Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr Dominic’s Homily

How much money is enough? Is there ever a point in life where we can say “You know what? I’ve got enough now – I really don’t need anymore”

Often the more we possess the more we want and so it goes on…

In the Gospel today we hear of a man who is complaining to Jesus about inheritance and the fact that his brother is not giving him the share he deserves.

How often do we hear this? Money related arguments…So Jesus warns us of the dangers of possessions. He says “Watch and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, against a greed for wealth, because a person’s life is not made secure by what he owns.”

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Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr Dominic’s Homily

Today’s readings and psalm are all about prayer and how we see God. We all need to pray and we all need to see God in the right way.

There is the story of one child asking another whether or not they ever prayed to God before meals to which he responded “Oh no – I trust my Mother, she is a good cook!”

When we look at the Gospel today it seems to be split into three little sections. In the first section we hear that Jesus himself prayed. He was always a man of prayer during the years he was on this planet.

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Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr Dominic’s Homily

Today we hear that Jesus visits his good friends Martha and Mary. And we get an insight into their character types and the way that they behave: One is constantly busy and complains that nobody else seems to be helping.

Whereas her sister seems to have a relaxed attitude to everything. No sense of urgency. She seems to think that things will just happen by themselves.

If we think about it maybe we might know people around us who might even have similar personalities.

Now for a particular length of time Jesus, the only son of God, visits them. The Kingdom of God is very close, and behold, the King of the Kingdom is actually within their house. And an interesting thing happens, an interesting dynamic occurs in response to this: one sister stops and listens with her whole heart. The other keeps herself busy.

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Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr Dominic’s Homily

A clever scribe who knows all about the Jewish law asks Jesus a question in order to disconcert Jesus and catch him out. He sees him as a lowly carpenter.

“Master what must I do to inherit eternal life?” But Jesus of course cannot be caught out. So he answers the question with another question. “What is in the law – what do you see there?” The Torah was written in Hebrew that has no vowels in it. This means that it can be interpreted in many ways according to how you change the words.

The lawyer responds “You must love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your heart. And your neighbour as yourself.” Jesus responds “you have answered right. Do this and life is yours.”

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Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr Dominic’s Homily

We have the beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadeloupe here today. This is one of 220 replicas of the original image commissioned by John Paul 2nd and as such they extend the same blessings and graces as the original image in Mexico City. We heard in today’s talk how she spreads a powerful message around Mexico and around the world.

We also heard how everything relating to the image has meaning and purpose to lead people to God. It has supernatural qualities associated with it which defy scientific research a little bit like the Shroud of Turin.

In the Gospel we hear about Jesus sending out 72 people to spread the message of the kingdom of heaven. And why 72? Was this just a random number of people?

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Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

Fr Dominic’s Homily

Today we remember the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul. We honour them in how they lived their lives and how they dedicated themselves to spreading the faith of Jesus Christ eventually giving their very lives for it. And of course our Cathedral in Clifton is named after them.

St Peter was effectively the first Pope. He is the foundation stone of the Church that exists in all its strength and glory to this day and has handed on his authority in an unbroken line of succession down through the ages to Pope Leo today.

He was well known to make the odd mistake now and then. But this is good. If St Peter had been great, and noble, and good, we could have told ourselves that the Church is only for the saints.

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Corpus Christi

Fr Dominic’s Homily

Today is the feast of the body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord.  The source and summit of the Christian life.

Jesus said to us “I will be with you – even to the end of time”

It is through this special gift of the Eucharist that he manages this. Through this sacrament Jesus is fully present with us as food for our journey throughout our lives.

So why don’t we get a Gospel from the last supper when he actually instituted all this? Instead we get the feeding of the five Thousand where we hear that the people were assembling in a lonely place.

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The Holy Trinity

Fr Dominic’s Homily

Next Sunday we celebrate Corpus Christi – body and blood of Christ. And today we celebrate the most central mystery of our Faith. The most holy Trinity.

Over the past few weeks we have been celebrating everything that God has done for us. How he died for us and rose again on the third day. But today we celebrate simply who God is.

Today we celebrate God in a different way as being the Trinity: God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And this is actually the most important mystery of our Catholic Faith.

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Statement from Bishop Bosco MacDonald on the Air India Crash

It is with great sorrow that I learned of the devastating crash involving Air India flight AI218 earlier today. The loss of life, the fear and anguish experienced by survivors, and the uncertainty facing families who still await news of their loved ones weigh heavily on us all.

In a special way, my heart and prayers go out to the families in our own diocese who have been affected. The news that three members of the Gloucester community - Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa, and their daughter Sara - are believed to have been on board brings this global tragedy very close to home. I join the Gloucester Muslim Society in their grief and in offering our deepest condolences to all who mourn.

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