Gospel Reflections
Wednesday Gospel Reflections by our Parishioners...
John 16: 12-15
18 May 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
That very Spirit of Truth comes to us in our Sacrament of Confirmation.
He will lead us to the complete Truth!
Will I let Him today? Have I asked Him today?
“Holy Spirit, be with me today, guide me strengthen me today, Amen.”
John 15: 1-8
10 May 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
Apparently, sculptured around the entrance of the ancient temple in Jerusalem was a huge gold vine bursting with golden fruit! Father, help us to enter your kingdom through your Son, the true vine. Amen.
John 3: 16-21
18 Apr 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
“… everyone who believes in Him… may have eternal life.”
How do I believe? To believe is to pray, to be calm, to be docile, to be still long enough to allow Jesus to breathe on us and receive that “sober intoxication“ of His Holy Spirit.
We are a joyful Easter People!
Luke 24: 13-35
12 Apr 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
Are we really so far away in time from the resurrection that we too feel downcast?
Was this the very first Mass, and said by Jesus Himself?
He explains the scriptures, He breaks bread with them and they recognise Him.
“Help me Lord to recognise you in the Eucharist!”
Matthew 26: 14-25
5 Apr 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
In Genesis 38, the innocent Joseph is betrayed and sold as a slave by one of the 12 sons of Jacob called Judah for 20 pieces of silver. He is thrown into a pit, left for dead but is rescued and eventually becomes second in command to Pharoah and forgives his brothers. Judas’ name in Hebrew is Judah!
Jesus is the new Joseph who forgives and saves us all from death!
Have a Happy Easter!
John 8: 31-42
27 Mar 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
“… make my word your home…”
Home should be a place of safety, warmth, comfort, beauty and peace. A home is where the heart is!
We dream of home when we are cold and wet, when we are far away. “Lord Jesus, make your home in me, as I make mine in you. May your word penetrate my heart, free me from all my sins and from every evil, keep me faithful to your teaching and never let me be parted from you.” Amen.
John 5: 17-30
21 Mar 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
Whenever Jesus wants to tell us something really important, when He really wants us to pay particular attention,
He says “I tell you MOST solemnly …”
“Listen to my words, believe in my Father and eternal life is yours without being brought to judgment …”
Let these beautiful words really sink in…
Smile, Rejoice and be Happy!
Matt 5: 17-19
15 Mar 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
Something was missing from the Old Testament law and prophecies. It was incomplete because they were pointing to and introducing our Saviour, Jesus who makes them complete, also fulfills them.
Holy Spirit, help me to stay faithful to your commands, open my heart to accept your love and my hands to guide your people.
Amen.
Mark 8:22-26
13 Feb 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
Did the people of Bethsaida just want Jesus to perform?
In a most beautiful and intimate way Jesus took him outside, alone.
Imagine, being led by your hand by the hand that “… flung stars into space…” Can you feel the softness and warmth of Jesus’ hand?
Taking time to tenderly restore your sight. Again, that touch of a master craftsman and your eyes fill with light and then with tears of joy! Thank you Jesus!
Mark 6: 1-6
1 Feb 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
On reading today’s gospel, it’s the last phrase which seems to stand out.
“He was amazed at their lack of faith.”
Jesus clearly expects us to have plenty of faith and as a result to be joyful and confident to ask for whatever we need with a child-like expectation.
Dear Jesus, keep me faithful to your teaching, and never let me be parted from you… Amen.
Mark 3:1-6
18 Jan 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
In this reading of Mark’s we find such a parallel with our times, where the opinions of the majority can try to overwhelm the simple truth, “Is it against the sabbath day to good or evil , to save life or to kill?”, sometimes it is the attitude of our own hearts that have been set against the truth and here we need the help of the Spirit to illuminate that, to humbly ask,
“Am I right Lord? Is this way of thinking in accordance with yours? Sorry, Lord, I don’t do that very often, help me to desire your ways in thought and mind. Amen.
