Sunday Homilies

75TH ANNIVERSARY OF ST BERNADETTE’S PARISH FEAST OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEDICATION OF ST BERNADETTE’S 8/9 OCTOBER 2022 What are we celebrating today? For many of you still in the parish today who were parishioners in the 1940s, you will remember that the Catholic community of Walmer predated this building. Mass was celebrated by […]

25 September 2022 DIVES AND LAZARUS In the Gospel today we have the parable of Dives and Lazarus. We normally understand the central message of this parable to be about charity. Understandably so, as that is indeed a central theme of Jesus’ preaching. However, it is interesting for us to take a close look at

17 – 18 September 2022 Seeking first the King and His Kingdom Thrifting is on the rise: rather than participating in commercial novelty, many people would rather try their luck at a second-hand store, leafing through the “previously loved” things of others. Not only is it a source of bargains, but we might find something

Sunday 11 September 2022 We are presented in today’s Gospel with an overwhelming picture of God. It is a picture that we could never have guessed at ourselves and, in spite of Jesus’ words, it is a picture than many of us still find difficult to accept in its fullness. We might feel more comfortable

28 August 2022 The readings today undoubtedly invite us to reflect on the virtue of humility. The first reading explicitly exhorts us to this virtue, while in the Gospel, Jesus challenges us to the practice of it, giving a parable in which he instructs us on a practical way we can learn this virtue. In

21 August How does heaven celebrate feast days? Happy feast day; every loves a feast. And in celebrating the Assumption, we also celebrate our national feast. (Mary Assumed into Heaven is the patroness of South Africa.) We can pack away the green vestments for a moment, forget about the humdrum of our day and lean

Sometimes when one sits at the airport waiting for a plane one begins to notice what is happening around. We become aware of so many people of different nationalities passing by. Their features, the colour of their skin, their national or traditional attire that almost tells us or gives us a clue to their country

What does it mean to be faithful? What is the difference between this and professing the faith? And what is faith anyway? These are among the many questions that emerge from the readings this weekend, all of which refer to elements of faith. “Faith”, says the author to the Hebrews in our second reading, “is

This weekend’s readings certainly invite us to reflect on our relationship with earthly things such as money, possession, and superficial or temporal goods. The first reading from Ecclesiastes has the famous refrain “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity” that St Philip Neri and his disciples used to sing in the streets of Rome. It reminds

I would venture to say that most human beings, when encountering people who have harmed others, who live evil, ungodly lives, would instinctively believe that such people should be punished. Furthermore, most people would say that leaders and governments have the duty to protect the innocent and the law-abiding populace by removing those who wound