Education Sunday

Yesterday was "Education Sunday" and Bishop Regan wrote this Pastoral Letter on the subject of Catholic Education:

"But I say this to you...": Christ's new standard

My sermon for 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A:
The religion of the Old Testament is criticised sometimes for being too legalistic, but I think that's a mistake and a misrepresentation.

The faith of the Chosen People didn't revolve around a set of harsh rules; their faith revolved around the character of God, especially his quality of loving-kindness or steadfast love (hesed in Hebrew, a word that's used hundreds of times in the Old Testament to describe the main quality of God's character).

Your light must shine among men

My sermon last Sunday, 5th in Ordinary Time, Year A:

The instruction that Jesus offers in these few lines of the gospel seems at first glance to contradict the teaching he gave on other occasions, along the lines that when we pray, or fast or give alms, we should do it in secret, and God, who alone sees what we do in secret, will reward us.

The Poor in Spirit

My sermon for last Sunday, 4th in Ordinary Time, Year A:

There's a type of person in the Bible who is held up as an ideal or a model of faith in God: the poor humble man, or the poor righteous man.

In many places the authors of the Old Testament draw an approving picture of the person whose material circumstances are insecure, who is under no illusions about his or her lowly social status and lack of influence, but who persists in devotion to God and in trying to live a good moral life, in keeping with God's Law.