Beginning of Mass: 2022 ‘Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’ These words were addressed by Jesus to his contemporaries and are addressed to us in today’s liturgy. We always begin our Mass with a call to repentance. Homily: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish as they did”. Jesus says these words […]

I remember seeing a movie called Mask which is based on a true story. A 16-year-old boy named Rocky Dennis had a rare disease that caused his skull and the bones of his face to grow larger than they should and as a result his face was terribly misshapen and disfigured. His grotesque appearance caused […]

The Trojan Horse refers to a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks, during the Trojan War, to enter the city of Troy and win the war. After a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse and hid a select force of men inside. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and […]

In 1953 Sir Edmund Percival Hiliary was a New Zealand Mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. He was part of the ninth British expedition to Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. This expedition went to Nepal in India to conquer Mount Everst and to climb it for the first time. There were many men in […]

If we are to take seriously today’s readings – that’s a tall order. From my years of work as a priest, I have seen that a large part of the problems that people have, stem from un-forgiveness, bitterness, resentment and even guilt (which can be anger and un-forgiveness towards ourselves). The recommendations of Jesus in […]

In April of 1986 two grey-haired men greeted each other warmly in Tokyo’s International Airport. Both men had tears in their eyes. One was an American named Ponich, and the other was Japanese named Ishibashi. The last time the two met was 40 years before, as enemies in a cave in Okinawa (A Japanese island […]

Sometimes we meet someone very important, maybe a King, a Queen, the Pope, a great sportsman or sportswoman, an actor or actress; and we never forget the day, the time, and the place of our meeting.  We may even have a photograph to remind us of the meeting. I remember in 1986 when I was […]

We have the great privilege this weekend because our second reading today is one of these great texts of the Bible and indeed of world literature. It is from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 13, and this wonderful reflection on love. Love is so central, love is what God is, […]

Many years ago I saw a film to Sir with Love. It is a British drama film that deals with social and racial issues in an inner city school. It stars Sidney Poitier who died on January 6th of this year, at the age of 94. In the film Lulu, a sottish singer with a […]

Oscar Wilde wrote a beautiful story about a statue.  The statue was called the Happy Prince.  It was a beautiful statue with sapphire in place of the eyes, with a ruby on the hilt of the sword, and with gold leaf covering the uniform. This statue was in a town full of suffering poor people. […]