De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

From the Parish website of Our Lady of Lourdes & St Joseph, Leigh-on-Sea a message from Mgsr Kevin Hale, Vicar General of Brentwood Diocese : Dear friends in Christ The Gospel of this Sixth Sunday of the Year comes from the teachings of Jesus that form the heart of our Christian ethics. However, Christianity is not simply a way of living well on earth; everything is directed to the higher goal of the supernatural life and our eternal destiny. Without this dimension Christianity would simply be a moral code—a high one indeed—but nothing more than a philosophy of life. To live the demands of what Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount—especially the Beatitudes—we need the assistance of grace. St Augustine once remarked that:  Love without knowledge goes astray; knowledge without love puffs up; knowledge with love builds up.  We live in a world, we coexist with others, who have their own unique and individualistic codes for living. Most people who might describe themselves ...

When tragedy strikes, so many of us turn to our faith for comfort and to reflect on the nature of our mortality. The death of our much loved MP Sir David Amess has left Leigh-on-Sea stunned and there have been quite a few new faces at Church over the weekend.  This is Father Kevin's homily at Mass today which references the tragedy. Father Kevin new Sir David well:

Further to our exploration of the Scripture on Sunday , Fr. Kevin offers this succinct and pertinent reflection: The most fundamental question ever for us is that which Jesus asks: Who do you say I am? Following the answer of Peter, which expresses our belief in the divinity of Jesus, we are asked if we have truly put Christ at the centre of things: our life, our family and relationships, our work and society. God has proved His love for us by sending His Son into the world; we now have to show by a reciprocal love that Jesus is the foundation of our being. The goal of the Christian life to become one with Christ through grace, through living His life. It is the goal expressed when St Paul says that It is no longer I that lives but Christ who lives in me. This union with Jesus always goes by way of the Cross, and so Jesus tells Peter that even though He Is the Christ, the Son of God, He is destined to suffer. This is the extent of His love, a love that is prepared to lay...

I thought the readings last Sunday were particularly pertinent and spoke clearly to me regarding several issues. The Readings were: • Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8 • Psalm: 14:2-5; Response: v. 1 • Second Reading: James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27 • Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 It has taken me a few evenings to write this up, largely because I was working out what I wanted to understand about the Scripture in my own head. This was a reaction to the teaching of the Scriptures regarding Law, revelation and fidelity. These issues are worth discussing here because a proper understanding of the Scriptures, especially in a proper Old Testament context, can only deepen one's understanding of the important societal battle being waged in which we are the troops, whether we like it or not. As I opined earlier this week , we need to stand up and fight! I think this Sunday's readings really show off an apparent contradiction between the Old Testament and the New Testament: at least...

Please listen to Father Kevin's homily from this Sunday, avaliable to download on iTunes here . In it he talks about the authority of Christ's preaching which comes from His own substance as the author of the Torah. Christ claims authority and power which no Jew could claim. His presence causes an unclean spirit to speak out, asking what He wants. How interesting that the spirit of darkness finds its way into the very place where we worship. Particularly interesting is the meaning of diabolos  (Gk διάβολος) as the scatterer . What resists God in us often is what recognises most what God is . Well worth reflecting on that I think!

Further to the announcement of Mgr John Armitage's forthcoming move to Walsingham, as reported here , the new Vicar General for Brentwood Diocese has been announced as my friend, the Dean of Southend and Parish Priest of Our Lady of Lourdes & St. Joseph, Leigh-on-Sea, Fr. Kevin Hale! Brentwood's new VG reveals his more tender side as he cradles my new born daughter, Mary-Therese. This is great news for the Diocese as Fr. Kevin has developed a reputation for orthodoxy, excellent management skills, and gentle pastoral touch. Most importantly for a VG, he loves the priesthood and he loves his fellow clergy. He has achieved a great deal in his twelve years at Leigh-on-Sea, including the building of our magnificent Parish Centre . He has always played an important role in the diocese and is Chair of the Council of Priests. This is the function of a VG according to the Code of Canon Law : Can. 475 § 1 . In each diocese the diocesan bishop must appoint a vicar genera...

Yesterday was the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. The Scripture at Mass was deeply pedagogical with a really important message for each one of us. The First Reading speaks of the Covenant as it originally was convened between the Hebrew people and God in Exodus. By looking at the origins of the Covenental relationship, we can learn a great deal about our relationship with God today; consider the Psalm yesterday "Do not forget the works of the Lord!". The first reading was from Numbers 21:4b-9. The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Bible. It's name was taken from the census, or counting of the people, that takes place in chapters 1 and 26. The book was composed over a period of about 1,000 years. It tells the story of thirty-eight years of wandering in the desert from Sinai to the Plains of Moab just before the invasion of Canaan under Joshua. On a deeper level it is the story of how God acted in history to guide and protect His chosen people from Sinai ...

I have spent the last week on Pilgrimage in Lourdes , France. Lourdes is a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, on the border with Spain. The town is famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes which occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous . Lourdes is a very special place for me. It is where I met my wonderful wife in 1989, and has become one of those places which seem central to the story of our lives. I went back to Lourdes last year for the first time in some 16 years, after spending many springs and summers there as a youngster with the HCPT and ACROSS, helping handicapped children and adults. You can read about that here . This year, the Parish went on pilgrimage there and Louise suggested I take our youngest son John. This meant I was in Lourdes without Louise for the first time ever, which was a bit strange. It was also the first time I have been with my dear friend and parish priest, Father Kevin Hale. Also, I got to travel with all ...

A great homily from Fr. Kevin Hale this week. It particularly struck me in the light of a week spent in Lourdes, and my present re-reading of Pope St. John Paul II's writings in Crossing the Threshold of Hope . Covering similar ground to Fr. Kevin this week, John Paul II puts the current dilemma in a long view relief and a philosophical context derived of the Cartesian turning toward self. He places man in a sphere of coexistence and faith in a profoundly anthropological constitution. He explains that the standard doubts and questions we have about God's existence and our concern that he is hiding "would only be legitimate if man, with his created intellect and within the limits of his own subjectivity, could overcome the entire distance that separates creation from the creator" (p. 38). In other words, when you think carefully about the relationship between God and man, how much do you think God can actually reveal about Himself without totally confusing us? ...