Traversing Emmaus

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

"Brothers, your faith has been a great comfort to us in the middle of our own troubles and sorrows; now we can breathe again... May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you." (cf. 1 Thes 3).

"Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!" (cf. Ps 90).

"Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming... What sort of servant, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment." (cf. Mt 24).

Artwork: "Ascent of the Blessed", part of Hieronymus Bosch's Visions of the Hereafter series (c. 1500 - 04).

A casual conversation with the young people about the Lord's Prayer, honing in on temptation, freedom, sin and love in God's plan — and then special places to be to feel close to God and most at home within ourselves.

Artwork: "Temptation" by Sharon Mick, retrieved from the Fine Art America website.

A casual conversation with some young people on the Golden Rule and the implications for caring for the environment.

Artwork: a Laudato Si painting by Giang Pham RNDM, retrieved from the artists website.

Homily for Wednesday in the Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time, delivered in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"Let me remind you, brothers, how hard we used to work, slaving night and day so as not to be a burden on any one of you while we were proclaiming God’s Good News to you. You are witnesses, and so is God... as a father treats his children, teaching you what was right, encouraging you and appealing to you to live a life worthy of God, who is calling you to share the glory of his kingdom." (cf. 1 Thes 2).

"O where can I go from your spirit, or where can I flee from your face? If I climb the heavens, you are there. If I lie in the grave, you are there." (cf. Ps 139).

"Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who are like whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of corruption; you who build the sepulchres of the prophets and decorate the tombs of holy men, saying, "We would never have joined in shedding the blood of the prophets, had we lived in our fathers’ day.” So! Your own evidence tells against you! You are the sons of those who murdered the prophets! Very well then, finish off the work that your fathers began.’" (cf. Mt 23).

Artwork: "The Four Latin Church Fathers" by Jacob Jordaens (c. 1620 - 25).

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

"I place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; should he open, no one shall close, should he close, no one shall open. I drive him like a peg into a firm place..."

"I thank you, Lord, with all my heart: you have heard the words of my mouth. In the presence of the angels I will bless you. I will adore before your holy temple." (cf. Ps 138).

"All that exists comes from him; all is by him and for him. To him be glory for ever! Amen." (cf. Rm 11).

"So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’ Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ." (cf. Mt 16).

Artwork: "Saint Peter" by Peter Paul Rubens, (c. 1610–1612).

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

"Thus says the Lord of Hosts to Shebna, the master of the palace: I dismiss you from your office, I remove you from your post, and the same day I call on my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah... I drive him like a peg
into a firm place; he will become a throne of glory for his father’s house." (cf. Is 22).

"Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands." (cf. Ps 138).

"How rich are the depths of God – how deep his wisdom and knowledge..." (cf. Rom 11).

"When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said, ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man... So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.'" (cg. Mt 16).

Artwork: "The Delivery of the Keys" fresco, (c 1481–1482), in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City.

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

"In the days of the Judges famine came to the land and a certain man from Bethlehem of Judah went – he, his wife and his two sons – to live in the country of Moab. Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she and her two sons were left. These married Moabite women: one was named Orpah and the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died and the woman was bereft of her two sons and her husband. So she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and went back to her people. But Ruth clung to her. Naomi said to her, ‘Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god. You must return too; follow your sister-in-law.’ But Ruth said, ‘Do not press me to leave you and to turn back from your company, for... wherever you go, I will go,
wherever you live, I will live.
Your people shall be my people,
and your God, my God.’" (cf. Ruth 1, 16).

"Teach me your paths, my God, and lead me in your truth." (Gospel Accl. cf. Ps 24).

"'Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.’" (cf. Mt 22).

Artwork: an image adapted from a prior episode's image, using the Wonder App and Canva.

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

"The angel came to speak to me, and said, ‘Come here and I will show you the bride that the Lamb has married.’ In the spirit, he 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; at each of the twelve gates there was an angel, and over the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel..." (cf. Apoc 21).

"Your friends tell the glory of your kingship, Lord." (Ps 154).

"Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, the one about whom the prophets wrote: he is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.’ ‘From Nazareth?’ said Nathanael ‘Can anything good come from that place?’ ‘Come and see’ replied Philip." (cf. Jn 1).

Artwork: an angel showing John the New Jerusalem, with the Lamb of God at its center, (as depicted in the Bamberg Apocalypse).

Exploring "the Greatest Commandment" with a group of Preppies in the local Catholic Primary School.

Artwork: Generated using the Wonder App. 

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

"All the leading men of Shechem and all Beth-millo gathered, and proclaimed Abimelech king by the terebinth of the pillar at Shechem. News of this was brought to Jotham. He came and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted aloud for them to hear: ‘Hear me, leaders of Shechem, that God may also hear you! One day the trees went out to anoint a king to rule over them. They said to the olive tree, “Be our king!” [The same they said] to the fig tree... to the vine... [and finally] to the torn bush.'" (cf. Judges 9).

"O Lord, your strength gives joy to the king; how your saving help makes him glad!" (cf. Ps 21).

"Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner going out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. He made an agreement with the workers for one denarius a day, and sent them to his vineyard... "Have I no right," [said the landowne ], "to do what I like with my own? Why be envious because I am generous?” Thus the last will be first, and the first, last.’" (cf. Mt 20).

Artwork: "Farmers Working in the Field" by Vincent van Gogh, (c. 1888).