Looking in the mirror to check our appearance is important. But more crucial is reflecting on who we are as people. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Friday of week 23 of ordinary time can be found here.

Have you ever caught sight of yourself in the mirror and suddenly realised that you have been walking around for most of the day with something stuck to your face? A bit of food perhaps, toothpaste round your mouth, or a smudge of something on your forehead. The embarrassing thing is that everyone else may have been able to see it perfectly well. The only person who couldn’t see it was you. It can sometimes be the same with the faults and weaknesses we have in our lives. We can be remarkably good at spotting them in other people, while being oblivious to them in our own lives.

Jesus talks about this in the Gospel reading today. As he so often does, Jesus presents us with a wonderfully exaggerated image. “Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”, he asks. In other words, it’s often quite easy to spot the relatively minor fault in someone else while ignoring the much bigger failing of which we ourselves might be guilty. It’s only by acknowledging our own shortcomings that we can ever hope to help others. This is why, whenever a priest hears a confession, after he has pronounced God’s absolution he says to the penitent: “pray for me, a sinner too”. The one who has just offered advice and given God’s forgiveness acknowledges his own need of help and forgiveness.

The key is self-awareness and self-reflection – checking the mirror regularly, if you like. Paul gives us a good lesson in this in our first reading. “If I preach the Gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting”, he says. Perhaps Paul was aware that being a preacher, teacher and apostle might lead one to become self-important. Paul reminds himself and us that it’s not the preacher that’s important but the message – “I have made myself a servant to all”, he says. Through prayer and sacramental confession, may we adopt that important practice of self-reflection. In doing so, and aware of God’s mercy, may we become more faithful servants, and better able to help others.

Mass today is in St Saviour’s at 10am.

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.

Sometimes it can be tempting to puff ourselves up, that is, make ourselves seem more important than others. The Christian way, however, is to build others up. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Thursday of week 23 of ordinary time can be found here.

Various members of the animal kingdom have the ability to make themselves look bigger or more impressive as the occasion demands. For example, the male great bustard puffs out its feathers and inflates its throat during courtship, becoming almost twice its apparent size. When threatened, the pufferfish also becomes bigger so as to look much larger and harder to swallow. And of course, we’ve all seen the domestic cat arch its back and make its fur stand on end when scared. 

We might be impressed or even amused by such displays. Yet this kind of thing is exactly what Paul is referring to when he says that “knowledge gives self-importance”. Sometimes it is tempting to use what we know, or a skill we have, to appear impressive to others, just like an animal uses its fur or feathers. He uses the specific example from his day of food sacrificed to idols. We might know, Paul says, that idols don’t exist and therefore it’s not a problem. But we shouldn’t use that knowledge to belittle others who might be wary about eating such food. Paul himself abstains from all meat to be sensitive to others. He recommends using love which builds up the other person, rather than knowledge which might be used to build us up.

Love is a key theme in today’s Gospel reading, and Jesus also says it should be used for the good of others. When another person wrongs us, we might think that keeping a record of that wrongdoing makes us better than them. His radical new message is “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” It is about always seeking to build others up, wanting good for them, regardless of how they have treated us. These extraordinary commands are only possible because this is how God is with us. His love for us is undeserved, but is freely given, nonetheless. God never seeks to puff himself up – he has no need to – but instead is continually building us up. As Jesus says, “Be compassionate, as your Father is compassionate”.

Mass today is in St Dyfrig & St Samson at 10am.

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.

Sometimes we can think of ourselves as insignificant compared to the vastness of the universe. The Feast of the Birthday of Mary shows that God knows, loves, and has a purpose for each of us. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary can be found here.

In his rather zany series of novels comprising the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams imagines a machine called the Total Perspective Vortex. This shows you the whole universe, and your own place within it. The result for most people is rather terrifying. They suddenly come face to face with the immensity of the universe, with its billions of stars and galaxies, and then realise how tiny and insignificant they are. One infinitesimally small individual on a tiny speck of a planet. Maybe we sometimes have that feeling ourselves. Where do I fit into the great scheme of things? Does my life really matter? How can I possibly make a difference?

