Reflections & Homilies

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time In our first reading this Sunday, the prophet Zephaniah gives us the two core requirements of humility and justice that he suggests will help us live the life that God wants for us. He is not alone in marking these out as important, we find them throughout the scriptures, for instance Micah in a passage we know so well, gives us a descriptive way in which we can inte... Read More

"The Word of God is still in the hands of the Church and all of us, in our various ecclesial ministries, must continue to preserve it in its integrity, as a lodestar for our journey through the complexity of history and existence," Pope Leo XIV said during his Wednesday General Audience today, with pilgrims in the Paul VI Hall. Continuing his catechesis series dedicated to the Second Vatican Counc... Read More

Pope Leo emphasised how different Christian denominations share the same faith and encouraged them to continue together the mission of spreading the Gospel throughout the world, on Sunday, at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity . "We are one! We already are! Let us recognise it, experience it and make it visible!" he said in his homily during the celebration of Second Vesp... Read More

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Given what is happening in our geo-political world, the words of the prophet Isaiah might seem a bit hollow, given the brutal behaviour ( or lack of leadership) of leaders and officials who should know better. Isaiah speaks out for the plight of those innocent people in the crosshairs of political posturing, our Greenlanders, Ukrainians, our stateless and unwanted i... Read More

Given on 17 January 2026 at Methodist Central Hall for a Service of Thanksgiving on the 80th Anniversary of the Inaugural Meeting of the United Nations. Your Royal Highness, Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, It is a great privilege to stand before you today in this Hall, where exactly eighty years ago the seeds of a fresh global framework were sown. On 10... Read More

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time The testimony of John the Baptist is unequivocal, and we trust his words because of John's great witness to Jesus, but they are also couched in a rather dream-like manner, for John is attempting to describe something well outside his comfort zone! Think of the way we describe happenings that are rather difficult to capture in straightforward language, such as major e... Read More

Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, OP gave a meditation at the Extraordinary Consistory convened by Pope Leo in Rome, on 7-8 January. The meeting - which included 170 cardinals - centred on the themes of synodality and mission. Reflecting on Mark 6:45-52, Jesus walking on water to the disciples during a storm, he said: "Sometimes we feel alone, burnt out, exhausted. But Jesus is watching and will come cl... Read More

During his weekly General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV continued his catechesis series on the Second Vatican Council, looking more closely at "one of the most beautiful and important of the Council," namely the Dogmatic Constitution 'Dei Verbum,' on Divine Revelation. Recalling Jesus' words in the Gospel passage according to St John: "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does n... Read More

11th January 2026 Though our Liturgy has its structures, its rubrics, its scriptures, poetry, prayer texts and its chants, it can never really be tidied up according to human desires, because perfection is not something we, as humans, will ever achieve in this life. And that is all for the good, because the messiness of our worship, the untidiness of each one's vocation of prayer and Christian lif... Read More

"It is the Magisterium [of the Second Vatican Council] that still constitutes the guiding star of the Church's journey today," Pope Leo said, during his Wednesday General Audience, on 7 January, in the Pope VI Hall, as he began a new catechesis series, dedicated to Vatican Council II and a rereading of its Documents, following the Jubilee Year's focus on the mysteries of the life of Jesus. The P... Read More

With the first prayer intention of the year, Pope Leo XIV invites us to rediscover the transforming power of God's Word, the Word in which "we find the light that guides our steps." Along with the Holy Father, we turn to prayer, asking that we might be a Church that "prays with the Word, that is built upon it and shares it with joy, so that in every person, the hope of a new world may be born agai... Read More

On the Feast of the Epiphany, London Catholic Worker volunteer Harry Wills, reflected on who the Magi were and what they teach us about the meaning of the 'Other'." One of my university teachers told us about the time he spent living in rural Africa. He was the only white Christian in a Muslim community. At first, he felt like a distrusted other'. Yet, they shared their space and resources with hi... Read More

January 6th 2026 Familiarity with many of our Christmas carols and hymns might easily lull us into that rather comfortable state of joyful contentment. Memories of times past and people loved, our half awakened inner child still able to be partly excited at these days of festivity. But the adult in us knows not everything is rosy, not all the stories finish in happy endings. Some of our older caro... Read More

Second Sunday after Christmas If we fail to remember that the words of the Liturgy are poetry, symbolic in meaning, and crafted down the centuries to carry the weight of the mystery that is 'God-in-Christ' come amongst us, then we will fall into all kinds of traps; such as taking literally what was not meant to be; imposing the letter of our liturgical rules and regulations on the flexible dynamis... Read More