In our Old Testament readings at weekday Mass we have been hearing about the decline of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, together with the prophetic ministry of Elijah: this reached its climax in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in the 6th century BC. We now explore more
Continue readingToday, transferred from tomorrow (in this country) we keep the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. They are venerated on the same day because they are thought to have been martyred in the persecution of Christians under the Emperor Nero, sparked by a big fire in Rome, in the late
Continue readingToday is the feast of St Cyril of Alexandria. When we say the ‘Hail Mary’ we conclude with the words ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death’. St Cyril is part of the reason why we call Our Lady ‘Mother
Continue readingThis picture (and I don’t know its origin) is labelled ‘The fear of Zedekiah’. Presumably the king, not long installed as a puppet by the Babylonian potentate Nebuchadnezzar, is frightened because he’s about to have his eyes gouged out, in today’s first reading at Mass (2 Kings 25:1-12), the second
Continue readingToday’s first reading at Mass (2 Kings 24:8-17) describes briefly one of the key climactic points of the history of the Jewish people – the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (called Nabucadonosor in older Catholic Bibles) in the year 597 BC and the exile into Babylon initially
Continue readingThe feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist is historically and culturally very important in this country because it’s a ‘Quarter day’, one of the signposts in the year when rents used to be due (like Lady Day), and it more or less coincides too with Midsummer Day,
Continue readingSt Etheldreda, or Aethelthryth (the name is also the original of the name Audrey) was one of the great female saints of Anglo Saxon England. If you’ve ever watched (as I have recently) the Netflix series ‘The Last Kingdom’ (which hopefully will have at least one more series) you see
Continue readingToday is a very special feast day in this country – Saints John Fisher and Thomas More – they weren’t martyred on the same day in 1535 – Fisher was killed on this day and More in early July. They symbolise jointly good and holy leadership of the Church (Fisher
Continue readingThe first reading at Mass today, the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is from Jeremiah 20: 10-13. It shows how the prophet is aware that those who oppose him are out to get him – indeed he’s nearly killed. In the whole book the Jeremiah grapples with God and is
Continue readingIn the Church’s calendar the day after the feast of the Sacred Heart is the feast day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This stresses the closeness, the intimacy, between Our Lord and his Mother; we’re enabled to imagine his childhood (about which hardly anything is recorded) where he would
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