In the Hitch Hiker’s Guide, coming face to face with these questions often drove people mad. Happily for us as Christians, we need not adopt such a drastic response. Indeed, today’s feast, the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and its readings, offers a wonderfully hopeful perspective on the question of our place in the universe. In the passage from Romans, Paul talks about those whom God foreknew, predestined, and called. So God, the creator of that vast universe which can so disconcert us, knew and called individual people even from before they were born. This mighty creator not only has a relationship with his people, he also has a purpose for them. Today especially we think about this in relation to Mary – she was foreknown, predestined and called from before her birth. Yet it is surely also true for each and every one of us.

This theme is developed in the Gospel reading. The long and complicated genealogy which Matthew gives us shows how God’s purposes, culminating in the lives of the Holy Family, were worked out long ago. When Mary was born she would have seemed for all the world to be as insignificant as someone who experienced the Total Perspective Vortex. Yet we know that God had a wonderful purpose in store for her. The same is true for each one of us. On this great feast, let us seek to understand that purpose and, like Mary, fulfil with joy.

Mass today is in St Mary’s at 6.30pm.

Small actions can have a big impact, both for good and bad, like yeast working in dough. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Monday of week 23 of ordinary time can be found here.

On 1 December 1955, a woman called Rosa Parks, who happened to be Black, was travelling home on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, USA. The rules of the time in Montgomery required Black passengers to give up their seats to white passengers when the white section was full. When asked by the driver to move, Rosa Parks refused, was arrested, and later fined. In one sense it was a small act, though one requiring great courage – a woman sitting on a seat on a bus. But her small act led to the Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted more than a year and became a hugely important moment in the American civil rights movement. Rosa Parks challenged the existing rules of the time with a sense of what was right.

We see something similar happening in today’s Gospel. What Jesus does is, on one level, a small act – healing the right hand of one man (though I’m sure it made a big difference to that man!). It takes courage on the part of Jesus, for he is challenging the rule-and-regulation focussed mindset of the Pharisees. Yet Jesus’ act goes beyond healing just one man, in the same way that what Rosa Parks did was about more than one woman on one bus. He is demonstrating a completely new approach to life, one where the driving force is love, compassion, healing and wholeness. In this simple act of healing, Jesus is showing us what his Kingdom is all about. 

In our first reading, Paul talks about the negative side of a small action having a big impact. “You must know how even a small amount of yeast is enough to leaven all the dough, so get rid of all the old yeast”, he says. He uses this image to reflect on problems in the church at Corinth. Yet we can also turn the image around. In the Gospels, Jesus compares the Kingdom itself to yeast, working away quietly inside the dough. So the question for us is this: what does our yeast look like? What are those small actions and attitudes which can have a big impact on our life and community? Like some in Corinth, is it a yeast which corrupts the dough, or like Rosa Parks and Jesus himself, is it a yeast which brings life and wholeness?

Mass today is in St Dyfrig & St Samson at 6.30pm.

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.

Being a Christian can be viewed as a foolish endeavour by many. What do today’s readings have to say.? Fr Dean reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Thursday of week 22 of Ordinary Time be found here

In 1914, when Henry Ford doubled workers’ pay to five dollars a day and cut work hours, Wall Street experts and his own business partners called it financial suicide. However, he proved them wrong. Workers became fiercely loyal, productivity skyrocketed, and those same workers could now afford to buy the cars they built. There are many examples in history and in our own lives when was was denounced by some as a foolish decision turned out to be the opposite.

An outsider may think that the decision of those fishermen to leave behind their livelihood, homes and families as a rather foolish decision. Indeed, there will be moments in the years to come when they will be filled with doubt. However, they become an instrumental part in Jesus’ ministry and in the leadership and growth of the church after Pentecost.

St Paul says, ‘Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.’ Following Jesus may seem foolish to many people. Why waste our time and energy? God’s designs for us and the world often conflict with the world’s own ideas and perspective. It seems from today’s readings that’s it’s ok to be a little foolish at times.  Indeed, even Jesus was viewed by some of his family as being out of his mind. So, let’s not measure our faith and life by the standards of the world but only by the designs of God, for ‘we are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s’

Mass today is in St Dyfrig and St Samson at 10am.

