Reflections & Homilies

Pope Leo XIV ordained ten priests during Mass in St Peter's Basilica on Sunday morning as the Church celebrated the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Basing his homily on the Gospel of John, in which Jesus said: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly," Pope Leo pointed to the generosity of the newly-ordained priests as a sign that this promise is still being lived today. The Po... Read More

Dublin Archbishop Dermot Farrell delivered this homily during Mass this afternoon in the Basilica of Our Lady at the International Eucharistic and Marian Shrine in Knock, Co Mayo, during the the annual Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage. Mary Byrne O'Connell, Patrick Byrne, Patrick Hill, John Curry, and Bridget Trench are not names we know. These people were five of the 15 visionaries here at Knock in 18... Read More

Fourth Sunday after Easter Many of us are radically detached from the countryside and the real rhythms of time and season, a lot of this is our own fault, urbanisation and what follows from it creates a life where we are run by electric light that allows day to be extended in to the darkness of night, and where clocks regulate our comings and goings, risings and settings! That is part of the uneas... Read More

On Good Shepherd Sunday, Archbishop Richard Moth calls on the faithful of the Diocese of Westminster to pray urgently for vocations to the priesthood, giving thanks for those already serving and supporting those in formation. In his first Pastoral Letter as Archbishop of Westminster, he emphasises the priesthood as a life of joyful service rooted in the Eucharist, from which all priestly ministry... Read More

Third Sunday after Easter Let's begin our reflection with a few verses from Psalm 16 which forms our responsorial psalm this Sunday because the words ground us in the dynamic of our paschal faith and witness, it permeates our first reading from Acts but also is a prayer of great trust and hope : 'I bless the LORD who counsels me; even at night my heart exhorts me. I keep the LORD always before me;... Read More

When the Covid epidemic ended, it was reckoned in many London parishes that about a third of those who used to come to Mass never returned. They simply stopped. Some of these people had never missed a Sunday in their lives. It raises an uncomfortable question: what were they doing all those years? Were they getting nothing out of it? Were they simply going through the motions? We cannot judge indi... Read More

Second Sunday of Easter Divine Mercy Sunday Our first reading from the Book of Acts is a passage we need to really study and hold up before communities, our churches and ourselves. Here is a snapshot of the way of life as experienced by that first community of Christians. This passage from Acts 2:42-47, puts before us a wonderful synopsis of the early community with the qualities and virtues they ... Read More

Fr Toby Lees OP gave this homily during the Easter Vigil Mass at St Dominic's Priory - The Rosary Shrine, London NW5. In late 1944, a Japanese soldier named Hiroo Onoda was sent to a small island in the Philippines. His mission was to destroy the Lubang airfield and a harbour pier. He failed, and as enemy forces took control, he and his fellow troops retreated into the jungle. The war was soon ove... Read More

Archbishop Mark opened his Easter message by drawing on Ted Hughes' poem The Horses - set in that deep, cold hour before dawn, when darkness is at its deepest and the frost at its most intense. He acknowledged the weight many people are carrying right now: war in the Middle East and Ukraine, famine in Sudan, rising fuel costs, pressure on families. "It may feel very dark," he said. But then came t... Read More

This Easter morning, many thousands of adults - mainly young adults mostly from no religious background - have made their way through the shadows and darkness of our time like the women and the apostles on the first Easter morning to "see and believe" that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and truly present in His Church, supremely in His Eucharist (Cf. Jn. 20: 8). They have searched through the... Read More

Pope Leo XIV reflected on good, evil, and rebirth, as he presided over the Easter Vigil Mass in St Peter's Basilica last night. Easter, the Pope said, quoting from an ancient hymn, "drives out hatred, fosters concord and brings down the mighty". While the heart of the Easter story is Jesus' resurrection from the dead, Pope Leo said, "the holy mystery of this night … extends across the centuries"... Read More

"Easter does not begin with a proclamation of victory, but with listening to a story: a story that confronts death to reach life." With these words, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, recalled the passage through darkness necessary to reach the Resurrection, in his homily for the Easter Vigil celebration that he presided over on the morning of Saturday, April 4, in... Read More

On 4 April 2026, Archbishop Richard Moth celebrated his first Easter Vigil as Archbishop of Westminster. During the Mass, the Cathedral's candidates and catechumens joined hundreds of others throughout the diocese in receiving one or all of the Sacraments of Initiation. In his homily, Archbishop Moth rejoiced in the witness of so much new life in the Church and gave thanks for their faith, saying:... Read More

The Resurrection of the Lord - Pascha Christ is risen, he is truly risen! Though the recent debate about the sudden recovery of Christianity amongst us may not be quite the numerical success story as some people suggest, one thing seems to be at least true and verifiable, that our faith is far from dying! I tend to ignore the religious culture wars, the noise of those who prefer the Tridentine Mas... Read More