Traversing Emmaus

Homily for Thursday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, delivered in St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School, Gladstone, Qld.

"Moses did exactly as the Lord had directed him. The tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. Moses erected the tabernacle. He fixed the sockets for it, put up its frames, put its crossbars in position, set up its posts. He spread the tent over the tabernacle and on top of this the covering for the tent, as the Lord had directed Moses. He took the Testimony and placed it inside the ark. He set the shafts to the ark and placed the throne of mercy on it. He brought the ark into the tabernacle and put the screening veil in place; thus he screened the ark of the Lord, as the Lord had directed Moses. The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle... and so it was for every stage of their journey." (cf. Ex 40).

"How lovely is your dwelling-place, Lord, mighty God!" (Ps 84).

"Jesus said to the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds. When it is full, the fishermen haul it ashore; then, sitting down, they collect the good ones in a basket and throw away those that are no use. This is how it will be at the end of time: the angels will appear and separate the wicked from the just to throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. ‘Have you understood all this?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Well then, every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out from his storeroom things both new and old.’ When Jesus had finished these parables he left the district." (cf. Mt 13).

Artwork: an image of a simple tent in the outdoors, generated using the Wonder app.

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

"The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, ‘Ask what you would like me to give you.’ Solomon replied, ‘O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in succession to David my father. But I am a very young man, unskilled in leadership. Your servant finds himself in the midst of this people of yours that you have chosen, a people so many its number cannot be counted or reckoned. Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between good and evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great?’ It pleased the Lord that Solomon should have asked for this. "... I give you a heart wise and shrewd as none before you has had and none will have after you.’" (cf. 1 Kgs 3).

"That is why I love your commands more than finest gold, why I rule my life by your precepts, and hate false ways... Your will is wonderful indeed; therefore I obey it. The unfolding of your word gives light and teaches the simple." (cf. Ps 119).

"We know that by turning everything to their good, God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those he has called according to his purpose." (cf. Rom 8).

"Jesus said to the crowds, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found... Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls... Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds.... Have you understood all this?’ They said, ‘Yes.’..." (cf. Mt 13).

Artwork: "Parable of the Hidden Treasure" by Rembrandt, (c. 1625-69).

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

"The Lord said to Moses, ‘I am coming to you in a dense cloud so that the people may hear when I speak to you and may trust you always...’ Now at daybreak on the third day there were peals of thunder on the mountain and lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp all the people trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain of Sinai was entirely wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. Like smoke from a furnace the smoke went up, and the whole mountain shook violently. Louder and louder grew the sound of the trumpet. Moses spoke, and God answered him with peals of thunder... and Moses went up." (cf. Ex 19).

"The disciples went up to Jesus and asked, ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’ ‘Because’ he replied, ‘the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them... in their case this prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled: You will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes... But happy are your eyes [if] they see, your ears [if] they hear!" (cf. Mt 13).

Artwork: the face of a young child journeying as if through the universe to God, generated using the Wonder app.

Homily for the Feast of Saints Anne and Joachim, Wednesday in the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time, delivered in the New Auckland Retirement Village, Gladstone, Qld.

"From Elim they set out, and the whole community of the sons of Israel reached the wilderness of Sin – between Elim and Sinai – on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. And the whole community of the sons of Israel began to complain against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and said to them, ‘Why did we not die at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to our heart’s content! As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve this whole company to death!’ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now I will rain down bread for you from the heavens." (cf. Ex 16).

"In their heart they put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. They even spoke against God. They said: ‘Is it possible for God to prepare a table in the desert?’ Yet he commanded the clouds above and opened the gates of heaven. He rained down manna for their food, and gave them bread from heaven. Mere men ate the bread of angels. He sent them abundance of food..." (cf. Ps 78).

"Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables. He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow...'" (cf. Mt 13).

Artwork: an image of Saints Anne and Joachim, retrieved from the BeliefNet website. 

Homily for Catholic Education Week, (Feast of Saint James, Apostle), delivered at St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School, Gladstone, Qld.

"We are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure, to make it clear that such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us. We are in difficulties on all sides, but never cornered; we see no answer to our problems, but never despair; we have been persecuted, but never deserted; knocked down, but never killed; always, wherever we may be, we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body. Indeed, while we are still alive, we are consigned to our death every day, for the sake of Jesus, so that in our mortal flesh the life of Jesus, too, may be openly shown. So death is at work in us, but life in you. But as we have the same spirit of faith that is mentioned in scripture – I believed, and therefore I spoke – we too believe and therefore we too speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus to life will raise us with Jesus in our turn, and put us by his side and you with us. You see, all this is for your benefit, so that the more grace is multiplied among people, the more thanksgiving there will be, to the glory of God." (cf. 2 Cor 4).

"The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels the Lord worked for them!’ What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad." (cf. Ps 126).

