‘To carry and love what God loves’
HOMILY: I love the gospel image of Jesus as a devoted hen gathering her chicks; protection by way of courage and commitment.
‘Self-deprecating dignity’
HOMILY: Environmental activist Julia Butterfly-Hill argues that virtuous political action is meaningless unless those who love the world and its creatures live in truly sustainable and peaceable ways – cooperating rather than competing, sharing resources and ideas, and caring for one another in community.
‘New identities, relations’
HOMILY: The ashes, carbon crosses, symbolise our repentance and reorientation.
‘Not just any dream will do’
HOMILY: Two dreams: the dream of reconciliation; the dream of peace (non-violence, love). Desmond Tutu refers to the reign of God as “God’s dream”.
‘Lifting up and bringing down – love on the level’
HOMILY: “It is the vulnerable who make the world safe for humanity,” says biblical scholar Brendan Byrne in conclusion to a three-page commentary on today’s gospel. Byrne’s refrain repeats with a difference the words of Jesus: “You who are poor are blessed, for the reign of God is yours.”
‘Fishing for art and wisdom’
HOMILY: For five consecutive days I paddled out into deeper water, out to Sepulchre Island.
‘A share in hospitality’
HOMILY: We are offered these gifts and more: love’s universal scope; God’s boundless goodness, the unexpectedness of God’s ways; opportunity for hosting the stranger – a share in hospitality; Wisdom; a clear and new beginning.
‘Calling and task’
HOMILY: There are people we admire – and mimic/imitate. It’s one way that we learn – to become the kind of people we become.
‘The first of seven signs’
HOMILY: With respect to texts such as John 2:1-11, it is tempting to read an account of magic – a magician’s trick – turning water into wine.
‘Wilderness and otherness’
HOMILY: “Spirits of the universe, give glory to God,” the psalmist sings. “The voice of God is heard in storms, rousing all creatures. God’s voice strikes fire from desert rocks …” It’s a fitting psalm for our celebration of the Baptism of Jesus. And it invites consideration of the fact that following his baptism by John in the Jordan, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert. Jesus is led into a wilderness we might call a storied country.