Mark 1:29-39
10 Jan 2023 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
In this reading, the preaching and healing of Jesus’ ministry in the synagogue is powerful and surprising and then as he returns to base it becomes intimate in the personal healing of Simon’s mother-in -law, in the home of his friends and disciples. Jesus’ care for those around him there, is the same care he has for us here. He knows our needs and wants to participate in our healing.
He left early in the morning to pray and escape the throng who needed healing so that others would hear the whole message, that the preaching reached the HEARTS of those who needed to hear.
We need to hear Lord, help us to listen.
Wednesday Gospel Reflection
28 Dec 2022 – By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
Joseph has a dream which once more takes Jesus clearly into the history of his people in their Exodus from Egypt. Matthew writes about the prophesy in Hosea11.1 “Out of Egypt,I have called my son”.
Joseph is responding promptly to the instructions given to him and surely in this we are both comforted by the care God gives and challenged to have that same heart that responds openly to the Word of God in us. Indeed, the evil that is portrayed later has not dissipated completely, as we see in our own current time of the war in Ukraine.
The catechism CCC218 states: “Christ’s whole life was lived under the sign of persecution. His own share it with him.”
Wednesday Gospel Reflection - By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
In Luke 7.22, we see Jesus saying to the disciples of John;
‘Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see again, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life…’
Jesus not only declares what he is currently doing but refers to prophecy in Isaiah 35.5
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped”.
He takes them beyond the present moment into the familiar scriptural text. I am the Lord of then and the Lord of now and in this way I am revealed to you. So for us perhaps it is about building up a picture of Gods’ presence in our own lives, always there, revealing himself to us in a myriad of ways in our daily lives. As much a miracle as the blind seeing, we come to know Him by His grace, He walks with us in our own history on earth, he has never been absent from it.
Let us pray that God reveals to us our own personal journey with him that we can better appreciate the coming of our Messiah this Christmas.
15 Dec 2022
Wednesday Gospel Reflection - By Rachel Pugh
My yoke is easy and my burden light.
How many of us carry the burden of our own sins and the imagined burden of trying to be good enough for God as well, trying under our own efforts to be the person we should be. Jesus has a different plan. Whatever it is, we can bring it to Him, in all its mess and dysfunction, sin and frustration, we no longer have to carry it all, so when we come to him, perhaps in confession,
genuinely heavy with our stuff, He will take it all, bear the weight of it for us and leave us more capable of living as he wants us to. Ours is the choice, His is the gift of lightness and joy and rest
for our souls, Advent calls us home to Him.
07 Dec 2022
Wednesday Gospel Reflection - By Sr Gabriela COLW
At the beginning of the Advent season, we are invited to reflect on the call of the apostle Andrew. Jesus calls him and his brother Peter in the midst of their daily jobs, like casting a net in the lake. Matthew the evangelist describes the call in a very concise way. We hear Jesus saying ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men’ and ‘they left their nets at once and followed him.’( Mt 4:19-20) Their response is stunning. They act immediately without delay. No doubt all parents would be happy to have such a response from their children. No doubt husbands and wives would be happy to experience a similar generosity as they respond to the call to love each other. No doubt God’s heart would be pleased if we responded to his call and his will at once. St Andrew’s call sets up the right tone for this Advent season. In this time of awaiting the Lord’s coming, we need to be prepared to hear him in the midst of our daily life. To hear his voice and respond with a generous heart. It is a time of change of heart, a time of metanoia. St Andrew, pray for us.
29 Nov 2022
Wednesday Gospel Reflection - By Kevin and Rachel Pugh
Luke writes in forthright language that can seem far removed from our own experience or even perhaps our desire to be that visible for the Gospel, let alone being persecuted by family and friends. Unlike the wonderful orator that St Paul was, most disciples were not like him at all but spoke from their hearts to witness to the great joy they had experienced in their own salvation. The same Holy Spirit who dwelt in them is in us too and when we ask, he can make his presence known, he can teach, convict, clarify, lead the way for others to follow Christ through our witness. Our job is to be people of faith, constantly growing in our relationship with Him, so that when His timing is right he can use our mouths and words to draw people to Him, the first step is the self-surrender to his loving will, perhaps the hardest step of all.
23 Nov 2022