"The mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons to make a request of him, and bowed low; and he said to her, ‘What is it you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ ‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus answered. ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ ‘Very well,’ he said ‘you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.’ When the other ten heard this they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’" (cf. Mt 20).

Artwork: a representation of one of the CEW 2023 graphics, with a collage of photographs from schools all across the Diocese of Rockhampton.

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

"You show your strength when your sovereign power is questioned and you expose the insolence of those who know it;
but, disposing of such strength, you are mild in judgement, you govern us with great lenience, for you have only to will, and your power is there. By acting thus you have taught a lesson to your people how the virtuous man must be kindly to his fellow men, and you have given your sons the good hope that after sin you will grant repentance." (cf. Wis 12).

"All the nations shall come to adore you and glorify your name, O Lord: for you are great and do marvellous deeds, you who alone are God." (cf. Ps 86).

"... God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God." (Rom 8:27).

"Jesus put another parable before the crowds: The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants went to him and said, 'Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?' 'Some enemy has done this' he answered. And the servants said, 'Do you want us to go and weed it out?' But he said, 'No...'" (cf. Mt 13).

Artwork: an image of abundant wheat to be offered on the altar, generated using the Wonder app.

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

"There is no god, other than you, who cares for every thing,
to whom you might have to prove that you never judged unjustly. Your justice has its source in strength, your sovereignty over all makes you lenient to all. You show your strength when your sovereign power is questioned and you expose the insolence of those who know it; but, disposing of such strength, you are mild in judgement, you govern us with great lenience, for you have only to will, and your power is there." (cf. Wis 12).

"O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of love to all who call. Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer and attend to the sound of my voice." (cf. Ps 86).

"The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words..." (Rom 8:26).

"Jesus put another parable before the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants went to him and said, “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?” “Some enemy has done this” he answered. And the servants said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?” But he said, “No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.”' He put another parable before them: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.' He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’ In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables..." (cf. Mt 13).

Artwork: an image of wheat in the field, generated using the Wonder app.

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

Joined by some of our primary school children.

"Moses and Aaron worked many wonders in the presence of Pharaoh. But the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn, and he did not let the sons of Israel leave his country. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ‘This month is to be the first of all the others for you, the first month of your year... This day is to be a day of remembrance for you, and you must celebrate it as a feast in the Lord’s honour. For all generations you are to declare it a day of festival, for ever.”’ (cf. Ex 11).

"How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me? The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.

"Jesus took a walk one sabbath day through the cornfields. His disciples were hungry and began to pick ears of corn and eat them. The Pharisees noticed it and said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing something that is forbidden...' but he said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry...? Or again, have you not read in the Law that on the sabbath day the Temple priests break the sabbath without being blamed...?." (cf. Mt 12).

Artwork: a man and some children seated around an elder teaching Scripture, generated using the Wonder app.

Reflection with some of the school children and their parents, at St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School, Gladstone, Qld.

"Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables. He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’" (Mt 13:1-9).

Artwork: Jesus with some children, gathering up the fruit of God's grace at work in their lives. The image was generated using the Wonder app.

Homily for Tuesday in the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time, delivered in St Patrick's Church, Emerald, with Fr Tryc Pham.

"There was a man of the tribe of Levi who had taken a woman of Levi as his wife. She conceived and gave birth to a son and, seeing what a fine child he was, she kept him hidden for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him; coating it with bitumen and pitch, she put the child inside and laid it among the reeds at the river’s edge. His sister stood some distance away to see what would happen to him. Now Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe in the river, and the girls attending her were walking along by the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket, and she sent her maid to fetch it. She opened it and looked, and saw a baby boy, crying; and she was sorry for him. ‘This is a child of one of the Hebrews’ she said. Then the child’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and find you a nurse among the Hebrew women to suckle the child for you?’ ‘Yes, go,’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her; and the girl went off to find the baby’s own mother. To her the daughter of Pharaoh said, ‘Take this child away and suckle it for me. I will see you are paid.’ So the woman took the child and suckled it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter who treated him like a son; she named him Moses because, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’

Moses, a man by now, set out at this time to visit his countrymen, and he saw what a hard life they were having; and he saw an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, one of his countrymen. Looking round he could see no one in sight, so he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. On the following day he came back, and there were two Hebrews, fighting. He said to the man who was in the wrong, ‘What do you mean by hitting your fellow countryman?’ ‘And who appointed you’ the man retorted, ‘to be prince over us, and judge? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Moses was frightened. ‘Clearly that business has come to light’ he thought. When Pharaoh heard of the matter he would have killed Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and made for the land of Midian." (cf. Ex 2).

"Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live." (cf. Ps 69).

"Jesus began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been worked, because they refused to repent. 'Alas for you... did you want to be exalted as high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell. For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom on Judgement day as with you.’" (cf. Mt 11).

Artwork: an image of Moses with his face made radiant after prayer, retrieved from Allen R. Bevere's Faith Seeking Understanding blog.