching and catechizing should be permeated with adoration and respect for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (CCC 2145, [2150]).

Artwork: The Preaching of Saint Paul at Ephesus by Eustache Le Sueur (c. 1649).

Homily for a Liturgy of the Word with two classes at St John the Baptist's Catholic Primary School, Gladstone, Qld.

" I pray that your love will keep on growing more and more, together with true knowledge and perfect judgement, so that you will be able to choose what is best. Your lives will be filled with the truly good qualities which only Jesus can produce, for the glory and praise of God." (Phil 1:9-10a, 11).

"I will thank you, O Lord, among the nations, I will praise you among the people; Your constant love reaches to the heavens: your faithfulness touches the skies; Show your greatness in the sky, O God, and your glory over all the earth." (cf. Jn 12:44-50).

"When Joseph and Mary had finished doing all that was required by the law of the Lord, they returned to their home town of Nazareth in Galilee. The child grew and became strong; he was full of wisdom, and God's blessings were upon him." (Lk 2:39-40).
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"Since the earliest times, Baptism has been administered to children, for it is a grace and a gift of God that does not presuppose any human merit; children are baptized in the faith of the Church. Entry into Christian life gives access to true freedom. With respect to children who have died without Baptism, the liturgy of the Church invites us to trust in God's mercy and to pray for their salvation. In case of necessity, any person can baptize provided that he have the intention of doing that which the Church does and provided that he pours water on the candidate's head while saying: 'I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit'." (cf. CCC 1282-84).

"God's very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange." (CCC 221).

Artwork: Christ blessing the Children, (by Lucas Cranach the Younger, c. 1515–1586).

Homily for the Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Eastertide, delivered Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"The word of God continued to spread and to gain followers, [and] in the church at Antioch [were] prophets and teachers... One day while they were offering worship to the Lord and keeping a fast, the Holy Spirit said, ‘I want Barnabas and Saul set apart for the work to which I have called them.’ So it was that after fasting and prayer they laid their hands on them and sent them off — these two, sent on their mission by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus... John acted as their assistant." (cf. Acts 12-13).

"Jesus declared publicly: Whoever believes in me
believes not in me but in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me, sees the one who sent me; if anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully [but] rejects me and refuses my words... the word itself that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. For what I have spoken does not come from myself; no, what I was to say, what I had to speak,
was commanded by the Father who sent me, and I know that his commands mean eternal life..." (cf. Jn 12:44-50).

There are in this world "sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature"; such signs "do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church's prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it", making us "disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and [rendering] various occasions in life... holy." In all this, "[p]astoral discernment is needed to sustain and support popular piety and, if necessary, to purify and correct the religious sense which underlies these devotions so that the faithful may advance in knowledge of the mystery of Christ. (cf. CCC 1667, 1670, 1676).

Artwork: Christ and the woman taken in adultery (by Rembrandt, c. 1639–41).

Some comments to acknowledge and bless our mothers before the penitential act at ​Mass.

Artwork: The Marriage at Cana, (Gerard David, c.1500).