MESSAGE FROM FATHER MAURICE FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI
Supposing a meteor hit the earth and reduced the world`s population to just two: a young man and a young woman. Supposing he was a Catholic and she was a Nihilist, he would have to persuade her that together they would have to promote the continuance of human life. For him as a Catholic this […]
MESSAGE FROM FATHER MAURICE FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY TRINITY
Today is the feast of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity tells us something about God, that he is three persons so closely united in love that they are one. So we can say God is love. There are all sorts of other things we might want to know about God, what does he […]
MESSAGE FROM FATHER MAURICE FOR PENTECOST
New guidelines from the Bishops on how to proceed through the next month or so arrived last week. Most of the old restrictions are to remain in place: mask wearing, social distancing, sanitizing hands, and an upper limit to the number of people in church. People can gather in groups of 6 outside church, but […]
MESSAGE FROM FATHER MAURICE FOR THE SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
We are nearing the end of Eastertide; last Thursday was the feast of the Ascension and next Sunday is the feast of Pentecost. Jesus had to go away so that he could come closer than ever to his disciples, to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. Let`s pray for the guidance of the […]
MESSAGE FROM FATHER MAURICE FOR THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
We have a very limited understanding of God. Some theologians have said we can only know about God through what he has revealed to us. Other theologians have said we can intuit some things about God from our own experience, from our lives in the world in which we live. The trouble is we don`t […]
MESSAGE FROM FATHER MAURICE FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
It`s 10.48am Friday, an hour and 20 minutes ago I got my second vaccination. This momentous event took place at the Village Hotel, Upper Headingly, Leeds. I was expecting a queue and the process to take 45 minutes or so, but no queue and the process took about 3 minutes. The doctor who jabbed me […]
MESSAGE FROM FATHER MAURICE FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
The parishioners of the anonymous priest in George Bernanos`s novel The Diary of a Country Priest don`t like him or trust him. One day someone takes him aside and tells him “you see Father people expect definite things from a priest.” He goes on “a priest is a bit like a lawyer, money changes hands, […]
MESSAGE FROM FATHER MAURICE FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER
“Peace be with you” says the risen Lord to his disciples in today’s gospel. There’s not much peace in the world around us. Many of us will be feeling anxious about the situation in Northern Ireland. We’d hoped and even believed that the troubles which started in the 1960’s and went on for decades were […]
MESSAGE FROM FATHER MAURICE FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER
Today`s gospel is doubting Thomas; St. Thomas would not believe in the resurrection until he saw the wounds on Jesus`s body. When he did, he made his great act of faith; he said to Jesus “My Lord and my God”. Jesus said to Thomas “You believe because you have seen, blessed are those who have […]
MESSAGE FROM FATHER MAURICE FOR EASTER SUNDAY
After the resurrection Jesus met with his friends again. They must have thought that all that had ended; they had hoped he was going to do something really significant, then he fell foul of religious authorities of their people, then the political leaders and all this resulted in his death. This was the end of […]