• Sermon - Year C

    5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    The new series of “The Apprentice” started two weeks ago on the BBC. I know this because I’ve come across the trailers and watched the last two minutes or so of the episodes when I’ve switched my telly on to see “The News at Ten”. I used to watch “The Apprentice” for its quirky entertainment value. For those unfamiliar with…

  • Sermon

    The Presentation of the Lord

    A couple of my friends waited for their first child for years. As I accompanied them spiritually, I witnessed how they swung between hope and disappointment, determination and desperation, trust and hopelessness. One thing was evident all along: their unbelievable, unquenchable longing for a child. Then, there was an explosion of great joy when the wife found out she was…

  • Sermon - Year C

    3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Following the sudden downfall of President Assad of Syria last December, there were reports of Syrian exiles flocking back to their homeland from neighbouring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. After a 13-year-long civil war and oppression by the brutal regime, their hopes were high for their country to become a better place. It was different for Syrian refugees…

  • Sermon - Year C

    2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

    How many people appeared in the wedding story at Cana? The first one mentioned was “the mother of Jesus.” Then, “Jesus also was invited” – this sounds like He got his invitation by association, like that relative in each family we could do without but must be invited to come along because “it’s family”. Jesus wasn’t at the wedding as…

  • Sermon - Year C

    The Baptism of the Lord

    “Football isn’t a matter of life and death; it’s much more important than that.” For years, Bill Shankly’s famous quote was just a catchy soundbite until I arrived in Scotland, immersed myself in its culture and realised that for the great Scottish manager’s compatriots, football is as important as he’d described it. I’ve seen weddings planned around fixtures so as…