Category Archives: Liturgical Times

Ordinary Time 2021

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The Feast of Christ the King – 21st November 2021
And so our liturgical year draws to a close with the declaration of Christ as King.

33rd Sunday – 14th November 2021
Looking towards the end times as we come to the end of our liturgical year.

32nd Sunday – 7th November 2021
We sit and observe the widow giving all that she has – an invitation to reflect on giving.

31st Sunday – 31st October 2021
Love your neighbour as yourself – it sounds easy……

30th Sunday – 24th October 2021
“What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asks….

29th Sunday – 17th October 2021
We hear a jockeying for a place of honour taking place and how Jesus responds to this.

28th Sunday – 10th October 2021
We meet a man faced with a difficult choice – how would I respond in this situation?

27th Sunday – 3rd October 2021
We have a challenging reading on marriage, one that invites us into reflection to deepen our understanding.

26th Sunday – 26th September 2021
We continue our journey with the disciples struggling to understand.

25th Sunday – 19th September 2021
We see a jostling for places of honour and Jesus’ response.

24th Sunday – 12th September 2021
Jesus askes that difficult question but one worth pondering – who do you say that I am?

23rd Sunday – 5th September 2021
We encounter the healing of a deaf person and are invited to consider in what way we are deaf and in need of healing.

22nd Sunday – 29th August 2021
We return to the Gospel of Mark.

21st Sunday – 22nd August 2021
We come to the last section of this teaching of Jesus on The Bread of Life

Feast of the Assumption – 15th August 2021
We journey with Mary to visit her cousin Elizabeth.

19th Sunday – 8th August 2021
We continue evolving our understanding of the Bread of Life within us.

18th Sunday – 1st August 2021
We continue with John’s revealing the Bread of Life to us.

17th Sunday – 25th July 2021
Jesus feeds the 5,000

16th Sunday – 18th July 2021
Jesus invited them to come away for some quiet time.

15th Sunday – 11th July 2021
Jesus sends the Apostles in pairs to bring the Gospel into the towns and villages around them.

14th Sunday – 4th July 2021
What is it in us that still sees the ‘local boy’ and doesn’t allow us to see the person he has become?

13th Sunday – 27th June 2021
Jesus acts against the established tradition for the sake of something greater

12th Sunday – 20th June 2021
Jesus calms the storm but wonders at their lack of trust.

11th Sunday – 13th June 2021
We hear the parable of the mustard seed.

Eastertide

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The Feast of Corpus Christi
As we move back into ordinary time we reflect on the institution of Eucharist.

Trinity Sunday – 30th May 2021
The great commission

Pentecost Sunday – 23rd May 2021
We have arrived at the great feast of Pentecost

Feast of the Ascension – 16th May 2021
When is an ending not an ending?

6th Sunday of Easter – 9th May 2021
A commandment to love……

5th Sunday of Easter – 2nd May 2021
I am the vine, you are the branches.

4th Sunday of Easter – 25th April 2021
We meet Jesus as the Good Shepherd

3rd Sunday of Easter – 18th April 2021
We join the two returning from Emmaus to tell of their encounter with the risen Christ.

2nd Sunday of Easter – 11th April 2021
Thomas questions can’t get his head around what the others are telling him

Easter Sunday 4th April 2021
He is Risen, Alleluia!

Living the Gospel this Lent

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Palm Sunday – 28th March 2021
We mark the exultant arrival of Jesus into Jerusalem.

Fifth Sunday of Lent 21st March 2021
unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain;

Fourth Sunday of Lent 14th March 2021
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son

Third Sunday of Lent 7th March 2021
We move to John’s Gospel for the next few weeks. This Sunday we go to the Temple with Jesus

Second Sunday of Lent 27th February 2021
We are invited into a deep encounter with Jesus

First Sunday of Lent 20th February 2021
Jesus enters the wilderness as he anticipates the journey he is about to undertake.

Sundays of Year B – 2021

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Photo by Biegun Wschodni https://unsplash.com/photos/ZloDJXzcMGA

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary |Time – 14th February 2021
Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him….

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – 7th February 2021
…. long before dawn, he got up and …. went off to a lonely place and prayed….

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – 31st January 2021
…he taught them as one having authority…

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – 24th January 2021
I will make you fishers of people.

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time – 17th January 2021
We receive the invitation to Come and See

Reflection on Christmas

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We are called to incarnate Christ in our lives, to clothe our lives with him, so that people can see him in us, touch him in us, recognize him in us.

