Reflections for July 2026

This week Matthew continues his account of how Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:44-52). But these descriptions are a rather different. Those we heard previously were like a country, a perfect place, a garden mirroring the garden at the moment of creation. Now we have buried treasure, pearls (hidden inside oysters), fishing nets.  […]

This week we hear Jesus giving three accounts of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:24-43), following another that we heard last week. The Jews had a very mixed experience of kingdoms. In their tradition there were a few good kings, notably David and Solomon, and a lot of bad ones. Even the good ones got

We may not be as familiar with the harvest and sowing as the people of Jesus’ time or before, but we can still relate to God watering the ground and giving us food (Isaiah 55:10-11) – we repeat the sentiment every week in the Offertory prayers of our Eucharist when we thank God for the

So we’re going to have a life of ease, living at peace. Isn’t that what today’s readings promise?  Well if they do, why would you believe them. It clearly hasn’t and doesn’t work out that way. So either we ignore them or we figure out what they are telling us.  This situation isn’t unfamiliar to