De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Welcome to this, the fifteenth of my reflections on the theology of the Sunday readings at Mass. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I sincerely hope that this reflection will inspire you, answer some questions you may have, help you to see how fantastic Sacred Scripture is and perhaps begin to share some of my love and passion for the Bible as you begin to comprehend how layered and multi-faceted, and what a carefully considered part of the Mass the readings are. If you want to know how these posts came about, please read my first post in this series  here . My particular hope is that these blogs will help you develop a love of the Old Testament, and help to foster a better understanding of its value in understanding how Jesus fulfils what is prefigured therein. This Sunday the theme for the readings might be summed up as: Jesus: the Priest of the New Covenant The Sacrament of the Last Supper  by  Salvador Dalí . Completed ...

Dear Friends This week's lesson was entitled: OUR TAINTED NATURE'S SOLITARY BOAST: MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the programme and found it beautiful, familiar and emotional. Fr. Barron's presentation began by looking at the Annunciation  a word which has been anglicised from the Latin Vulgate (the 4th century translation of the Bible by St. Jerome) Luke 1:26-39: Annuntiatio nativitatis Christi. Unlike the stories of the gods of the Greeks, Roman's and ancient Pagans, the God of Israel is not forceful or violent. Rather, He extended an invitation that respected Mary's free-will. Mary is visited (Fr. Barron goes as far as to suggest 'courted') by the Angel Gabriel and gives her assent; her fiat, opening the door to our salvation and cooperating and collaborating with the work of her Son. "Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it." ( CCC 964 ). Mary's li...

I'm no musician, but continuing the theme of looking at what Vatican II actually taught, and further to this hilarious post from Bruvver Eccles I thought we might take a look at music in the Mass. This is all because it is now The Year of Faith and Pope Benedict XVI opened this special year in Rome with a call for a new evangelisation rooted in an authentic interpretation of the documents of the Second Vatican Council. “I have often insisted on the need to return, as it were, to the ‘letter’ of the Council – that is to its texts – also to draw from them its authentic spirit, and (it is) why I have repeated that the true legacy of Vatican II is to be found in them,” the Pope said Oct. 11 to approximately 30,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the opening Mass of the Year of Faith. Speaking on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the Pope said that “reference to the documents saves us from extremes of anachronistic nostalgia and r...

Welcome to this, the fourteenth of my reflections on the theology of the Sunday readings at Mass.  Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I sincerely hope that this reflection will inspire you, answer some questions you may have, help you to see how fantastic Sacred Scripture is and perhaps begin to share some of my love and passion for the Bible as you begin to comprehend how layered and multi-faceted, and what a carefully considered part of the Mass the readings are. If you want to know how these posts came about, please read my first post in this series  here . This Sunday the theme for the readings might be summed up as: The Lord Who Works Marvels Jesus Heals the Blind Bartimaeus, by Nicolas Poussin, 1650 The readings are: Jeremiah 31:7-9 Psalm: 125; Response: v. 3. Second Reading: Hebrews 5: 1-6. Gospel: Mark 10: 46-52. First, a little preliminary survey of each of the books. I will post the same, or similar pre...

It's a reasonable question. If you're not sure, here are the answers! It's all really rather exciting! A challenge to evangelise and re-look at what the Second Vatican Council, the last great ecumenical council of the Church, really taught. And we really are getting stuck into it! In my own parish of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Joseph, Leigh-on-Sea , we are running Fr. Robert Barron's epic Catholicism Project every Wednesday at 8:30pm in Our Lady of Lourdes  junior school  (all welcome). Father Kevin has organised Maryvale running their Certificate in Catechesis, as well as continuing his series of talks 'About Being Catholic'.

Last week my Parish Priest took a brief break and we had a retired local priest stand in at daily Mass. I don't make Mass every day- though I wish I did- work makes it difficult. But I have made a commitment to attend every Tuesday. As regular readers will know, I was away last Tuesday, travelling back from Ireland , but it was reported back to me (by my mum) that the stand in priest (who is generally a good old chap and preaches solidly at every Mass he says) spoke in his homily about the use of Latin and Vatican II (a little sense of creeping dread gripped my stomach as soon as I heard that). Basically, I was told that he said, in the context of the year of faith, that the re-introduction of Latin into the liturgy is going backwards and we have to go forwards. That is what Vatican II was all about. This brought to mind Father Tim Finnigan's recent blog post Laity! For heaven's sake don't read the texts of Vatican II  which is a rather amusing look at the way prev...

Dear friends This week we watched the third lesson in Fr. Robert Barron's Catholicism Project THE INEFFABLE MYSTERY OF GOD : THAT THAN WHICH NOTHING GREATER CAN BE THOUGHT. (That felt strangely appropriate in capitals!). I think we all agreed it was a tough session. Most people I have spoken to agree that there is a lot to take in in every session of the Project, but this week's subject matter made it especially challenging. You may find this overview of the topics covered useful in aiding you to digest the abundant material presented in the programme. The Name of God Our journey begins with the story of Moses and the burning bush ( Exodus 3:1-14 ). YHWH is an incomprehensible Hebrew word, however we can trace its root back to the root hayah = to be. This is accompanied by the clarification of verse 15  that YHWH is the God of Israel's fathers. This constituted a radical break from the norm: in a world swarming with gods, locally defined and limited deities perce...

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to travel to the West of Ireland for my first cousin Alan's stag weekend celebrations. Next weekend I will be privileged to attend his wedding to the beautiful and erudite Michelle. They're a wonderful couple and I am really proud to be able to attend both legs of the wedding. Despite a 5am start on Saturday, a car (well van) journey, the joys of Stanstead Airport, the joys of Ryanair, a plane journey during which I was constantly called upon to purchase various items of paraphernalia I neither wanted or need, the joys of Knock Airport and another car journey, and an afternoon and evening spent sampling the Guinness in every bar and pub in Galway City, I managed to haul myself out of bed, eat a hearty breakfast, and wander from the hotel through the quaint Galway streets, now horribly decorated with the necessary and somewhat unavoidable product of the over-exuberant libationary extravagance of literally thousands of Galway students, to Gal...