Behold I stand at the door and knock...

The Mass of the Lord's Supper  provides rich teaching for us in the Scripture readings that we listen to. I offer some reflections upon some key points from these readings. 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 ema...

Holy Week begins today. What we have been preparing for through penance, prayer and fasting is close, that is, the solemn commemoration of the Lord's Passion and Death and His glorious resurrection. May your Holy Week be fruitful through keeping the Lord company in prayer, in silence, and, most of all through the Sacred Liturgies of the Holy Triduum.  If you would like to contact me to provid...

In the older calendar, still followed in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, this Sunday begins Passiontide.  There are overtones of this in the Ordinary Form with the Preface of the Passion being used as well as the covering of statues and crucifixes in some churches. Let us prepare well over the next two weeks for the Easter festivities. If you would like to contact me to provide feedback, sugge...

Happy Solemnity of St Joseph in this Year of St Joseph!! This is a reflection upon St Joseph and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament given at a neighbouring parish for a Holy Hour on March 19th 2021. 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,...

Laetare Sunday is marked by the lovely rose coloured vestments and a real sense of joy, which proclaims through the Sacred Liturgy that the Paschal feasts are edging ever closer to us. So, we much remain faithful in persevering in our Lenten disciplines of prayer, penance, fasting and almsgiving. This Fourth Sunday of Lent presents to us not only the joy that the mercy of God brings us but also th...

The Cleansing of the Temple and the Ten Commandments provide an opportunity to examine, even if only briefly, the relationship between the Old Covenant of Moses and the New Covenant that perfected and replaced it. 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...

Abraham is commanded to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Today's Holy Scripture plunges us deep into a consideration of the saving obedience of Christ but, because of the Gospel reading, also the powerful reality of the glory of Christ as God. There is much to reflect upon today but I offer some thoughts about the Transfiguration as well as obedience. "Since God did not spare His own Son,...

The holy season of Lent has begun. Are you starting with vigour and determination the spiritual discipline of Lent? Or are you yet to begin? May the words of Our Lord in the gospel for this Sunday's Mass give you confidence to begin and remain faithful throughout the 40 days. Remember the goal is the glory and hope of the Resurrection of our Saviour. I mention in the podcast the Consecration...

St Valentine's Day! Ah, what mixed messages and fuzzy ideas abound on this day! It's good that this day occurs on a Sunday because it provides the opportunity to speak about the 'real' St Valentine and also the Catholic understanding of marriage. You won't be surprised to know that there is a huge difference between the vocation of marriage and what our society says marria...

This Sunday is designated in Australia as "Sunday of the Word" of God. This is a recent addition to our annual liturgical calendar that seeks to highlight the importance of the holy Scriptures in the life and liturgy of the Church. It is a little delayed here in Australia because the earlier date of the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time occurs during our summer holiday time. So, today we consi...

There are always surprises and wonders when we read from the holy Gospels! After last week's somewhat stern command to repent and convert from Our Lord, in today's gospel reading He exercises his divine and messianic power to cast out an evil or unclean spirit. St Paul teaches us about the value of virginity and being unmarried. There is much for thought, reflection and prayer - as alway...

The Word of God makes demands upon us. Andrew & Simon, James & John responded to both the demand and the invitation to answer the call of Christ to follow Him and become fishers of men. Jonah too, though not as eagerly as the first four apostles, follows the call of God to preach conversion and repentance. We too must be prepared to undergo the requirements of conversion and repentance. On...

Doing God's holy will leads us to sanctification. When we do what God wants of us, not what we want ourselves, we grow closer to God. Being closer to God means that we become holy. And this is what God wants for us: that we live this life as a time of demonstrating our love for Him; rehearsing, if you like, to be with Him forever in the unending happiness of heaven. Our great Australian saint...

Ordinary Time begins this Sunday as we reflect upon Our Lord's baptism by St John the Baptist. This event contains one of the other major epiphanies in Christ's life and gives us much to consider about our own baptism. Happy Feast Day! 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...

The Holy Family of Nazareth  is the tender and heart-warming focus of this first Sunday within the Octave of Christmas. We are reminded not only about the immense love of God who became a member of a human family but we are taught once more about the true and lasting nature of the family. May Jesus, Mary and Joseph bless your families on this Family Sunday! If you would like to contact me to provi...

May all of you, my listeners, have a truly joyful Christmas celebration at Mass and with your families. I will remember you all at Christmas Mass! God bless you all! 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 wil...

Rejoice in the Lord always! The Third Sunday of Advent calls us to joy; the joy that comes only from God and the joy that is the fruit of a life lived according to real happiness. There is much for fruitful reflection in the Scripture readings of the sacred liturgy. So take some time to read them carefully and even use them as springboards for prayer. Happy Gaudete Sunday! If you would like to con...

Advent focuses our attention on the coming of Christ. But there is more than one coming of Christ, in fact, there are three. Well, three major ones anyway. St Peter readies our hearts for the coming of Christ that will herald the new heaven and the new earth. Search online for the lyrics and music of two wonderful traditional Advent hymns: "On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry" a...

The contrast between dutiful and lazy servants  is placed before us this Sunday to remind us of the serious duty to remain faithful to the end, when the Lord will come. As well, we have the example of a perfect wife and a blessed man from the other readings to inspire us to virtue. If you would like to contact me to provide feedback, suggestions  or to ask questions you can do this via email: frpc...

On this 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (getting close to the end of the year!) we hear Our Lord's parable on the five foolish and five wise virgins (or bridesmaids) waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. It is one of His parables about the end-times and the Last Judgement, but also about our own death. Are we prepared? Have we been diligent? Thanks be to God that we have holy wisdom to assist us...

The Solemnity of All Saints  occurs this year on a Sunday. Isn't it wonderful that all Catholics who go to Mass are able to honour all the saints in heaven this year! There are many more saints in heaven than any one of us knows but we are known to them and they assist us from heaven with their prayers. The prayers of the saints rise like incense before the Throne of God. (Revelation 8:3-4) I...

The Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed or All Souls Day  follows on from All Saints Day. It is November 2nd but the whole month of November is dedicated to praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Here I outline how the Catholic faithful may gain either a plenary or partial indulgence for a soul in Purgatory on All Souls Day, during the first week of November, and this year only, throughou...

"You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind...You must love your neighbour as yourself." Christ our Saviour summarises the whole of the Mosaic Law contained in the Old Testament into two commandments, which are intimately linked. His words are both a reminder of our obligation to God and to neighbour and a clarion call to continue to g...

The Feast of Christ the King occurs in the traditional calendar on the last Sunday in October. It is familiarly called  Christus Rex . The gospel for this feast comes from St John's Gospel 18:33-37, where Christ is before Pontius Pilate. You probably know it well, but if not and also to enrich your understanding of the podcast, you might like to read from your Bible before listening.  The Epi...

The 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time  presents us with Christ's words, "Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God". A perennial and complex question isn't it? What does belong to God and what does belong to Caesar? The Church has wrestled with this throughout the millennia. She has much to teach us and many ways to help us. If you would like to cont...