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.

We can only pass on what we have already received. So what does this mean for Christian teaching and preaching? Fr Dean reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Tuesday of the 22nd week of ordinary time can be found here

I’m sure most of remember our school days with a mixture of emotions. We can probably speak with affection about our favourite teachers, and with slightly less affection of those we always tried to avoid. Some ruled with an iron rod (or a bamboo cane!) whilst my others may have seemed more friendly and affable. Perhaps though the tables could be turned on us, if we had to listen to what those teachers remembered about us!

When Jesus teaches in the synagogue on the sabbath in Capernaum, he stands  in a long line of Jewish Rabbis. No doubt, these rabbis would have varied greatly in their popularity and gifts at teaching.  In the gospel story, Jesus’ teaching is powerful and full of authority. His listeners are astonished and his words leave a deep impression upon them. Likewise, his words change things. They have power even over unclean spirits.

The teaching and preaching ministry of the church is as important today as it ever was. Different styles may have come and gone, some more effective than others, some preachers more gifted than others, but there continues to be a rich array of ministries—not just from clergy, but Lay readers, evangelists, catechists, Sunday School teachers and so on. Each of them is important, for at the heart of them is the teaching of Jesus. We are called to share the good news with others but this begins and continues with hearing the good news for ourselves. We can only pass on what we have already received.

Mass today is in St Mary’s at 6.30pm.

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, then check out our Day By Day pages.

In the story of John the Baptist’s beheading, Herod looks like the strong one, but John shows us where true strength lies. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for the memorial of the Beheading of John the Baptist can be found here.

Imagine that you are watching a game of chess. One player seems to be totally in control. He is able to look several moves ahead, and appears to outmanoeuvre his opponent at every turn. The other seems hopelessly out of his depth, losing pieces left, right and centre. Then suddenly the second player pulls something incredible out of the hat and ends up winning.

In today’s Gospel, Herod appears to be the one in control. He has all the pieces and has the power to make all the moves. First he wants his brother’s wife, and what Herod wants, he gets. Next he is able to order the execution of John the Baptist because he is an inconvenience. It might appear that John has lost – he has made the foolish move by sacrificing his life. But of course, John has won the moral victory by standing up for what is right.

The heart of today’s memorial of the Beheading of John is summed up by these words from Paul: “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong”. The world, represented by Herod, values strength, power, getting one’s own way. Through the death of John, God shows us a different way. It’s a path of self-sacrifice and service, signs of apparent weakness, but one where true strength is to be found.

Mass today is in St Mary’s at 11.30am (preceded by morning prayer at 10.50am and the Rosary at 11am).

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.

The Christian life has a different conception of wisdom to the world. What appears like foolishness – preparing for the coming of the Lord, for example – is actually a sign of holy wisdom. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Friday of week 21 of ordinary time (memorial of St Augustine, Bishop and Doctor) can be found here.

It’s often said that an election isn’t won or lost during the few weeks of campaigning before polling day. In reality it boils down to the work that the parties have been doing in the years prior. Have they kept their promises? Have they delivered on what they said last time? No amount of slick advertising in those final weeks can make up for wasted years.

In today’s parable Jesus sets up a contrast between those who have left things to the last minute and those who have planned ahead. The foolish virgins think they can scrabble around for oil when the bridegroom is at the door; the wise ones have been ready for a long while. It’s another warning from Jesus for us to be always ready for when he comes again.

At first glance there might seem to be a tension between this message and what Paul says in our first reading. He appears to criticise the “wisdom of the wise” and instead commends the “foolishness of God”. But Paul is really attacking a worldly kind of wisdom, a false wisdom that says all can be sorted out at the last minute. A false wisdom that promises the earth but doesn’t say how it will be paid for. A false wisdom that says oil will miraculously turn up. Instead the wise virgins demonstrate the wisdom that looks like foolishness to the world – a belief and trust that the bridge groom will indeed arrive soon, even when others doubt it.

Mass today is in St Saviour’s at 10am.

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.