Saint of the week Patron saint of bishops, cardinals, seminarians, and spiritual leaders, St Charles Borromeo’s life of sacrifice, devotion to pastoral care, and reform is a model for bishops and clergy today of holiness. Through his efforts, priests and laity were inspired to live as true disciples of Christ. Born near Milan in 1538,…

Fr Joshua J. Whitfield Dt 6:2-6 Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51 Heb 7:23-28 Mk 12:28b-34   The theology of this passage from Mark matters. Obviously so does its place within the extended debates of rabbis and theologians, arguments now millennia old. “Which is the first of all the commandments?” the scribe asks Jesus (Mk 12:28).…

From Pierre Teilhard de Chardin we get these words: “Because, my God, though I lack the soul-zeal and the sublime integrity of your saints, I yet have received from you an overwhelming sympathy for all that stirs within the dark mass of matter; because I know myself to be irremediably less a child of Heaven…

As a Lutheran priest, Dietrich Bonhoeffer would frequently offer this advice to a couple when he presided at their wedding, “Today you are in love and believe your love will sustain your marriage, but it can’t. Let your marriage sustain your love.” Wise words, but what exactly do they mean? Why can’t love sustain a…

The Sunday Gospel Jer 31:7-9 Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 Heb 5:1-6 Mk 10:46-52 Like so much of the gospels, Jesus’ encounter with a blind beggar this Sunday boils down to one simple question: “What do you want me to do for you?” If we met Jesus along the road, would we be able to…

On borders everywhere in the world today we find refugees, millions of them. They’re easily demonised, seen as a nuisance, a threat, as invaders, as criminals fleeing justice in their homelands. But mostly they are decent, honest people fleeing poverty, hunger, victimisation, and violence. And these reasons for fleeing their homelands strongly suggest that most of…

The Sunday Gospel Is 53:10-11 Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22 Heb 4:14-16 Mk 10:35-45 or 10:42-45 Fr Joshua J. Whitfield Simone Weil, that strange yet beautiful soul, once wrote that genuine love of neighbour meant being able to ask the question, “What are you going through?” What she meant was that neighbourly love demands sympathy…

In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable we come to understand that here, in this life, all symphonies remain unfinished.” Karl Rahner wrote those words and to not understand them is to risk letting restlessness become a cancer in our lives. What does it mean to be tormented by the insufficiency of everything…

Sunday Gospel Wis 7:7-11 Ps 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17 Heb 4:12-13 Mk 10:17-30 or 10:17-27 Think it’s easy to gain eternal life? Think again. That message lies at the heart of this Sunday’s Gospel, the familiar story from St Mark about a rich young man who approached Jesus with a sincere question – but who got…

Why don’t we preach hellfire anymore? That’s a question asked frequently by a lot of sincere religious people who worry that too many churches, priests, and ministers have gone soft on sin and are over-generous in speaking about God’s mercy. The belief here is that more people would come to Church and obey the commandments…