De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

I found this recent article in the Catholic Herald both familiar and painful, as it speaks to a real truth we likely all witness in our Church on a regular basis: Catholics do not always edify and evangelise non-Catholics; indeed, “We can also dis-edify, discombobulate and de-evangelise them without ever trying… simply by dint of our sheer laziness and complacency and our lack of reverence for sacred things. This is something I often wrestle with, and, especially over the last couple of weeks when I have been enjoying watching this series with Fr Jeff Woolnough and parishioners at St Peter's Catholic Church in Eastwood: As a young, uncatchesised Catholic Father, this is the kind of evangelisation that brought me ardently back to my Catholic faith. Erudite, intelligent and rooted in Scripture. One of the insights gained while attending these sessions with Fr Jeff is that the parishioners enjoying this series are amazed by the depth of sacred Scripture and the truths ...

Welcome to my reflection on this week's Sunday readings at Mass, where I look at the Scripture we will hear at Mass on Sunday in its historical, social and theological context to see what wisdom can be gleaned. 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 li...

As you probably know, each week I sit down at my desk in the evenings after work and look up the Scripture readings for the coming Sunday. I then write an exhaustive investigation into the context and history of each reading. I then attempt to draw all the readings together with the Psalm, and look at what we can learn from them. I have to say despite my efforts, most Sundays, as I sit and listen attentively to the liturgy of the Word, I hear a new dimension, or gain a new insight which I invariably wish I had picked up studying at my desk. I suppose this is the power of the kerygma —that is the Gospel preached. It is alive and supposed to be heard—preached—with vigour. That is, of course, an inherent part of what I would like to achieve from my Sunday Scripture blogs. I would like any reader at Mass who has spent some time reflecting via the blog to be able to deliver the Scripture with renewed vigour born of a thorough understanding. It is cathartic in this regard as I a...

On Sunday, I got up early and gathered the family. We jumped in the car and drove up the M1 to Birmingham to Maryvale for a special day celebrating the life of Canon John Redford. He has developed Pancreatic cancer and is increasingly unwell. It was wonderful to have a day like this, perhaps before he withdraws completely from public life. Maryvale is an International Catholic Distance-Learning College for Catechesis, Theology, Philosophy and Religious Education. It has been erected by the Holy See as an Ecclesiastical institute so that it can also offer degrees of the Holy See, at undergraduate and postgraduate level. I studied theology at Maryvale for five years, graduating in 2011 with a level 2:1 BA (Hons) in Divinity (73%). I had lots of questions about my faith and found a lot of the more controversial aspects challenging and difficult to accept. I think like many people, I had slipped into a position where, never having heard the reasons for the Church's teaching on...

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...

I absolutely love Scripture. I love books actually, but perhaps because I love books, and because I love to be challenged, I love Scripture. I think another reason for me particularly loving the Bible is that I didn't understand it for so long. I had to work hard at overcoming my misconceptions about what the Bible was, in order to really start to love it. In the end, when everyone else was writing dissertations on special moral theology, I wrote mine on Scripture. Obviously, spending five years studying theology will only serve to improve your understanding and love of Scripture, however I'm also aware that not everyone has that luxury. For this reason I have decided to try and help you all out a bit. I get quite frustrated at Mass, that quite often the ministers of the Word; the 'lay readers', don't appear to have any sense of what it is they are actually doing. Nor do they appear to have any sense of the drama, the majesty, the importance or the interconnected...