The Sunday Gospel The Sunday Gospels these weeks are about Jesus on the way to Calvary and how his followers are to take up their crosses also. Today’s reading (Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48) is a challenge to be Christian not only in name but also in the way we live. Do I belong to Christ…
Twenty years ago this week, struggling to digest the events of September 11th, I wrote this column. Two decades later, my reaction is the same. Here’s the column. Iris Murdoch once said that the whole world can change in 15 seconds. She was talking about falling-in-love. Hatred can do the same thing: On September 11…
The Sunday Gospel Last Sunday we completed the first half of the ministry of Jesus and moved into the second stage. “Who do you say I am?” The first half of Mark is complete when Peter recognises him as the Christ, the Anointed One. Jesus is his personal name and Christ is his career name,…
Recently at a workshop, a woman shared her anxiety about the death of her brother. Her older brother had died from the Covid virus before there were vaccines for it, and had died because he had dangerously exposed himself to catching the virus. However, he had exposed himself to that danger for a worthy reason.…
The Sunday Gospel In today’s Mass we reach the halfway point of Mark’s Gospel (Mark 8: 27-35). The first half develops the identity of who Jesus is and it is time to ask the question, “Who do people say I am?” The second half will deal with the question of the way that Jesus is…
Nothing so much approximates the language of God as does silence. Meister Eckhart said that. Among other things, he is affirming that there is some deep inner work that can only be done in silence, alone, in private. In the end, the other is heaven, the salvation for which we are ultimately destined. Utter aloneness…
The Sunday Gospel Last Saturday I had the great privilege of baptising my beautiful grandniece, Juliet. Actually, I prefer to refer to the sacrament as a Christening. Baptism means having a bath, being washed and cleansed. Christening, or Christ-ening, expresses the new life received, a living relationship with Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord. After naming…
In a recent issue of Comment magazine, Timothy Keller, theologian and pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, wrote an insightful essay entitled, ‘The Fading of Forgiveness’, within which he highlights how, more and more, forgiveness is being seen as a weakness and a naivete. Hence, our culture sees forgiveness more negatively than…
The Sunday Gospel Jesus was deeply disturbed by the travesty of a religion enmeshed in legalism. “You put aside the commandments of God to cling to human traditions.” Rules about ritual purification had sucked the beauty out of true worship. Pope Francis wrote that certain customs not directly related to the heart of the Gospel…
What is the Eucharist? What is supposed to happen when we gather to celebrate the ritual that Jesus gave us at the Last Supper and asked us to perpetuate until his return? Is this meant to be a family meal or a re-enactment of Jesus’ sacrificial death? Is it meant to look like the old…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser