It Is Expedient
In today’s Gospel we hear Our Beloved Saviour tell His apostles that His imminent departure is “expedient” for them. The expression means that it is in their interest, for their good, that He is going to disappear from their physical vision. His words to St Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday morning relay the same message: […]
The Paradigm Of Child-Birth
In today’s Gospel, the Lord compares the sadness of His disciples to the birth-pangs of a new mother. Although I have never assisted at the birth of a child (except my own, but of that I have no precise memory!), I am told that there sometimes comes a moment when the mother thinks she will […]
The Shepherd Must Die
The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. Astounding words those. No wonder some of the Jews thought He had lost His mind. What shepherd in his right mind would die to save his sheep? Is not the life of any human worth more than all the sheep in the world? And yet […]
Exhortation At The Clothing Ceremony For Brother Augustine Mary Withoos
My Dear Brother, “Let it be done to me according to Thy word”. Those beloved words of Our Blessed Lady resound in our ears on this feast of the Annunciation. Once again we go in spirit to the humble house of Nazareth where we hear the discourse of the angel, and wait in awe for […]
Seeing, Rejoicing And Being Sent To Suffer
St John tells us in today’s Gospel that when the disciples saw the Lord, they rejoiced. Seeing the Risen Lord gives joy, joy the world cannot know, joy that even the faithful cannot express, but only experience. That joy gives them to follow the Saviour and to go out on whatever mission He might send […]
Easter Happenings
This year’s paschal octave has come to an end. Our paschal candle however remains until Ascension Thursday, along with the paschal inscription which follows an ancient custom. As part of our Easter festivities, we had our quarterly outing, this time heading south and discovering the magnificent area of Cape Raoul, near Port Arthur on the […]
Washing, Serving and Dying
Maundy Thursday brings before us the profound words of Our Lord to His apostles during the Last Supper when there was a dispute among them about who was the greatest: “The kings of the gentiles lord it over them, and they that have power over them are called beneficent. But you not so. But he […]
Of Palms And Blood
It would be hard to find the equivalent, in terms of contrast, of the Roman ceremonies of Palm Sunday. It’s easy to explain historically: Rome had long celebrated the Sunday before Easter as a commemoration of the passion of the Lord with all the pompous mourning of which she was capable. But then from the […]
Was There No Other Way?
Passiontide which begins today again brings before our eyes the great and at once awful mystery of the cruel death of our Beloved Saviour. If we love Him in the least, or even if our heart is not so hardened that it cannot compassionate with One so cruelly and unfairly treated, then we may ask […]
