‘Making all things new’
HOMILY: “Look for me where you are going to find me,” Jesus says, “love one another.”
‘We play by ear …’
HOMILY: Today’s homily plays/prays within the fold of belief and belonging … belonging and hearing … hearing and following. When we hear the divine voice, the call, what do we hear? What is happening?
‘The story reverberates’
HOMILY: I cherish this gospel, which offers good news for awkward and confused disciples, good news for impetuous and penitent disciples, good news for the hard-working and hungry, for any who dare go deep into mystery, for all in need of protection, nurture and community.
‘To touch and be touched’
HOMILY: “To touch and be touched simultaneously is to be connected with others in a way that prises us open” (Richard Kearney) …
‘Return to the world’
HOMILY: Our gospel traces a movement of faith from loving kindness to emptiness, encounter with strangers/angels, then memory, testimony, disbelief, action, wonder/amazement …
‘Dying is living more’
HOMILY: Dying is living more. How might we interpret this theme? How might we perform it? Play or pray it?
‘Loving as friends love’
HOMILY: Foot or hand washing, like breaking bread, means loving as friends love.
‘A counter-procession’
HOMILY: Jesus’ triumphal entry into the crowded streets of Jerusalem was a kind of performance art, an enacted parable that dramatised his subversive mission.
‘Mary the teacher’
HOMILY: Today I’m going to be talking about teaching, learning and wisdom – how Jesus taught, how the people closest to him responded to his teaching, and how we teach and learn now. I have lived my professional life as an English teacher, working mostly in girls’ secondary schools. Some years ago, when I worked at a Catholic school, we began all our faculty meetings by praying together.
‘Lost in translation’
HOMILY: “I once was lost, but now am found …” sings a former slave trader (John Newton, 1725-1807). Another hymn writer concludes a poetic account of salvation/new creation with the beautiful line: “Lost in wonder, love and praise” (Charles Wesley, 1707-1788). It’s at least as complex as this.
