Behold I stand at the door and knock...

If you line up all the dictators and tyrants of history, you find them boring because they are so much the same. But, if you look at the saints, you find an amazing and endearing variety of virtue and holiness. I heard something like this recently in a podcast I was listening to and I marvelled at the truth contained in it. Goodness is like a beautiful diamond that sparkles and shines from every w...

September 12th is the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary. In this podcast I recount the event in history that led to the creation of this feast day. It is worth knowing, as are many things in history. I am indebted to the Catholic website One Peter Five for the text of this podcast. You can read it yourself and view the interesting links within the article as well as keep up to date with quality...

Christ calls us to renounce ourselves and take up the Cross and follow Him. He does not promise us an easy life, worldly pleasures, fame or fortune, as many others do. Instead, He promises us eternal life. However, the pathway to eternal life is through suffering and death, as He Himself has demonstrated. Taking up the Cross will cost us. What cost will it have in your life? If you would like to c...

As we begin the  month of September  I wanted to remind you of the devotion attached to this month, namely, to Our Lady and her Seven Sorrows. If you would like to contact me to provide feedback, suggestions  or to ask questions you can do this via email: frpchandler@armidale.catholic.org.au Also if you would like to support me in this work, please send me an email and I will provide details for h...

On this 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time , we are given by St Mark the touching and engaging event wherein Jesus cures a deaf-mute man. In doing this, we are reminded that God has come among His people, as Isaiah and all the prophets foretold that He would. But let us remember that this is not just history, the same happens every time the Sacraments occur in our lives. If you would like to contact me...

Tradition is most important to us as Catholics. But, as we know, there are many forms of tradition. Many people today have a suspicion, an aversion, or even a rejection of tradition. The post-modern age seems to have an endless desire for novelty, and an insatiable thirst for destruction of what has gone before. Some even say that Christ Himself was like this. But was He? As we reflect upon the Go...

Free will is an awesome gift and a frightening responsibility. Many disciples of Christ walked away from Him over His teaching on His presence in the Eucharist; and it didn't  happen only then in history. It has occurred time and time again. Even today some research indicates that 70% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament today. Just because Chris...

What a feast day! What a Solemnity! " The Virgin Mother of God was assumed into heaven as the beginning and image of your Church's coming to perfection and a sign of sure hope and comfort to your pilgrim people."(from the Preface for today's Holy Mass) Make sure you celebrate in many ways today. Make it a real feast as best you can.  To those who are in lockdown, take hope and...

Secondary patron saint of Australia after Our Lady, Help of Christians, St Mary of the Cross, or Mary MacKillop as she is affectionately known, can inspire all Australians as well as all Australian Catholics.  St Mary is not just a tireless social worker, not just an Australian innovator, nor even just a good woman. She is certainly all of those but she is first and foremost a person in whom the g...

The Sunday gospel reading continues the sixth chapter of St John. This is one of the most profound teachings of Christ and it concerns a central doctrine of the Faith, namely, His real and substantial and complete presence in the Eucharist, in the Blessed Sacrament, in the tabernacle. Let us not grow cold or indifferent to the real presence of Christ but let every reception of Holy Communion advan...

Christ our Lord has power over death and over sin. We see this in the gospel of this Sunday's sacred liturgy. He is able to heal a woman from debilitating sickness and to raise a girl from death. This same power of Christ is operative in our lives through sanctifying grace. Let us give Him praise and thanksgiving! If you would like to contact me to provide feedback, suggestions  or to ask que...

Christ goes to sleep in the boat  and his apostles become afraid. This gospel episode is a stark analogy for our lives. Often we struggle, we are frightened, we feel God has gone to sleep, and left us alone. To deal with and live through such times we need faith, which is shown in trusting God. A beautiful and effective prayer of faith, of trust, is to say often to Our Lord, "Jesus, I trust i...

The 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time marks our re-entry into Sundays of the yearly cycle outside of the Seasons of the liturgical year. We now have a semi-continuous reading of Holy Scripture in the second reading and the gospel reading. I suggest that St Paul gives us a profound motto for our Christian life in an ever-increasing secular society: "We walk by faith and not by sight". Our hear...