Catherine de Hueck Doherty

I offer you Richard Rohr’s reflection on Christmas day as a reflection to sit with over these days.

Take a moment to light a candle, to open yourself with intention to the presence of God within and then to simply read the following and allow it to resonate within you. Use it once or use it frequently.

Christ Born in Us
Reflection from Richard Rohr on Christmas Day 2020

What I have seen is the totality recapitulated as one, received not in essence but by participation. Just as if you lit a flame from a flame, it is the whole flame you receive.

Symeon the New Theologian

Symeon the New Theologian (949‒1022) was a Byzantine Christian monk and mystic revered to this day by Eastern Christians. Symeon believed humans had the capacity to experience God’s presence directly. He visualized this union happening within the “force field” of the Body of Christ. This cosmic embodiment is created both by God’s grace and our response.

Symeon’s “Hymn 15” from his collected Hymns of Divine Love beautifully names the divine union that God is forever inviting us toward. These mystical lines honestly say it all for me and move me to an embodied knowing, to a living force field wherein we will know mystical union on even the cellular level.

We awaken in Christ’s body
as Christ awakens our bodies,
and my poor hand is Christ, He enters
my foot, and is infinitely me.

I move my hand, and wonderfully
my hand becomes Christ, becomes all of Him
(for God is indivisibly
whole, seamless in His Godhood).

I move my foot, and at once
He appears like a flash of lightning.
Do my words seem blasphemous?—Then
open your heart to Him

and let yourself receive the one
who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
We wake up inside Christ’s body

where all our body, all over,
every most hidden part of it,
is realized in joy as Him,
and He makes us, utterly, real,

and everything that is hurt, everything
that seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
maimed, ugly, irreparably
damaged, is in Him transformed

and recognized as whole, as lovely,
and radiant in His light
we awaken as the Beloved
in every last part of our body. [1]

For many of us, our Christmas celebrations will be a little (or a lot) smaller, but I (RIchard Rohr) hope no less joyful. I invite you to contemplate the wonder of Symeon’s words. How might we experience the Christ born in us today, “utterly real . . . transformed . . . radiant in His light”?

Sign up for the daily, weekly, or monthly meditations. Sign Up

Reflecting on the Sunday Gospel

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Here are some resources you may find helpful to use as a means of reflecting on the Gospel of the weekend either on your own or in a family setting.

34th Sunday – The Feast of Christ the King – 22nd Nov. 2020
What does it mean to be part of a kingdom?

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – 15th November 2020
We are called to be the best person we can be……

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – 8th November 2020
Sometimes we need to stop and think……

31st Sunday and Feast of All Saints – 1st November 2020
A blueprint for a way of life.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 25th October 2020
If you had to condense all of the rules into one over arching rule, what would that be?

29th Sunday – Mission Sunday – 18th October 2020
A heart felt prayer to God the Father, by Jesus, for us his followers.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 11th October 2020
An invitation to a wedding feast goes wrong.

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 4th October 2020
We continue with another ‘vineyard’ parable.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 27th September 2020
What we do really does matter…precisely because all really is grace, both gracious love and loving grace. 

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 20th September 2020
The story of what appears to be an unfair wage being paid out can speak to us of the generosity of the love of God.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 13th September 2020
The question of forgiveness arises. How many times are we to forgive someone who offends us?

Previous Sundays Below

For Children

Created by our weekend Children’s Liturgy of the Word group, a prayer service for parents to lead their children into a conversation on the Gospel story

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – 30th August
Today we hear Jesus telling his disciples that it isn’t going to be easy to follow him.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – 23rd August
Claire helps us to think about why Jesus asked his close friends what people are saying about him and what they think about his message.  

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 16th August
Lisa offers us ways of reflecting on the meaning of this slightly strange or unusual Gospel. A woman argues with Jesus until he changes his mind.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 9th August
Elaine opens up the meaning of today’s Gospel for us and helps us to think about how we can show our faith in God this week.

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2nd August
Today Orla helps us to reflect on the meaning of the miracle of Jesus feeding over 5,000 people with just 5 loaves and 2 fish.

