Fr Luke's Homilies

Truth matters. Truth is not a opinion or an idea. As Christians we are servants to the Truth made flesh - Jesus Christ.

At the heart of the Gospel is love. We are loved by God and we are commandmended to show that love to others. It's as simple as that!

If our faith is real it must be evidenced in our lives - it must bear fruit. Only when we live connected to Jesus can we truly bear fruit and be the people that God has called us to be.

Because of the resurrection we can like the disciples, meet and know our Risen Lord personally. This personal relationship with Jesus is the foundation of our witness.

God is mercy, the while Gospel is narrative of mercy. Om this Divine Mercy Sunday we explore the beautiful mystery of God's mercy.

Unless we are willing to let go and let God, we cannot truly live. In todays Gospel Jesus talks about his passion and death amd how this ultimate "letting go" will lead to glory.

We are God's work of art! That is a beautiful and powerful truth that we need to take to heart. Every human being is the loved, willed and unique creation of our loving and creative God. As such ever person, without exception demands love and respect.

Tolerance is seen as a kind of modern virtue. But a blanket acceptance of everything for the sake of the status quo is not a virtue and is far from gospel living. Jesus is intolerant of many of things and today's gospel shows us to what lengths our radical and disturbing saviour will go to right a wrong. Can we allow ourselves to be disturbed by the love of God?

The fact that we are loved by God is a magnificent truth. If we're honest though there are times when God feels distant and his love cold. Today's liturgy reminds us that God the Father loved Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration just as much as on the cross. God the Father didn't spare Jesus suffering, but that doesn't change his love for him or for us.

The coronaviris creates a barrier for social interaction but it's not a barrier for God. Today's gospel is bothe a comfort and a challenge to us in our covid-ridden world.

Humans beings are spiritual beings, made by God and for God. We have a void in us that can only be filled by friendship with God. It's when we try and fill that God-shaled hole with other stuff that things begin to go wrong.

Christ taught with authority and it moved people to conversion. As followers of Jesus we are called to live and act in and from that same authority. But what does this mean in practice? What does teaching and living with authority look like?

Jesus calls us to follow him, but what does following him actually look like? What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? Well, its about letting go of false security and putting him in the driving seat of our lives.

Hearing and listening are not th same thing. In our noisy and chaotic world God still speaks to us, but do we hear him? And even if we hear him, are we really listening to him?

The baptism of Jesus speaks to us of our own baptism. Through baptism we are united to Jesus and to one another. In these days of darkness we are reminded that we are beloved sons amd daughters of God and are very precious to him.

Christ the Light has come into the world! The Jesus movement did not die out, but is very much alive. 2000 years have passed and we still celebrate the moment when the Word became flesh and was seem amongst us. Jesus is truly alive and wants a relationship with us, here now and today!

Mary gives us the model of perfect discipleship, she believes the Word, trust's the Word and then conceives the Word. As we enter these last few days before Christmas we are invited to do the same.

We have a gear change today on the liturgy as we begin to focus more on the coming of Christ at Christmas. Christ, we must remember, is already amongst us, his hidden presence with us. But is he known to us? Do we want to know and be known by him?

St John the Baptist's Advent calls is for repentance. Are we willing to change? Are we willing to repent? Are we ready to receive the Lord who is to come?

Advent is more than the run-up to Christmas, it is a season of hope. As we begin this new season and new church year we call on our God in hope and in trust to help us, to change us and through us to help others.

The feast of Christ the King presents to us the image of humble love and service of others. God invites us out of our own brokenness to be close to those who are the weakest and the poorest in society.

Stewardship is more than putting stuff in the recycling bin and trying to reduce your carbon footprint. Stewardship is about using the gifts we have been given to build the kingdom of God in our land. In this time of pandemic, we are called, evermore to be creative in the ways we use our gifts to further God's Kingdom.

As we enter a second lockdown of the year the gospel urged us to stay awake and be alert to the presence of God and open to the new thing he wants to do with us.

All of us are called to holiness, that is to real, genuine authentic living. To be a saint is to be an authentically human person. Today we celebrate all the saints and inspired by their example we strive to follow in their footsteps.

Love of God and love if neighbour go hand in hand. In todays gospel, however, Jesus reminds us to love our neighbour as ourselves. This is a real but important challenge to us: we can love others with the love that we have for ourselves - bitter, cynical and angry people do not have the capacity to love others authentically.