This Sunday’s Gospel text always stirs up for me an imaginary charming “family” scene.  Bartimaeus (one of the few people cured by Jesus whose name we know) is having dinner with some of the other disciples of Jesus (we know that after his sight was restored he followed Jesus).

Muhammad Ali once used to say whenever he knocks down an opponent, “I am the greatest! I am the greatest!”

Who can be saved? We have a rich young person today coming to Jesus to ask what he must do to ‘inherit eternal life.’ as it turns out, he has been a faithful observer of the Law and was a good person.

Marriage is a sacrament, a work of God, and a work of a man and a woman. It gives a couple the grace to live out in their lives the forgiving, understanding, committed, redeeming and transforming love God has for all of us.

Today’s gospel text invites us to follow Jesus by practicing three important virtues: tolerance, hospitality, and not giving scandal.

According to many Scripture Scholars ninety per cent of what Jesus taught was also taught by other Jewish rabbis.  But there are definitely some teachings that are unique to Jesus ...

If I ask anybody here if they love to experience pain, particularly physical pain, well I'd think you’re a masochist if you would ever say yes.

The Gospel this Sunday has a beautiful healing story. Jesus heals a person who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. In the Gospel, we are told that, unlike some of the miracles of Jesus, we see a ritual being performed here.

There was an old woman who was very conscious about observing the “one-hour fast” before receiving communion. She went to Mass one Sunday noting the time she finished breakfast, which was shortly before she left the house.

Today’s Gospel reminds us that our faith journey can sometimes experience some serious challenges.  Jesus had said things about Himself and about eating His body and drinking His blood that a number of his followers could not accept.

The movie “Alive” which came out in 1993, featuring John Malcovich and Ethan Hawke, is about the Uruguayan Rugby Team whose plane crashed on the side of the Andes and a lot of their team mates died, together with the pilots and the flight attendants.

We have been reading from the Gospel of John for the past few weeks and the theme, ‘Jesus is the Bread of Life,’ is constantly recurring in these readings.

As a way of honouring St Mary of the Cross this morning, would you mind if I respond to those words by sharing with you some reflections on the mystery of the Cross?

Maybe once in a while we have met some people who seemed to have everything in life; a good house, a flash car, a high-paying job, manage to travel around the world at a moment’s notice but somehow there’s something that is missing.

In today’s gospel the story of Jesus’ feeding of the thousands that came to hear him preach is a story of a very different kind of miracle.