Thoughts and Reflections

Jeremiah 20:7-9/ Ps 63(62)/ Romans 12:1-2/ Matthew 16:21-27 We live in a time of instant gratification. If we want something we want it now. Online retailers promise same day delivery of almost anything. We want everything without the wait, without the work, without the cost. We want to arrive without making the journey. Peter in the gospel passage today was a bit like this. We know Peter loved Jesus, he confirmed it three times, but he also wanted the happy ending without th

Isaiah 22:15, 19-23/ Ps 138(137/ Romans 11:33-36/ Matthew 16:13-20 In the gospel today Jesus asked His disciples who they say that he is. There are suggestions that people think he is John the Baptist, or Elijah, or one of the prophets. It is Simon, inspired by God, who speaks up and says, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' In reaction to this Jesus does not simply congratulate Simon for his answer, He gives him a new name, Peter, which means rock. It is on this

Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10/ Ps 45(44)/1 Corinthians 15:20-27/ Luke 1:39-56 In the 1940s, Pope Pius XII authorized excavations deep beneath the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Archaeologists dug through an ancient Roman cemetery, and in 1950 the Pope announced that the tomb of Saint Peter had been found, where Christian memory had always said it was. The early Christians marked the martyr’s tombs with reverence. They gathered at graves, celebrated the Eucharist o

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a/ Ps 85(84)/ Romans 9:1-5/ Matthew 14:22-33 Consider the parent in the swimming pool, arms outstretched towards the little child standing hesitantly on the edge. The parent calls out for the child to jump in assuring them they will catch them. The child is keen but looking down at the deep water cannot step off the edge. The parent again, more softly, more reassuringly, calls for the child to look at them in the eye and jump in knowing they will be caught

Isaiah 55:1-3/ Ps 145(144)/ Romans 8:35, 37-39/ Matthew 14:13-21 In the Gospel today we find the disciples responding to Jesus that they do not have enough to comply with his request to feed the large crowd. They point out that they cannot possibly feed so many people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. The message for them and for us is that God never asks us for what we do not have, He asks for what we do have, however small and insignificant we think that might be