Sunday Gospel

Jesus tells a parable about forgiveness: A man is forgiven 10,000 talents but fails to forgive 100 denarii. It is a classic case of hyperbole, employed by Jesus to wake us up. God forgives so generously, but do we? The mathematics is fun: 1 Denarius is the Daily Wage 1 Talent is 6,000 Denarius. Let’s say the daily wage in Australia is $350. So, 10,000 talents in today’s terms would be: $350 x 6,000 = $2,100,000 10,000 x $2,100,000 = $21Billion. There is no love without forgiv

There are five great discourses in Matthew’s Gospel: Sermon on the Mount (5-7) Missionary Instruction (10) Parables Plentiful (13) Community Life (18) End Times (22-24). Matthew develops the first ever rule of life for a Christian community in chapter 18. He does this using a symmetrical technique. Think of an arc, with two foundation stones, one on the left and one on the right, and a keystone at the top, stopping the structure from collapsing. The foundation stone on the le

From Paul’s most mature work: I beg you, in a way that is worthy of thinking beings, by offering your living bodies as a holy sacrifice, truly pleasing to God (Romans 12). We are spirit, soul and body (1Thessalonians 5) – a profound unity. What we do in the body affects our inner life and vice versa. Pope St. John Paul II (1978-2005) developed the Theology of the Body, which opens up Paul’s invitation. George Weigel, papal biographer, claims that the ‘theology of the body is

The Lord Jesus Christ built his Church on a rock: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church (Matthew 16). Peter was the first pope. Pope Leo XIV is now the 267th successor of St. Peter. How has the Church survived and thrived for so long? Fidelity to the truth. Adaptability to change. Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) is indisputably the first truly modern pope: He is the earliest-born person captured on film, believe that or not. Elected in 1878, he systematically modern

St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) believed that the world is passing through a time of intense spiritual crisis: A crisis of truth. A crisis of love. The rise of identity culture and politics surely highlights the issue: I naively identify as a pensioner. But the employee at Centrelink says, ‘Bad luck buddy, you were born in 1963 – you don’t qualify.’ What I take seriously is rightly rejected by the fella behind the counter. Truth be told. In our time, too, mercy and forgivene

We have the unusual pairing of God appearing to Elijah on Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19) with Christ walking on water (Matthew 14). Why the pairing? God commands Elijah to ‘go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’ He soon discovers that God is not in the form of a mighty wind, an earthquake, a fire. No, rather God is in ‘a voice of silence.’ Too many translations weaken the expression into ‘a still, small voice of silence,’ something that can do no harm. But it must stan

St. Carlo Acutis (1991-2006) realised – from a very young age – that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. So convinced of this truth, that he set about documenting 136 Eucharistic miracles throughout the history of the Church. What is a Eucharistic miracle? The Church has taught, teaches and will continue to teach that when Christ said of the bread he held in his hands at the Last Supper, ‘This is my Body,’ that he meant what he said. The bread became, becomes, wil

The Lord comes to Solomon in a dream and asks him what he desires. Solomon responds: 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? (1 Kings 3). Solomon is prudent, not prudish. The former comes from the Latin providens, meaning ‘seeing ahead.’ The latter from the French, meaning ‘shocked by someone’s behaviour.’ We need prudent men and women in every age, but especially now with the c

You: ‘I don’t know how to pray.’ Me: ‘Of course you don’t.’ You: ‘Seriously, I can’t pray.’ Me: Relax. Let Paul direct you: 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 (Romans 8). We are good people, but weak. Take this magnificent passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offe

Matthew has five great discourses. Chapter 13 is number three. It is ‘chock-a-block’ with parables. In my opinion, the ‘Parable of all Parables’ is the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9), with its allegorical interpretation in Matthew 13:18-23. Brendan Byrne, Lifting the Burden (2004), wants us to be more perceptive and receptive: Where does the seed fall? What is the reception and response to the seed? What are the three failures and the three gains? The evil on

In the midst of the widespread rejection of his message, Jesus prays to his Father: I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth (Matthew 11). Jesus calls his Father ‘Abba.’ Jewish names for God include Lord, King, Shepherd, Rock, Fortress, Father. George T. Montague alerts us to something most important: The Talmud says that when a baby first begins to speak, his first words are Amma and Abba, both titles of intimacy by which he addresses his ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy.’ The fi

Modern life is replete with addictions. Alcohol takes its toll. Illicit drugs kill. Pornography is plentiful, accessible and destructive. Experts say that the gambling addiction is the hardest to break. One thing is certain: therapists will not be without work. Can we offer anything from our rich spiritual tradition? Well educated, formed in the Jewish faith, Saul of Tarsus undergoes an unexpected conversion, re-orientating him from persecuting Christians to the warm embrace

The experience of success is important. Joy is the word that comes to mind. However, it may be that the experience of failure is more important. Paul speaks in Romans of the mysterious failure and fall of Adam. We find it in Genesis 3, where God responds to failure, not by accusing, but by questioning Adam, with no less than four questions! The questions are designed to enable Adam and Eve to understand the experience of failure more deeply. This helps them to go forward with

Strategic plans are helpful, but they are not a panacea: The harvest is rich, but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest (Matthew 9). Prayer is the panacea. We have to stand before the Lord and ask him – beg him – to send labourers. God desires labourers everywhere – in every walk of life: The eyes of faith behold a wonderful scene: that of a countless number of lay people – men and women – busy at work in their daily life and a

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) bequeathed to the Church a way of thinking that has proved perennial. He brought together faith and reason in the search for truth, goodness and beauty. This is especially true of his reflections on the feast of Corpus Christi – the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ: Jesus offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. Notice the language employed: Jesus offered his body to God his Father. Jesus

We hear the mantra often enough: ‘We are an inclusive community.’ However, our starting point is not exclusion, but mutuality, precisely because we are baptised into the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: God is a mutual God. He is in us, and we are in him. Baptise is a Greek word meaning immerse. For instance, there is an ancient recipe for ‘Baptising cucumbers in vinegar.’ Cucumbers need a good soaking, as do we: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them

Look what happened to the people who built the Tower of Babel. They said to themselves, without any reference to God whatsoever: Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves (Genesis 11). What was the result of this godless egotism? The Lord dispersed them all over the face of all the earth. Its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth and dispersed them. Common la

Luke is writing to Theophilus (Acts 1). That is, he is writing to you and naming you as ‘Lover of God.’ What a beautiful thought. The love of God is within us: Where did it come from? What is its origin? We take our cue from Pope St. Leo the Great (440-461), an excellent teacher of faith. He says that ‘great mysteries are established and great truths revealed between the days of the ‘Lord’s resurrection and ascension’: The Lord set before the eyes and hearts of his followers

A study of recent popes (Pope John XXIII-Pope Leo XIV) revealed that Pope Francis refers to the devil more than any other. Jesus called the devil a murderer, deceiver and accuser. So, when we read in Acts 8 that ‘unclean spirits came shrieking out of many who were possessed,’ we can be sure that death, deceit and defamation are being confronted and expelled. Pope Francis highlights the accusatorial role of satan: The devil is the arch-defamer of humanity. He revels

The Gospel of John has seven ‘I AM’ statements. Today we encounter: I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14). We have a 4,000-year spiritual tradition. It all began with Abraham and Sarah, Christ being the foundation stone. Catechisms attempt to capture some of the richness that has been bequeathed to us. They follow the structure of Creed, Code, Cult, Communion: Jesus is the Truth. We have a Creed (beliefs). Jesus is the Life. We have a Cult (sacraments). Jesus is the