Reflections for Ordinary Time

The days of thinking of God as a white man with a white beard on a white cloud, staring down at us judgmentally, are gone, I hope. The gospel message that Jesus connected with God not just as a father, but as a loving “abba”, wanting a close and intimate relationship with all his children, […]

We are used to the idea that someone should be appointed to a job because they have the capability to do it. And if you want to progress, then you need to show the competence to succeed at the next level. We know that in practice this isn’t always true, but it’s an ideal we

All our readings this week share the message about the inclusiveness of God. The recognition that God calls all people, all races, all nations, to his holy mountain can sometimes be one of the most difficult things to accept in the revelation we have received.  We have such a strong instinct that our relationship with

We heard last week how, after Jesus’ cousin John was murdered, he attempted to go off by himself but was followed by crowds who wouldn’t leave him be.  Taking pity on their neediness he cures and feeds them. Now we hear how following this he does escape the crowds for a little while, and sends

Over the last few weeks Matthew has led us through Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom – how are we to understand this extraordinary relationship that God has formed with his people. Now Matthew takes us a different direction (Matthew 14:13-21).  The event that marks this switch is the death of John the Baptist. It may

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

We are used to having two readings in our liturgy where the first from the Hebrew Scriptures may be harsh or even violent, reflecting what we may think to be a more primitive or less developed understanding of God. Our Gospel readings, on the other hand, reflect a fuller awareness of God as revealed through