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 26th July
Today Niamh helps us to understand what Jesus means when he says that Heaven is like a treasure

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 19th July
Today Claire helps us to explore more of the stories Jesus tells us in helping us to know what having God in our lives is like.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 12th July
Today Lisa helps us to explore the Gospel of the farmer sowing seeds. We will hear what happens to those seeds as they fall on paths, on rocky ground, in patches of weeds and in good soil.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 5th July
Today Elaine helps us to explore the Gospel where we hear that God is there to ease our troubles not add to them.

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 28th June
Today Orla helps us to explore the |Gospel where we hear how we will be rewarded for our goodness.

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 21st June
Niamh shows us that the Gospel today is about the experience of fear and of not being afraid.

Corpus Christi – 14th June
Claire brings our focus on Bread and how it sustains us as a way of opening a discussion on the feast of the Body of Christ

Trinity Sunday – 7th June
This week Lisa will be helping us with one of the most famous passages in the Bible, written by John, it tells us about God’s love and what he did to show us that love.  We will also see how today’s Feast, the Holy Trinity, is all about love.   

For Grown-Ups

Each link brings you to a structured approach to opening the Gospel in prayer either on your own or in a family setting. Give yourself time to follow the process.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – 30th August
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-30
We are asked to take up our cross……

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – 23rd August
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20
A deep question is posed; Who do you say that I am?

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 16th August
Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28
An interesting encounter with a most persistent woman.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 9th August
Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33
Battered in tempestuous times, unsettled, wavering, sinking. Yes, that’s us today but yes, it is also the community for which Matthew was writing. 

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2nd August
Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21
When people are compassionate to us, it is because we need it and usually we are deeply touched and grateful. Such is our God!

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 26th July
Gospel: Matthew 13:44-52
We continue with Matthew in defining for us what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 19th July
Gospel: Matthew 13:24-43
Continuing to draw us into a fuller experience of the Kingdom of God within us.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 12th July
Gospel: Matthew 13:1-23
God of every harvest, it can be hard
today to be confident about the Good
News and yet we know that it is you
who give the growth

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 5th July
Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30
On this Sunday, our Gospel is one of the most attractive and best-loved paragraphs in Matthew, breathing an air of invitation and serenity…just what we need, as we undertake the cautious next stage of easing the C-19 restrictions.

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 28th June
Gospel: Matthew 10:37-42
Whoever finds his life, loses it, whoever loses her life will find it.

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 21st June
Gospel: Matthew 10:26-33
So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows!!

Corpus Christi – 14th June
Gospel: John 6:51-58
Exploring what it is to be a Eucharistic people

Trinity Sunday – 7th June
Gospel: John 3:16-18
Opening ourselves into the depth of the loving relationship that is God.

Reflecting on the Sunday Gospel in Eastertide

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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Here are some resources you may find helpful to use as a means of reflecting on the Gospel of the weekend either on your own or in a family setting.

Reflection for Children

Created by our weekend Children’s Liturgy of the Word group, a prayer service for parents to lead their children into a conversation on the Gospel story

Pentecost Sunday – 31st May

Feast of the Ascension – 24th May

Sixth Sunday of Easter – 17th May

Fifth Sunday of Easter – 10th May

Fourth Sunday of Easter – 3rd May

Third Sunday of Easter – 26th April

Second Sunday of Easter – 19th April

Easter Sunday – 12th April

Reflection for Grown-ups

Each link brings you to a structured approach to opening the Gospel in prayer either on your own or in a family setting. Give yourself time to follow the process.

Pentecost Sunday – 31st May
Gospel: John 20:19-23
Jesus breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Feast of the Ascension – 24th May
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
Jesus leaves his disciples and commissions them to ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Sixth Sunday of Easter – 17th May
Gospel: John 14:15-21
Jesus is preparing the disciples for his departure from them and is reassuring them that God is presence in the depth of relationship.

Fifth Sunday of Easter – 10th May
Gospel: John 14:1-12
We are offered another of the great I AM statements of Jesus, I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

Fourth Sunday of Easter – 3rd May
Gospel: John 10:1-10
I am the gate: whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.

Third Sunday of Easter – 26th April
Gospel: Luke 24:13-35
We have the journey on the road to Emmaus, where the two invite a stranger to join them and through that invitation have an experience of the Risen Christ

Second Sunday of Easter – 19th April
Gospel: John 20:19-31
We turn to the Gospel of “doubting Thomas”. Perhaps we identify more easily with doubt, though the real point is that Thomas comes to a breath-taking affirmation of faith.

Easter Sunday – 12th April
Gospel: John 20:1-10
Reflecting on the discovery of the empty tomb