How blessed are we to have been given by Christ the great gift of the Holy Mass and the awesome mystery of His body, blood, soul and divinity in Holy Communion! Let us honour our Saviour always with deep devotion and reverence towards the Blessed Sacrament. O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, All praise and all thanksgiving Be every moment Thine . If you would like to contact me to provide...

The second of three Great Feasts to cap the Easter Season, Trinity Sunda y focuses our attention not only on the doctrine of the divine nature and community, but also upon our experience of the mystery as we live our lives as faithful followers of Christ, sons and daughters of the Father, and temples of the Holy Spirit. Let us always give praise and honour to the thrice-holy God. Amen. If you woul...

Pentecost Sunday and the Holy Spirit go "hand in glove' and, as and old song said, "Your can't have one without the other." Triviality aside, this is the completion of the Paschal Mystery with the sending of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles and Our Lady. The Holy Spirit breathes life into the Church as God did into the flesh of Adam to bring him to life way back at the beg...

The Ascension of the Lord is the definitive end of our Saviour's physical presence on earth but not his departure so as to abandon His flock. He will remain in the Holy Spirit and His sacramental presence in the Blessed Sacrament. In this way He will continue to be in the world until He comes again in His physical presence to bring everything to a completion and an end at the Second Coming. I...

The 6th Sunday of Easter  presents to us the reading from the fifteenth chapter of St John's Gospel, verses 9-17 wherein Jesus calls us servants no longer but His friends. What amazing news! We who are mortal and affected by sin are being called friends by God who is immortal and infinitely good and pure. What a privilege and what a gift! How much we should treasure this friendship and, on ou...

Christ is the vine and we are the branches. Our whole life is to be connected to Christ the true vine. Without Him our lives have shallow and passing meaning. It is only through Christ, the shepherd of our souls, that we can navigate the perils and difficulties of this life and reach our eternal home. This week also I speak briefly about vocations to the priesthood since we did not have the opport...

Good Shepherd Sunday. What wonderful images and glorious consolation this Sunday always brings us! Our Good Shepherd has gone before us into glory and we, his faithful flock, long to go where He has promised. Let us praise Him and thank Him now and always. If you would like to contact me to provide feedback, suggestions  or to ask questions you can do this via email: frpchandler@armidale.catholic....

Today is St Fidelis' feast day. I wanted to share a little about him. May he intercede for us as we live our faith in this time and place! If you would like to contact me to provide feedback, suggestions  or to ask questions you can do this via email: frpchandler@armidale.catholic.org.au Also if you would like to support me in this work, please send me an email and I will provide details for...

The Third Sunday of Easter, with its gospel reading of the appearance of the Risen Jesus to the Apostles in the Upper Room, provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon what the resurrection of the body is. St John Paul II in his great work, "The Theology of the Body", has provided us with magnificent insights into this as he reflects upon both Scripture and the tradition of teaching...

The great feast of Divine Mercy is upon us! With what great devotion and love, we should approach our Risen Lord whose death on the  Cross opened for the whole world an "ocean of mercy". Let us approach the Holy Mass with humility and contrition, as there is the sacrifice of Christ which gained for us access to the treasury of Divine Mercy. If you would like to contact me to provide feed...

Easter Sunday, or to give it the formal liturgical title,  The Sunday of the Resurrection ushers in for us a day and a season of great rejoicing as we celebrate in sacred liturgy and in many festive ways in our homes, the reality and fact that Christ is risen from the dead.  I offer two simple reflections upon the Resurrection that I hope are helpful. I came upon them in my reading during recent w...

The Celebration of the Passion of the Lord and The Stations of the Cross mark the way that we as Catholics commemorate the day of Our Lord's death for our sins on the Cross. We remember with gratitude. We follow Him to Calvary with love and sorrow, sharing in the profound sorrow of His holy mother, Mary, who is our sweet mother also. May the graces of this solemn celebration be with you all,...