Today we commemorate all the saints in heaven. Hopefully that includes all our relatives and friends who have gone before us.
It is said that: "The only real sadness, the only real failure and the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint."
Read MoreToday’s Gospel is set in the last week of the life of Jesus. It is Tuesday of Holy week 3 days before he is crucified. We are still in the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Pharisees had heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees the day before with the Roman coin and so ask Jesus another question. Not because they genuinely wanted to know the answer of course, but to try and catch him out.
Read MoreOn 24th October we had an extremely interesting talk on Blessed Abbot Richard Whiting the last Abbot of Glastonbury given by Dr Tim Hopkinson-Ball.
Read MoreThis is the final few days before Jesus is arrested by the chief priests and the elders. Jerusalem was full with thousands of pilgrims because the feast of the Passover was near and Jesus had just turned over the stalls of the money changers in an effort to stop them turning the temple into a market place.
Read MoreSo you may have seen the film about the wrong trousers – well this is the parable of the wrong wedding garment! We have had various parables about vineyards but today it is about a banquet and again it is Jesus explaining what the kingdom of heaven is like.
Read MoreThe hills of Galilee had many vineyards and it was common for the owners of these vineyards to rent them out. Normally up to 50% return of produce in terms of grapes was expected from any tenants as payment. So the parable that Jesus is telling about a landowner and his tenants would have been familiar to his audience.
Read MoreFr Dominic gave a very insightful talk on exorcism and his experiences in this field.
Read MoreIt is said that the whole Christian life could be summed up as the struggle to begin to think as God thinks.
The Gospel today gives a good example of how this works in reality, for how can any of us truly think as God thinks?
So this is a parable about two sons, both of whom change their minds.
Read MoreA new RCIA Course will be starting at St Mary’s from October 2023 to March 2024.
Read MoreMatthew used to be a tax collector so he loves parables where Jesus uses finance in explaining to his disciples what the kingdom of heaven is like.
Read More“He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’” It shows what we are all capable of if we let ourselves.
Read MoreToday is a Marian feast: “Our Lady of Sorrows.”
Mary had no particular love of pain and sorrow. The first announcement of her vocation by the Archangel Gabriel mentioned nothing about suffering. It was filled only with messianic promises.
Read MoreToday we honour the cross of Jesus which is really an instrument of torture. In Roman times it was one of the most horrific ways to die. It was the punishment for those who undermined the Roman authority.
Read MoreA new era of grace and salvation begins with the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus.
Read MoreHow many of us like to get involved in conflict management? It’s never easy. And there are so many situations that can arise – in the family, at work in the parish…
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